Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in his various studies of the female nude – a recurring fascination for the photographer, dating back to his move to New York from Pittsburgh in the mid 1940s and continuing through the early 60s. Of course, Leiter did not conduct all his shoots in such an undercover manner, but this anecdote wonderfully encapsulates his unwavering devotion to a natural, unselfconscious portrayal of the human form. She went back to the office and said, ‘I tried to find him but I couldn’t,’ and the director said, ‘Oh no, he’s photographed you!’ Saul had a telephoto lens and he’d waited for her to arrive, photographed her from a distance as she stood there waiting – probably with her hips out in a very natural way – and he got the image.”

She went there and stood and waited for about half an hour but he was a no-show. “She was to be photographed by the famous Saul Leiter and was told to meet him in one of the squares in Manhattan. “There’s a great story that Grace Coddington tells in her biography,” Margit Erb, director of the Saul Leiter Foundation, tells AnOther. His modus operandi was one of constant, quiet observation, whether capturing glorious Kodachrome studies of the New York City streets or lensing models for the likes of Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. American image-maker Saul Leiter was a famously private man, keeping a markedly low profile throughout his lifetime in spite of the widespread acclaim he garnered as a fashion photographer in the 60s and 70s.

Woman by Saul Leiter