A question for you Street Photographers out there...

[daninjc]

A good street photo (whatever that means) to me is mostly about aesthetic content and ambiguity. I'm not sure I'd be interested in a shot of the mass of people in the street - even if it managed to convey a sense of the energy that sometimes hits you in the city. I'm afraid that would make for an uninteresting image.

[FONT=&quot]As a photographer, I want to translate to film the emotions and expressions seen when people are swirling together, elbow to elbow, in very close proximity to other strangers. I want to communicate to people, who don't/haven't experienced the power of a Manhattan, or any other bustling metropolis, the energy and power masses of humanity can create. You can feel it, like an electrical current there on the street. A photograph may communicate the visual part of that energy. It cannot communicate all the energy of the experience... just the visual.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Now the questions:

I think that if a person who hasn't often/ever visited a big city does so, then goes to view street photographs, they would bring that experience with them; and have a greater appreciation/understanding for the images. They will experience those pictures differently.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Does anyone agree?

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]I've been a bit philosophical as of late; and street photography isn't appreciated as much as it used to be. That's too bad. What is the reason for that you think?
[/FONT]

 

[GSNfan]

To the contrary I would argue that street photography has undergone a surge in popularity. It has never been cooler or trendier.

Nobody looks at still photos anymore, and yet everyone is taking still photos and mostly on the street. The Winogrand disease has caught everyone, the act of taking photos has become the means and the end.

 

[J. Borger]

Nobody looks at still photos anymore, and yet everyone is taking still photos and mostly on the street. The Winogrand disease has caught everyone, the act of taking photos has become the means and the end.

You have a point here. There are more people with than without a camera walking the streets these days. Snapping around like hell ....... checking their displays like mad men after every exposure curious what they got......
I suffered from the same disease for a while ... switched from digital to film again and shooting more MF instead of 35mm to slow me down.
I am almost cured now