17 curious shots from the life of vacationing Americans

Harry Lapou is one of the brightest and most extraordinary American photographers. For 25 years he photographed New Yorkers and perhaps created the "complete encyclopedia of Coney Island beachgoers"

We present you some interesting works of the photographer.

(Total 17 photos)

1. In 1952, New York designer and businessman Harry Lapou received a camera as a gift for his 43rd birthday, which dramatically changed the life of the birthday boy - from that very day he began to see the world exclusively through the viewfinder. Moreover, Harry Lapou saw the so-called "form", imperceptible to most ordinary people ...

2. The newly-minted photographer began to devote all his free time from business to his passion.

3. Lapou took photography courses with famous photographers, and then began to practice his skills, walking along the beach lines and along New York streets on Sundays, and tirelessly photographing passers-by and vacationing citizens.

4. Pay attention to the title of the book "Human Nature"

5. I must say, he makes a rather strange impression on passers-by - a man with two cameras hanging around his neck, constantly looking around, looking for someone, constantly taking pictures.

6. Success quickly came to Harry Lapou: in one of his first photo expeditions, he took a photograph of an Italian wedding on the beach in Coney Island and she got into the then-famous exhibition “The Human Race”.

7. "Sunbathing with a reflector", 1965

8. The works of the "young" photographer participated in many group exhibitions around the world, and in 1959 the first solo exhibition took place.

9. Lapou traveled a lot, naturally with his photography gear. Despite his passion for distant lands, Lapou's favorite place to work was in New York, where his best photographs were taken.

10. "Couple"

11. At the age of 65, Lapou retired: he could finally devote himself entirely to photography

12. In 1978, an album of his photographs, Coney Island Beach People, was published.

13. Kiss at Coney Island, 1980

14. The photographer worked hard until the last days of his life, he died in 1982.

15. "Under the Same Towel"

16.

17. Harry Lapou in the last years of his work often photographed older people, quite optimistically showing advanced age ...

The people depicted in his photographs may not be very strong physically, but always with a “sparkle in their eyes” - after all, he himself was just like that.