New York in Color, 1953

“Images of a Magic City” presented an essay made of photos rather than one that used photos to illustrate a print story. Color and its striking contrast and unusual juxtaposition in the real world transformed mundane street signs, parked cars, painted billboards, and a rainbow made by a pool of oil resting on water, into magical space of subjective vision where readers grasped the experience of a world in motion. Color offered the occasion to “see as the eye sees, not in fixed images but in a blended flow of color.” In many of his subsequent photo essays, he experimented with blurred images of bullfights and football games, among other subjects. he equipment was heavier, the film speed slower, making it difficult to capture instantaneous images, and the control of composition offered a major challenge. As news pictures transitioned from black and white to color, Haas sought to create a “color consciousness” in press photography.