Paul Berg (photographer)

Paul Berg was a photojournalist for the St. Louis, Missouri Post-Dispatch, and also wrote about the practice of photojournalism.

At the University of Chicago, Paul Berg in partnership with John G. Morris issued a student newspaper ‘Pulse’ in September, 1937 which they published until  March, 1941 when America became involved in WW2.  It was a bold attempt  to launch their careers in journalism, described by Morris as; "a radically different college publication, its news section modelled on Time, a monthly survey in the manner of Fortune, and photographs of the candid camera type, like those in Life” They and their colleagues went into professional careers: Paul Berg became a staff photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, John Corcoran for Science Illustrated. Myron Davis for Life, and David Eisendrath for the Chicago Tunes and New York's PM.

After the War, Berg worked for the St. Louis, Missouri Post-Dispatch between 1946 and 1972, and was most active there during 1951-1972. Commentary on his newspaper work appeared frequently in Popular Photography magazine as an example of a creative approach to reportage and documentary work. One writer, in discussing his picture ’School’s Out’, notes that Berg was “well-known for his photographic studies on sociological questions and problems, which frequently appear in the Sunday picture section of his paper.” Julius H. Klyman,  editor of Sunday PICTURES used Berg’s photography as well as that of co-staffers Arthur Witman, Jack Gould, Sam Caldwell and David Gulick, to raise the profile of the magazine.

While he, like most news photographers of the 1940s, used a large-format press camera even for subjects like the theatre, an example being ‘Between the Acts’, showing a wardrobe mistress adjusting a dancer’s costume during final dress rehearsal of the St . Louis Municipal Opera,  before the gala opening of a new season. Berg used a 4x6 Speed Graphic and Ansco Superpan Press film, hanging  one flashbulb from the ceiling, and fired one on camera diffused by a handkerchief over  the reflector for an exposure of 1/50 a t / 32. However, other shots during the same session were made on a Rolleiflex without flash. In the 1950s he became an advocate for the 35mm format which was still then regarded by American picture editors as ‘miniature’, and not worthy, or capable, of quality reproduction, unlike their counterparts in Europe who had accepted the legitimacy of the smaller format before the war. Berg wrote about the value of 35mm in the thirteenth edition of the Leica Manual And Data Book in 1956. In reviewing the newly released manual, Popular Photography wrote: “In a chapter titled The Craft of the Photojournalist, Paul Berg…has concocted one of the finest blends of inspiration and execution that we've seen between hard covers in a very long time. Staffman Berg makes it plain that he's a 35-mm man because his Leicas let him do the job he 's set out to do better and more easily than other types of available equipment .

His well-defined concepts about pictures, photojournalism, and the picture story , his analysis of his own approaches to technical problems and equipment, and his auto-descriptions of a working pressman's problems and methods on assignments… are summed up in this simple statement of purpose: "Because his goal is to catch life as it is, the photojournalist interferes as little as possible with what is in front of his camera." “ Nevertheless Berg still used large format for high-definition colour photography of performances; in a 1957 issue of Popular Photography devoted to ‘Action’, Berg’s example is a colour shot of flamenco dancers in full flight, for which he returns to the 4”x5” camera (a 1940s Meridian) using 4 G-E #22 flash bulbs and Ektachrome Type B 200 ASA.

Berg maintained his interest in action, often tackling animal subjects from dachshunds to elephants, and performance; he was one of several photographers whose images of children dancing Ring-a-Rosie were assembled in a circular installation by curator Edward Steichen for the  world-touring The Family of Man exhibition that was seen by 9 million visitors. Berg’s version, shot from a high, distant vantage point overlooking a thronging city street, shows children joining hands and dancing amidst cars and parked trucks.  In April 1963, he documented artist Allan Kaprow’s  ‘Push and Pull: A Furniture Comedy for Hans Hofmann.

Exhibitions

• Photographs from the Museum Collection, November 26, 1958–January 18, 1959, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• 70 Photographers Look at New York November 27, 1957–April 15, 1958 (picture of Lever House), The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• The Family of Man January 24–May 8, 1955, The Museum of Modern Art, New York