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Bruce Gilden (born 1946 in Brooklyn, New York) is a street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun. He has had numerous books of his work published, has received the European Publishers Award for Photography and is a Guggenheim Fellow.
While studying sociology at Penn State, Gilden saw Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blowup in 1968. Influenced by the film, he purchased his first camera and began taking night classes in photography at the School of Visual Arts of New York. Fascinated with people on the street and the idea of visual spontaneity, Gilden turned to a career in photography. His work is characterized by his use of flash photography. He has worked in black and white most of his life, but he began shooting in color and digital when he was introduced to the Leica S camera as part of Magnum’s Postcards From America project. Gilden has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1998.
His first major project was of people at Coney Island. He has photographed people on the streets of New York, Japan's yakuza mobsters, homeless people, prostitutes, and members of bike gangs between 1995 and 2000. According to Gilden, he was fascinated by the duality and double lives of the individuals he photographed. He has also photographed rural Ireland and horseracing there, as well as voodoo rituals in Haiti.
Gilden is the subject of the documentary film Misery Loves Company: The Life and Death of Bruce Gilden (2007).
Publications by Gilden
The Small Haiti Portfolio (Limited Edition), Helsinki, Finland, 1990.
Facing New York, Manchester, UK: Cornerhouse Publications, 1992. ISBN 978-0-948797-07-1. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA.
Bleus, Mission Photographique Transmanche (Cross Channel Photographic Mission) no. 13. Douchy-les-Mines, France: Centre Régional de la Photographie (CRP) (Regional Centre for Photography), Nord Pas-de-Calais, 1994.
Haïti, Dreams and Nightmares. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis and Paris: Marval, 1997.
After the Off. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 1999. ISBN 978-1-899235-17-9. Photographs by Gilden, short story by Dermot Healy.
Ciganos. Lisbon, Portugal: Centro Portuguès de Fotografia, 1999.
Haiti. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis and Paris: Marval, 1999. ISBN 978-1-899235-55-1.
Go. London: Trebruk and New York: Magnum Photos, 2000. ISBN 978-0953890101.
Coney Island. London: Trebruk, 2002. ISBN 978-0-9538901-2-5.
A Beautiful Catastrophe. Brooklyn, NY: Powerhouse, 2005. ISBN 978-1-57687-238-3.
Fashion Magazine. Paris: Magnum Photos, 2006. ISBN 978-1-933045-43-6. In English and French.
Bruce Gilden. Stern Portfolio No.64. Krefeld, Germany: teNeues, 2011. ISBN 978-3-652000-05-5.
Foreclosures. London: Browns, 2013. ISBN 978-0-956532-48-0. Available in standard edition (edition of 400) and slipcase edition (edition of 100).
Coney Island. Paris: Trans Photographic, 2009. ISBN 978-2913176645. Photographs by Johnny Miller and Baptiste Lignel. Text by Sophie Gilden and Bruce Gilden.
Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. ISBN 978-0-500-54393-1. Edited by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren.
Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. ISBN 9780500544129.
Magnum Contact Sheets. Edited by Kristen Lubben.
Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. ISBN 9780500544129.
Magnum Contact Sheets. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. ISBN 978-0500544310. Compact edition.
Magnum Contact Sheets: The Collector's Edition: Bruce Gilden, Yakuza, 1998. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. ISBN 978-0500544129.
