Please help me understand street photography

[lZr]

Good point to think about...😕 Take your time. It never ends.
Ash, thanks for the bypass to download the file.

I liked the pesphoto link on street photography pointer

 

[IGMeanwell]

Lol - It's the music isn't it - most people last until about 40 secs before they fall asleep on their keyboards.

Someone should have warned the director of that piece that Keith Jarrett type music is only good when you are battling depression and/or drinking heavily

 

[rool]

As I suspected.. another hater with nothing on display for themselves. People that don't have to stand up to their own work sure are neat critics.

😀

Dude, I'm not saying I am a good photographer, I am far from it but I do take some street pictures and try to understand street photography:
www.raoulgatepin.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raoul/

And I still think the pictures in the slideshow aren't that good. But that's my opinion and I was honest about it.
Maybe I should have said it was awesome work even if I didn't think so, oh well, whatever...

 

[foolproof]

to me, street photography is about putting your camera up to your face and then not taking it away when someone looks through your lens and into your eye. its about being perfectly comfortable with your camera at your face, doing what your doing and feeling what your doing. get over that fear and your half way there. slight balls are a help. hip shots are useful, but not always the way to go. rangefinders are useful but not always the way to go. i use a clunky nikon fm2 and f3 for 99% of my work. to me its all about pushing yourself. put your camera up and take the shot you saw :click: **** it, **** anyone whos gonna say anything to you. walk away with the slight tingle in knowing your probably got the shot you wanted. the gift of the gab is also a useful backup in uncomfortable situations.
everyday i still hesitate at some point, but i keep pushing myself

 

[dadsm3]

Good points foolproof. I love streetshooting but I'm not any good at it mainly because of the discomfort I feel...I even had a lady violently jerk the subject out of my framelines and give me the dirtiest look possible. It was her dog....

 

[BrianShaw]

Good points foolproof. I love streetshooting but I'm not any good at it mainly because of the discomfort I feel...I even had a lady violently jerk the subject out of my framelines and give me the dirtiest look possible. It was her dog....

Looking at it objectively, though... it is a bit odd that seemingly normal people with cameras are intereested in taking pics of strangers doing nothing spectacular or even particularly interesting, isn't it?

Maybe it's a relection of our suspicious society these days. Take a pic of a kid and your perceived as a potential paedophile; take a pic of a young girl and your perceived as a potential stalker; take a pic of a strange puppy and ... gosh, I'd hate to imagine what they might be thinking.

 

[v3cron]

i don't carry a camera everyday, or shoot street shots at all, but some of my favorite photographers do. examples: moriyama, gibson

i am very interested in the influence of the genre on fashion photography, though. i think they go together quite nicely.

 

[jonasv]

i don't carry a camera everyday, or shoot street shots at all, but some of my favorite photographers do. examples: moriyama, gibson

i am very interested in the influence of the genre on fashion photography, though. i think they go together quite nicely.

I think William Klein was one of the first photographers to blend the genre when he started to work for Vogue to pay for his streetphotography project Life is good etc.

I think the book "In and out of fashion" would be a good start in case you're interested.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

rool,
checked out your site, some nice work there. I don't usually like "color" street but some of yours are solid and you have a good eye. Your "style" is a good example of the current trend I'm seeing in "street".

some good stuff:
http://raoulgatepin.com/page/6/
http://raoulgatepin.com/page/12/

Todd

 

[v3cron]

I think William Klein was one of the first photographers to blend the genre when he started to work for Vogue to pay for his streetphotography project Life is good etc.

I think the book "In and out of fashion" would be a good start in case you're interested.

i've seen some of klein's work, and was defintiely into it. i would like to pursue it further.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Camera. Street. Take photo. Street photography.

Camera. Urban theme. Take photo. Urban photography.

Urban taken as synonym for street, depending on the looseness of concept/grammar/rule adherence of photographer/audience == Pulling hair.

There'll be a test next week.

 

[dadsm3]

With the dog, I guess I was a suspected canophile...
All this talk made me go out again this AM.....first an Italian accordion player stopped playing and waved his arms angrily at me, saying "no peech, no peech!" I walked over and dropped $2 onto his case, and said it was for school (I'm 48 btw)....he said " Ah, for scuola, ats OK....", but the spontanaiety was gone.
Going to the downtown park and seeing thousands of pigeons, I recalled that great shot in the RFF HCB contest of the old man and the pigeons, and thought it would be nice to get them in full flight. I stamped my feet and said "PSHHHHHHH!" as loud as I could.....nothing. Then I yelled "HEY!!!" as loud as I could and jumped right onto the middle of the flock....they didn't even acknowledge my presence, not even a twitter. I must have a puzzled look on my face because I then heard a burst of laughter and a few park benches full of old ladies were having a hearty chuckle at my expense. I just kind of ambled away with feigned non-chalance.....
I guess I'm just not cut out for street photography.....

 

[tblanston]

...

I guess I'm just not cut out for street photography.....

Other things that street photography is about:

Patience.
Perserverence.

To absurd extremes.

 

[ffttklackdedeng]

Am I the only one to think about street photography as a personal challenge to push the limits regarding e.g. shyness? A thrilling experience raising your heartbeat and making your hands shake? A gamble?

This might not directly help in understanding the pictures made by others. But if someone is motivated by the points above and then publishes the results - you and I might wonder what it is about these pictures..

 

[jamesj]

well being the newbie here its funny cause I barely learned about street photography and what it was called. All those years in high school we were always having to take shots of products placed on tables models, stuff like that well to be honest I grew tired of those things real quick I think that why I really didnt take that much film in high school. my teacher never really touched on it either.

i have always been obsessed with everything around me the world around me, if it is a little child playing, or a car accident on the street, or just the everyday mundane stuff we all see. honeslty even before I had a camera I would just sit there people watching, I dont know if people find that scary or what but I do that. I think thats one of our problems as people we just dont stop and look around us. And I think thats what street photographers try to capture just the everyday life from there eyes all recorded to film, yeah the compostion may be off but thats the way life is sometimes its just off.

Though I get the impression from people that its the cool thing to be doing expecially with the lomo people, They are always about shooting from the hip and all this stuff honestly I take pictures of my life and my jounrey through it.

this year has been such a eye opener for me on the photography side of me, I have always loved photography ever since I shot through my first olympus k1000, but then the little rangefinder come along and I instanly feel in love again. Ive actually found out about the photography I love and what I have always looked for when I was sitting there in my photography class in 97... honestly it all makes sense now...

its funny when I first saw this thread I was reminded of the RUSH song time stands still.

but thats just my thought on it...
hope i didnt bore you all with my 2 cents...

 

[Stephen23]

For my two penneth worth "Street" stuff just makes me feel good. Like Robert says it's about pushing your personal boundaries.
You know when you've got a good shot even if it isn't technically perfect the emotion you felt when you pressed the shutter will be there.
I'm only recently back to the viewfinder, but I am happier than I have been for a long while...just get out there and do it. Like the man said life isn't a rehearsal.

Stephen

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=6672

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Going to the downtown park and seeing thousands of pigeons, I recalled that great shot in the RFF HCB contest of the old man and the pigeons, and thought it would be nice to get them in full flight. I stamped my feet and said "PSHHHHHHH!" as loud as I could.....nothing. Then I yelled "HEY!!!" as loud as I could and jumped right onto the middle of the flock....they didn't even acknowledge my presence, not even a twitter. I must have a puzzled look on my face because I then heard a burst of laughter and a few park benches full of old ladies were having a hearty chuckle at my expense. I just kind of ambled away with feigned non-chalance.....
I guess I'm just not cut out for street photography.....

Photograph the women laughing next time.