Portraits of New York City, 1940s-1960s.

• Author: Leipzig, Arthur

I came to photography quite by accident. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I was growing up in a middle-class family living in a middle-class neighborhood of Brooklyn. I used to go to the library to read about occupations. I started with the A's - agriculture, Archaeology, Architecture - but never made it to the P's. In 1935, when I was 17, I left school and had an assortment of jobs - truck driver, salesman, office manager, assembly line worker. Finally, I worked in a wholesale glass plant, where I seriously injured my right hand and lost the use of it for 14 months. I began to search for a new way to make a living, A friend suggested that, if I studied photography at the Photo League in New York, I might be able to get a job as a darkroom technician. I registered for a beginning class at the League. Two weeks later, I knew that photography would be my life's work.

My life as a photographer began in the streets of the city. For me, New York, with its diverse cultures and varied topography, presented a new challenge every day. My days were spent shooting with my 9x12 cm Zeiss Ikon camera; my nights in the darkroom and in discussion with other students and photographers. It was in New York that I honed my skills and began to learn about the world and about myself.

In 1943, while working on the newspaper PM, I shot my first major photo essay, "Children's Games." The streets then were an extension of the home. They were the living rooms and the playgrounds, particularly for the poor whose crowded tenements left little room for play. The children occupied the streets, reluctantly allowing a car or truck to pass.

Over the years, I have worked as a staff and freelance photographer for a wide variety of publications. My assignments and...