urbanphotos

The book is a classic, Weber's camera captures New York without pretense, and with love and attention to the small yet extremely significant moments in the life of a city that never stops. It reminds me of the movie "MEAN STREETS" by Martin Scorsese.
The pictures say it all. They say it loud and clear. I love the street fighting pictures, the funny moments like the dog looking longingly into a club doorway, the Van Gogh sleeping under his own poster. Many of the images are rare, unique and one of a kind.

Donna Ferrato Author of "Living with the enemy"

I like to think that I am a very good street photographer, cause hey, this is what I do ... but then from time to time I stumble upon somebody else's work, and I say to myself "BOOGIE MAN, YOU NEED TO WORK MORE, THERE ARE SOME KILLER PHOTOGRAPHERS OUT THERE" ... this is what hapenned when I saw Matt's book. Every single image was a shocker, and many of them seemed like he felt they were gonna happen before they actually did, you know, a lot of crazy "right place at the right time" situations perfectly captured! And then I went through the book again and again, discovering new amazing moments I missed before ... the book is a killer,and the way Matt sees the world is beautifull, raw and completely diferent.

What an amazing body of work.

People often say things to me like I've inspired them etc. and I pooh pooh
it. But while I was going through the Urban Prisoner - I guess I felt the
same sort of "inspiration" -- an overused word but I'll use it anyway. When
I am frustrated with shooting the street, the people, the struggle to do
something - these images will help me.

The book itself is the best photography book I have in terms of what I guess
you call print quality / paper / layout etc. The printing is sublime ( a word I
haven't used in a long time).

I'm not much good at describing or critiquing photographs - the best I can do is
come up with the following musical analogy: if you were to make a slide show
from the book, you'd want a soundtrack with Tom Waits, Robert Johnson, and
early Janis Joplin while she was with the Holding Company.

Man - there are some shots where I say to myself - "I can't believe he got that."

This is a book of gritty monochrome images taken by Matt Weber in New York City between 1985 and 2003. The word "grit" once held the connotation "firmness of mind or spirit, unyielding courage," and that is the connotation I have in mind when I call these images "gritty." Firmness of mind is what one needs to love New York, and maybe the title "The Urban Prisoner" echoes the constraint necessary.

I happen to love New York City in all its gritty glory, and this book illustrates why--for the people, the vitality, the grandeur. The details of The City are mostly ugly, but the people, the energy, and the affect are beautiful. I think, too, The Urban Prisoner illustrates the greatness of the American spirit--the entrepreneurship, freedom, variety, endurance, and synergy in New York City.

There is irony and a sly humor at work here as well. One of the few images in the book that was not taken in New York City is a shot from the window of a car that shows the Hollywood sign on Mt. Cahuenga in L.A.--in the foreground is the side view mirror of the vehicle showing an image that appears to be two lovers touching heads over the seat of a Porsche. This photograph is right next to a similar one from New York City--shot through the window of a car, a woman holds a bag that says I (heart) NY, while in the side view mirror a man barfs on the steps of a graffittied building.

The photographs are of buildings, cars, streets, cats and dogs, men and women, friends and enemies, businessmen, bums, kids, whores, night life, day life. The book is a celebration of The City; one man's visual diary; his best shots from 18 years, lovingly arranged and presented. The Urban Prisoner is beautifully printed on heavy coated stock.

This is street photography at its best.

I highly recommend this book.

Piczo