SF Photographer Fred Lyon Documentary & Signing | SF Main Library

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Fred Lyon: Living Through the Lens, directed by Michael House, is an intimate exposé of San Francisco photographer Fred Lyon, who is still going strong after seven decades behind the camera.

Though Lyon is one of America’s leading advertising, interior design, architectural, food, wine, and travel photographers, he is best known for his mood-soaked street photography of San Francisco in the ’40s and ’50s.

This film takes the viewer inside the world of Lyon, exploring his immense archive of San Francisco images, the film also goes into what it takes to make a living from photography, revealing the story of this prolific, innovative artist. Photographer Fred Lyon has been called “San Francisco’s Brassai.” He’s also been compared to Cartier-Bresson, Atget, and Andre Kertez, but all with a San Francisco twist. Fred happily admits his debt to those icons.

Now 90, his nonstop career reaches back to the early 1940s and embraces news, fashion, architecture, advertising, wine and food. These days, find him combing his picture files for galleries, publishers and print collectors. An exhibit of his work opens at the Harvey Milk Photo Center on November 8 and runs through January 10, 2015.

Photographer Fred Lyon will be on hand before and after the film screening to sign copies of his newest monograph, San Francisco: Portrait of a City.

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