This one is garbage.
Spyro
Well-known
Frank, have a read of this and let me know what you think, this is actually the definition that hit home for me more than anything else:
"Now I understand that 'Street Photography' is just 'Photography' in its simplest form, it is the medium itself, it is actually all the other forms of photography that need defining, landscape, fashion, portrait, reportage, art, advertising... these are all complicating additions to the medium of Photography, they are the areas that need to be defined, ring fenced and partitioned out of the medium of 'Street Photography'.
When a child picks up a camera and pushes the button that simple spontaneous image is a Street Photograph, it is, first of all, a raw reaction to the scene in front of it, a person, a car, a color. That primitive urge to react, to make a picture is at the heart of Street Photography beyond any other area of picture making, it comes before any other agenda.
So we are all Street Photographers before we narrow our sights and impose conditions and rules on ourselves to become Portrait photographers, Fashion Photographers, Landscape Photographers, Art Photographers (whatever that really means) etc.
As Street Photographers we need no longer explain ourselves, we need no longer wrangle over a form of words. It is for the rest of Photography to define itself, to explain what new and meritorious characteristics it has brought to Street Photography that make it different and worthy of note."
Quoting Nick Turpin
"Now I understand that 'Street Photography' is just 'Photography' in its simplest form, it is the medium itself, it is actually all the other forms of photography that need defining, landscape, fashion, portrait, reportage, art, advertising... these are all complicating additions to the medium of Photography, they are the areas that need to be defined, ring fenced and partitioned out of the medium of 'Street Photography'.
When a child picks up a camera and pushes the button that simple spontaneous image is a Street Photograph, it is, first of all, a raw reaction to the scene in front of it, a person, a car, a color. That primitive urge to react, to make a picture is at the heart of Street Photography beyond any other area of picture making, it comes before any other agenda.
So we are all Street Photographers before we narrow our sights and impose conditions and rules on ourselves to become Portrait photographers, Fashion Photographers, Landscape Photographers, Art Photographers (whatever that really means) etc.
As Street Photographers we need no longer explain ourselves, we need no longer wrangle over a form of words. It is for the rest of Photography to define itself, to explain what new and meritorious characteristics it has brought to Street Photography that make it different and worthy of note."
Quoting Nick Turpin
Old Street Photography...
One of my few using a 35mm focal length.
One of my few using a 35mm focal length.
Street Vendor Photography.
Wouldn't you like his job?
Wouldn't you like his job?
Just some random passerby's in a completely unposed photo somewhere that I can't place or remember the name of.
ebino
Well-known
I was in a political rally, and there were a lot of these pro-looking-amateurs around. At one point, i see this guy with a funny umbrella standing on the street and using a camcorder to record the event. I took his picture, and then i hear one of these pro-looking-amateurs, say something like, "did you see he just took picture of that guy filming..." in a sense that why would he do such a stupid thing...
Anyway, I wanted to go to him and really rip him a few new ones, but if i had lost my temper, i would have lost the photos, so i ignored him.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, take photos and let others take photos. Don't judge, don't use words like "thou shall not" and so on.
Anyway, I wanted to go to him and really rip him a few new ones, but if i had lost my temper, i would have lost the photos, so i ignored him.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, take photos and let others take photos. Don't judge, don't use words like "thou shall not" and so on.
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
Of course, every photograph not taken by a robot has at least one person in it, usually standing right behind the camera...
Maybe it was an amusement park.
But it had streets.
But it had streets.
Mister E
Well-known
Maybe we should ask Chris Weeks.
FrankS
Registered User
I think that the motivation for street photography may be just as "pure" or basic as the child who picks up a camera and makes a spontaneous image, but for me, street photography is a distinctive genre, like portraiture, landscape, etc. In fact, it is a combination of portraiture and landscape, showing a person interacting with their environment, possibly including other people in that environment when the environment is a public space.
It would be interesting to see how the experts (art schools, art galleries, critics, museums, etc) define street photography.
Sidewalk Photography is much less confusing.
It just has to have a sidewalk in it.
Panatomic-X in Microdol 1:1, not a requirement.
It just has to have a sidewalk in it.
Panatomic-X in Microdol 1:1, not a requirement.
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Now I don't know if this is a street shot or a sidewalk shot. All the people are on the sidewalk.
Kodachrome 25.
Kodachrome 25.
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FrankS
Registered User
You should notice that I make sure to make clear that I am expressing my opinion, not an absolute that others have to adhere to.
semilog
curmudgeonly optimist
...and, I'll add, if a street photo has to have people in it, that leaves out an awful lot of Winogrand's The Animals.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I had a friend years ago who worked for an asphalt laying company. His job was to go to sites wherever his employer had been at work laying a new street/road surface and photograph the completed project for their records.
Definitely a street photographer!
Definitely a street photographer!
ebino
Well-known
You have to adhere to some absolute truths. For example you must adhere to the notion that a photographer must never manipulate the scene, direct the scene, crop, and other such manipulations of street photos... The authenticity of a street photos must be kept intact and it should not be manipulated to fit some notion of a "good photo".
If you were to speak in such terms, you will not be so strongly opposed as if when you say something like, "a photo with a zoom lens is not a street photos.. or street photo must have people in it."
Does anybody else remember the good ole days when Joe lobbed these threads in here?
Spyro
Well-known
That would largely depend on the school/critic etc in question, because listening to some of them talk about street photography can be a frustrating experience. Usually they just ignore it, as street photography has gone under the radar of the art world for a while now. It is simply not in fashion, hasn't been for decades.
I'd rather listen to photographers talk about street photography, they are the ones driving it, keeping it alive and making sure it evolves. I reckon it is the one genre that is done by photographers and FOR photographers, as normal photography consumers (editors/galleries/museums etc) simply disregard it in this day and age.
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FrankS
Registered User
You seem to be attributing some ideas to me that I have not expressed and do not necessarily believe in, far beyond my personal definition of street photography.
ebino
Well-known
I was just relating some of the absolute truths that I believe in and i wish others would do so, but i will never tell them to accept what i believe or i won't consider their work street photography.
I also think if photographers agreed with each other all the time, then this hobby would be pretty boring.
cheers,