Lee Friedlander’s interest in self-portraiture developed at the beginning of his photographic career, in the early 1960s. This practice arose as an extension of his work, adding himself to the landscapes, objects, and urban characters. Friedlander made his self-portraits by capturing his shadow on different surfaces, or his reflection in mirrors and glass. These photographs, like the rest of his work, defied the tradition of “straight photography,” which required technical perfection, beauty, and visual harmony. With uncommon and dissonant compositions his works continue the tradition of photographic realism.

In this photograph of 1970, made in Hillcrest, New York, the artist is reflected in a rearview mirror that occupies the center of the composition and divides the scene in two, one of his work’s distinctive stylistic traits. Starting in the 1960s Friedlander began to take photographs from his car, transforming his side-view mirror into the protagonist and making it his identifying mark. These images portrayed advertising billboards, roads, and motels that were part of the American collective consciousness and likewise they introduced formal innovations to the genre of North American landscape photography. In 2010 Friedlander published America by Car, a book of his photos made within different rental cars, but with a square crop thanks to his use of a Hasselblad Super Wide camera.