Accidental double exposures were common with early roll film cameras. The resulting superimpositions sometimes yielded interesting results. This could be in Budapest, Warsaw or or both.

Accidental double exposures were common with early roll film cameras. The resulting superimpositions sometimes yielded interesting results. This could be in Budapest, Warsaw or or both.

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Perhaps the seated man in the foreground, beaming at the photographer, is the proprietor. His assistant, barely visible on the left, may be repairing a damaged shoe, the mate of which is in the crook of the arm of the man on the right, who also holds a pair of new dress shoes in his hand. Is the young man to his right his son?

This tired-looking man may not be a resident of this Jewish neighborhood. He wears a heavy coat and cap for open air driving.

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This man greets the young photographer with a friendly expression

A symphony of rectangles fills the tightly organized frame. Here we have the full cycle of life: The child in the stroller in the lower right, the two middle-aged men who converse amiably, one engaging the child, and an elderly man with a cane walking out of the frame on the left. The two painted figures on the shutters echo the two standing men. The cut-off figures on the right and left sides of this image add to its power. Form and content interweave to make a complete artistic statement.

The sign indicates a paint store -- cans are just barely visible on the shelves behind him. This man’s silk clothing and watch chain suggest that he is relatively prosperous.

Nalewki street was the commercial center of the Warsaw Jewish Quarter. The old men in their traditional dress and the young boy in a white sailor suit stepping into the store entrance are in sharp focus, but the figures at the sides, dressed in more modern secular clothing, are in soft focus, and slightly blurred by motion. A street photographer must make instantaneous choices regarding focus and length of exposure, depending on the available light. There are always trade-offs. In this case, Scheuer opted for a relatively long exposure, and a medium lens aperture that kept the middle and the background sharp. Scheuer’s use of cut-off figures, out of focus elements and motion blur extends the range of what is acceptable in a photograph, anticipating the street photography aesthetic of Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand in the 1950’s and later. In 1940, six years after Scheuer’s visit, the Nazi occupiers established the Warsaw Ghetto, enclosing this community. The Nazis razed the ghetto and killed or deported to concentration camps all of its inhabitants in 1943.

A traditionally dressed elderly man pauses amid the flux of pedestrians.

A street vendor offers a refreshing treat on a summer day.

This carefree scene underscores the vitality of Warsaw’s Jewish community at this moment. The vendor’s watermelon wedge is echoed by the wedge shape on the doorway behind the figures. A woman passes behind the watermelon seller, with only her shoe visible here. The man on the right, enjoying flatbread, also appears in the previous photo and in Men With Prayer Shawls.

The man on the right may be missing his right eye. A woman appears out of focus in the lower left corner. Prayer shawls are stacked behind them.

Making eye contact with the photographer, an old man relaxes outside a shop.

Note the man inside the store observing the scene outside.

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Scheuer recognizes a dramatic lighting opportunity, which he refines in this close-up portrait.

Here, one of Scheuer’s traveling companions shares her crystal radio headset with a Polish Army officer who has joined them in their train compartment.