Is Street Photography Dead?

Is Street Photography Dead?

  • Yes

    Votes: 82 20.6%
  • No

    Votes: 317 79.4%

  • Total voters
    399
Isn't all photography dead? Well, unless it's alive. Some of it appears to be gravely ill, but I hear we're on the brink of a cure - we just need to get out and shoot more and hope for the best...
 
I think there is just as much a need for street photography as there ever was, but it's far less understood these days by those who don't know about the likes of HCB and Winogrand. One of the original goals of street photography was to capture the way people live, but we now live in a world that's almost excessively well documented and recorded. However, it's become an automatic and soulless process - think of satellite imagery, CCTV, Google Maps and Steetview - totally devoid of human commentary or aesthetic value.

Great street photographers can capture the human moments that satellites miss, serving as representations of our generation and times. It seems mundane to some, potentially creepy or criminal to others, but the value of a well executed street shot is immense, and that value will only increase with time.
 
Nope, don't think it is... rather there's been quite a surge the past few years. There are plenty of incredible work being done in contemporary street photography right now... seriously some great stuff out there.
 
Seems to be a day for ambivalent and ambiguous questions that cannot be resolved.

I'll just answer "Yes" and "No", like the Elves.

G
 
how could it be dead as there are still people in the streets?
but it has become difficult to find interesting shots in the net, also here on rff.
i´m sick of girls staring on their cell phones, winos sitting on their plastic bags and old people passing billboards with young people on them. too many worn out stereotypes instead of characters and decisive moments.
seems as if digital makes it too easy to publish anything regardless of quality and originality.
 
Depends on the definition of street photography ... if it means taking random picture of passing by strangers and / or using flash then I would say "street-photography" is alive and well ... :)
 
Not dead, but it smells funny to some people.

But more seriously, I think that as long as there is "life" out there in public places (and I suppose there always will be), there is a role for "street" photography to sift and sort through what we do in public places and preserve it for the future.

But I agree with som eposts above, that peolpe can be much better at editing their work down before sticking a bunch of photos on the Net.
 
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