Curious — What defines a perfect street shot for you?

[Elizha]

Hey folks,

I’ve been reading and learning from some of the amazing photo threads here. One thing that always gets me thinking is how subjective ‘street photography’ really is. Some go for emotion, some go for geometry, others just chase light and chaos.

For those shooting regularly — what makes a street photograph click for you? Is it the timing, the story, the composition, or just instinct?

We’ve been curating standout street visuals lately at Maps Studio (NYC-based) — and the variety is wild. But I’m really curious to hear what the community here values in a great street frame.

Feel free to drop your thoughts — or even a link to a shot that says it all for you.

 

[DownUnder]

A PERFECT street shot? Huh.

My first thought here is the perfect is often the enemy of the good enough...

For me a street shot has to say something. Not just people walking around, some smiling for the camera but otherwise not doing much of anything other than being on the street. Those to me are lazy street shots. Anybody can take them, but they don't really say anything or in the summing up amount to a whole lot. They are often also boring, which for me defeats the purpose of taking them.

My Good Enough street shots show activity. in Indonesia where I live, I would rate a successful image of this genre as, for example, a becak (= a sort of tricycle popular in Java, usually peddled by an older man taking passengers short distances for fares) driver washing his vehicle, an old food seller tending her stall, children at play, young boys doing sports. Close but not close enough that the human subject fills the entire frame. I like to put a little background in my pictures, to give a general sense of where it was taken and what is going on otherwise in the area.

In the West street photography can be dangerous. In most Asian countries it is entirely still possible to do a lot of street photography - we have at least one poster on RFF who excels at this, the particular one I'm thinking of is in Japan - without the fear of being confronted by an irate subject who takes exception to having his image "stolen" as one angry subject once spat at me in Vancouver after I photographed him from what I considered was a respectable distance.

In this particular case I had a Nikkormat film camera and I wasn't about to sacrifice an entire roll of color slide film to satisfy his demands. He also happened to be a little smaller than I was. So I politely but firmly told him 1 I wasn't deliberately photographing him and 2 if he wasn't happy he should talk to the police. Realising all the while I was putting myself at risk here as by nature I'm not confrontational and I really didn't want to run the risk of having the local police involved in this.

This person then wanted money for "posing" which I realised was basically the reason for his posturing. I left hurriedly and did no more street-stalking that day or for that matter the rest of my vacation time in British Columbia.

Times are changing and now in many Asian countries many locals politely but firmly object to having their photos taken (which I consider as fair enough and if/when it happens I cease and desist). Now and then someone wants money from the tourist -as many tourists are now discovering, just about everyone in Bali is into this little fast-cash game).

So it seems the time may have come for us to rethink and redefine the purpose and the technique of our so-called street work, maybe to take a more documentary approach, which is what I now do.

Street photography is fun but there are really no rules, and many different approaches to the genre. All of which is part of the game.

Regret to say I must decline to post any of my work here as OP request, as it involves people and even if in public there is an element of privacy, and invasion thereof, at play. I'm sure the OP understands.

 

[38Deardorff]

DU, for me the great street shot is about both composition & light. I also by far prefer images not over-crowded with people. Last time I was in Paris, my good friend & Paris resident Alberto Bregani (Alberto Bregani | B&W Fine-Art Prints) & I had just come out of the HC Bresson museum & over coffee were discussing images in/of the city. Alberto brought up the point that in HCB, Robert Doisneau, & of course Atget's time, the streets were much less crowded.
I prefer images that catch a fleeting moment in time & place. Random street photos with loose composition and lots of people don't tend to catch my attention. (Since I'm a printer, and the cost of both paper & film has risen dramatically, if i see a mundane scene that i wouldn't choose to print off a strip of negatives..... i don't take the photo)
( e.g. not perfect by any means, but something along these lines....)

 

[Rayt]

I prefer the pictorial approach to consider the photo as a whole not just a single element with background. A successful photograph should be like a well composed painting with subject matter in harmony within its own world and not solely dependent on any one element as if it was a portrait. Photographers like Martin Parr and Raymond Depardon are interesting because their work reflects humanity and their environment.

 

[Leon C]

Just for a different view, when I touched on it in the 80's it was all about stealth and the personal challenge being getting a shot you liked without the 'in your face' attitude of some of todays participants, waist level or arms at side length level kinda stuff, it's a challenge, technically and learning wise and for me that was the fun, not necessarilty the final picture.

For me, it's a combination of these challenges that make 'my' perfect shot.

 

[kshapero]

 

[kshapero]

 

[kshapero]

 

[kshapero]

 

[ddutchison2]

Same as in any genre of photography, is the image memorable.

 

[kshapero]

Dancing

 

[Godfrey]

"...what makes a street photograph click for you? Is it the timing, the story, the composition, or just instinct?"

A little of this, a little of that. I don't think there's any such thing as a "perfect" street shot, but there are many that "click" and give me pause to stop and think.

That's the key. A photograph in this category should for any number of reasons, stop you for a moment to say to yourself, "hunh. got it." Whether it's the juxtaposition of signage, the play of light and shadow, the unpredictable meleé of expressions interacting on people's face, or any combination of these and other things, some just click ... and others do not.

Street photography is situational and abstractive. You are photographing a specific thing, moment, person, expression, but in that captured instant is a contest of notions that interact and give pause, are timeless (or at least not entirely transitory), and capture a feeling or a notion ... when the situation works.

A few of mine that I thought "clicked" ...

Pre-parade Parade - San Francisco



Objects Of Desire - San Francisco



Big Heart - San Francisco​

... Whether they do for everyone, eh? Not my job; I cannot know.
But do they illustrate what I'm saying ...? That's a more important notion.

G
—
"No matter where you go, there you are."

 

[agentlossing]

I don't think there's any one reason for a street photograph to be "perfect," though there are a lot of little reasons why it can be imperfect. Also, street is such a varied genre that it can't be pinned down to one style or theme or subject matter.

I like narrative shots, with multiple people interacting with each other - such as a lot of the photos on the Hardcore Street Photography Flickr group. I also like the geometric shots if they're done right. A photo of a single subject can be great, especially if there's a good expression on their face, and the eyes can be seen (I like eye contact in a shot, especially if the subject hasn't registered they're being photographed yet).

I'd be happy to take any one of these examples! When I'm on the street, I treat it as improvisational. So, I'm not really focused on getting a particular kind of shot, but looking for opportunities and serendipity. It's not a super productive approach. But I enjoy it.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Just as simple as something interesting for me.
Simplicity depends on personality.

I was into paintings since teenager. Had good paintings to look at nearby.
But mostly I was into impressionism and Dali.

Once I started to photograph on the streets, I became interested in street photogaphy.
And it is also real documentary. Free of narratives and agendas.
Two whom I respected most in street, documentary are HCB and GW.
Both have not only education, but gift in art.

Only GW was able to take pictures of American football game and make it looks like centuries old Rome.

I also like photos with irony. Since I was a big joker in my younger age.

With age I have grown to realize it is very democratic, just as art is. Different people, different tastes.

Arizona State University has 1700+ of GW photos:

https://cspace.arts.arizona.edu/search?search=%22Garry+Winogrand%22&hasMedia=%5B1%5D

If you are interested in some not too common street photogaphy, which isn't West, nor East or Asia, huge and growing :

Галерея Клуба Дальномер - Все изображения

 

[MNS]

For those shooting regularly — what makes a street photograph click for you?

Two's, threes, matching colours, an expression, gesture or anything amusing, is what I look for.

Quite often I'm very picky and shoot very little compared to most people unless see something worth shooting. This image below, if I recall I took around 5 or 6 images until the fat man started playing with his false teeth ...that was the perfect picture for me!

'Reading the news' Folkestone, England. 2021



Leica M-P (Typ 240) Summilux 50mm f/1.4 ASPH + B+W ND filter.

 

[Richard G]

Some good thoughts and photographs. Godfrey’s three shots reflect his view of this. He got those three shots, all very different in a way that could be described as HCB did- one’s head, one’s eye and one’s heart all on the same axis. So there will be myriad possibilities. Getting towards best is when the shot distills something sincere and concentrated, whatever that shot is. A beautiful face through the glass, or a human interaction, or a pleasing combination of shapes or colours; the resonance of two figures like Rayt’s first shot, in an overall canvas - same shot; a homographic resonance of animate and inanimate like Godfrey’s third shot. You can feel the intelligence of the photographer through so many images produced by members here. As the viewer you share the remarkable moment and marvel that it was caught at all and just this way. So it’s the emotion set off in the viewer that defines success. That sort of shot is the perfect street photograph. And I suppose it’s not the sort of clever high contrast bold composition thumbnail we see so often online.

 

[MNS]

One other point I'll make is to look at others work or watch videos like the below.

 

[Taipei-metro]

One other point I'll make is to look at others work or watch videos like the below.

video not available...in Los Angeles, USA

 

[38Deardorff]

video not available...in Los Angeles, USA

Or western Canada

 

[MNS]

Or western Canada

video not available...in Los Angeles, USA

Hmm, it is in his Majesty's Britannic Islands. Try searching 'Everybody Street' don't doubt it's on the web some where. 😉