S-t-r-e-e-t

[sanmich]

Very good stuff. Thanks John
his curiosity and passion for the surrounding world is refreshing

 

[emraphoto]

I really enjoyed his photos and I find the critique of them a bit misguided and smacking of envy. They perhaps look posed as a result of a good deal of patience on his part...or maybe he just raised the camera at the right moment. Either way, he was there.

I think the negative comments against his work are a bit rich coming from members of a forum that is filled with images of cats, lawn chairs and brick walls.

And I disagree completely that they lose something due to the fact that they are in color. When I was a press photographer in Washington, DC and we had the White House Press Photographers Association annual image contest, the running joke was that you could take any image convert it to Black & White and win an award with it.

Everyone has their opinions but the negativity kinda got to me today. I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

it happens to the most of us on occasion.

color is just another way of going at it. some excel at it, some pontificate.

 

[ebino]

I really enjoyed his photos and I find the critique of them a bit misguided and smacking of envy. They perhaps look posed as a result of a good deal of patience on his part...or maybe he just raised the camera at the right moment. Either way, he was there.

I think the negative comments against his work are a bit rich coming from members of a forum that is filled with images of cats, lawn chairs and brick walls.

And I disagree completely that they lose something due to the fact that they are in color. When I was a press photographer in Washington, DC and we had the White House Press Photographers Association annual image contest, the running joke was that you could take any image convert it to Black & White and win an award with it.

Everyone has their opinions but the negativity kinda got to me today. I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

look here now, all we ever said was that his decisive moments are just a bit too decisive. Thats compliment if you had given it some thought. But you lashed at our cats and lawn chairs. You're mean.

 

[ebino]

Yup, making a good color photo is just that easy 🙄

Then again why bother shooting in color since it will never be "music" like B&W?

Make a subject wear a red coat. After that stand him/her against a drab and colorless background, or a dark cloudy sky, or any background that would contrast strongly with red. You have a great color photo.

 

[Honus]

Thanks for posting this, John. I like his work a lot. He has a wonderful eye and a great sense of humor in his work.

I find the whole discussion regarding his work looking staged to be a bit odd. In his own words, he is interested in "facts" and not "fiction". I'm guessing the staged look to be another way of saying that he has a great compositional style.

 

[Particular]

Thanks for posting this, John. I like his work a lot. He has a wonderful eye and a great sense of humor in his work.

I find the whole discussion regarding his work looking staged to be a bit odd. In his own words, he is interested in "facts" and not "fiction". I'm guessing the staged look to be another way of saying that he has a great compositional style.

I think a lot has to do with him being a good editor of his own work. If you shoot a lot, which I presume he does, you need to have the guts to discard good images that are nice, but that are not 'particular' in certain way. He has a recognizable style, a rare thing, which he guards by good editing.

 

[Turtle]

I have seen this guy before and his work has filled out a great deal in the years since then. He's a real talent working in what seems to be a particular niches within street i.e. he overlays components and plays on visual juxtaposition and visual relationships.

FWIW I don't think he is staging images. He is doing what 99.99% of people cant be bothered doing and that is completely living and breathing what he does. Shots like this happen a couple of times in a lifetime for those who expect them to unfold before their eyes and wake them up from their slumber. For others they are there all the time; its just a question of actively capturing them.

I am sure he sees posters, objects, scenes everywhere he goes and with them come ideas (about other elements to bring into play). Every time he 'walks the beat' he looks for opportunities to make plays on people and mobile elements that he can weave into those things he knows wont move (or he knows to look out for in new places).

Its about having a mind completely overflowing with ideas, things to look out for and yet still open to completely new visual encounters. Its about caring about nothing else. For those who are highly doubtful, but have hugely demanding jobs. Just imagine if everything you put into your photography and your demanding job (including the time) were channeled into photography (THIS sort of work) on top of a natural talent. Do you still think such images would have to be staged? Really?

Photography like this requires a massive investment of time and mental energy, but these scenes are out there every single time we walk the street. This about it. That clearly undeniable... and to bring AA into things again, 'Chance favors the prepared mind.' Something tells me this guy is in such a state of being that for him there is no such thing as walking to the shop to buy a newspaper. Also note how he is not shooting ANY of what I would call 'classical street' - his entire effort is focused quite narrowly and this means a much better success rate than for people trying to shoot everything, including the more 'human condition' focused street work.

Lets not also forget the tens of thousands of frames on the cutting room floor so to speak. For this sort of shooting, even if they were staged, to make them natural looking, would take a lot of 'takes.' This guy shoots a lot of frames I bet!

Its great to see such strong colour street work! Sour grapes is such a common response to strong work. Now all Matt Stuart needs to do is capture that idea on film and put that frame at the end his slideshow.

 

[surfer dude]

Thank you for the link - a very interesting photographer and he seems like a very nice person. I like the way he has two or three things going on at one time in some of his shots.

The book in question, Street Photography Now, or at least the publishers, may however be a different kettle of fish. I commend the following article in TOP to people who may be interested in the book:

http://theonlinephotographer.typepa....html/the_online_photographer/blog_index.html

With that attitude, T&H, I won't be buying it.

 

[Turtle]

Just read online that he shoots at least a couple of rolls of film every day and never leaves the house without his camera. There's lots of info about how he sees things and how he works towards particular ends.

http://moreintelligentlife.com/blog/melissa-goldstein/qa-matt-stuart-street-photographer

 

[MCTuomey]

Yes, thanks for sharing the link. I like and admire Stuart - as Michael says, his passion for his trade is evident and his sense of humor and curiosity is delightful.

He says on his site that he uses fuji superia 400 which resonated for me since that's what i used in my film-based sportsshooting days - because it was predictable outdoors and quite cheap).

Yes, Joe, one camera, one lens, one film, no bag. Pure shooter.

 

[ebino]

Decisive moment style photography is cliched, old-fashioned, done-to-death, used, abused, misused... It officially died when Robert Frank released The Americans.

"We already know too much about how pictures look and should look, and how do you get around making those pictures again and again..." -Winogrand

That's right, how long this guy is going to make those pictures again and again. The day he takes a picture which does not contain some gimmick, it will fall flat. He has tied himself in an aesthetic straight jacket.


Anyway, I let guys like this with his patron creative society at their own element, he looks too delicate and artsy so i won't hurt his feelings anymore.

 

[Spider67]

Thanks for the link.
I think that taking pics of the decisive moment will be never outdated. Robert Frank himself did it too (well before he made "The Americans"). Street is just another genre with rules of its own.

 

[Turtle]

For as long as human beings inhabit the earth we will find fascination looking at ourselves, or more accurately, those we think different to ourselves. I find it ironic that despite the human condition having remained largely unchanged since we first trod the earth, our apparent circumstances have and it is the circumstances that allow us to see our own reflections. Knowing history cannot provide us instant self-realisation and therefore it for every generation - every individual - to learn and figure things out for themselves. Nobody wakes up at 16 years old having read some good books on the topic knowing all there is about what it is to be human! With each generation we ask who and what we are and this, to me, is what street photography is often about.

Matt's work is very much on the photographic/visual side rather than the social commentary but this is my response to the idea that street photography died after Fran's Americans! I would argue that Frank was very much a documentary shooter who shot a great deal on the street rather than what we would perhaps describe nowadays as a 'modern street photographer' engaged more in the visual side of things rather than the message. He is arguably far closer to HCB therefore than Frank IMHO. Frank and HCB have very little in common, surely?

I agree that Matt has selected a tight niche, but he has done it very well and it does not mean that he will not diversify in time. Clearly he is not a social documentary photographer, but I suspect he could turn his hand to all sorts of things based on what I have seen. He sees things most people dont and that can take you places.

 

[ebino]

For as long as human beings inhabit the earth we will find fascination looking at ourselves, or more accurately, those we think different to ourselves. I find it ironic that despite the human condition having remained largely unchanged since we first trod the earth, our apparent circumstances have and it is the circumstances that allow us to see our own reflections. Knowing history cannot provide us instant self-realisation and therefore it for every generation - every individual - to learn and figure things out for themselves. Nobody wakes up at 16 years old having read some good books on the topic knowing all there is about what it is to be human! With each generation we ask who and what we are and this, to me, is what street photography is often about.

Matt's work is very much on the photographic/visual side rather than the social commentary but this is my response to the idea that street photography died after Fran's Americans! I would argue that Frank was very much a documentary shooter who shot a great deal on the street rather than what we would perhaps describe nowadays as a 'modern street photographer' engaged more in the visual side of things rather than the message. He is arguably far closer to HCB therefore than Frank IMHO. Frank and HCB have very little in common, surely?

I agree that Matt has selected a tight niche, but he has done it very well and it does not mean that he will not diversify in time. Clearly he is not a social documentary photographer, but I suspect he could turn his hand to all sorts of things based on what I have seen. He sees things most people dont and that can take you places.

I'm replying belatedly to this thread because it had gotten heated, but anyway... Visual aesthetics and social commentary are not mutually exclusive, i give you Alex Webb as an example.

Webb's work, especially Istanbul is in my opinion the definitive color street photography masterpiece. Its structured around color, composed absolutely exquisitely and yet every photo surpasses those two qualities and somehow convey a feeling of Istanbul and its people... So, social commentary and visual aesthetic are not mutually exclusive, the works that combine all the factors are the genuine works of art, and the ones that play like a one trick pony on one factor, have a short life but then its forgotten.

Even Costa Manos and his American Color series despite its color and composition perfection fails on the human level... The colors and visual architecture is there but no human feelings... But this is a limitation of photography, you could make the most visually stunning photo, but if it does not touch people on a human level it fails.

Its easy to impress other amateurs with technical excellence and decisive moment shots but show them to a normal person and he/she would be unimpressed. A great photo touches the common person as well as the art critique and an experienced photographer with the same power.

 

[emraphoto]

Well that dude's photos impress the hell out of me.

 

[DNG]

very interesting...some nice shots there...one camera, one lens, no bag...

That reminds me.... about a diary entry 😉

 

[dyao]

I really like the guy's ethos and reasons behind his photography...however his pictures leave me cold. Once you 'get' the visual pun it seems there's not much left. would be happy to read some contrasting takes.

 

[emraphoto]

i think 'street' is a genre teetering on leaving one cold at the best of times. i suppose what i like about the work is its undertones of humor. most 'street' work i encounter involves very serious looking strangers.

 

[back alley]

being funny is hard work, telling a joke or humorous story is tough to do.
taking a funny foto is more than many are capable of.

try it sometime.

 

[dcsang]

I will say again, I really like his work.

I think it's awesome and way better than most..err.. some give him credit for.
😉

I also like Dali - then again, a lot of people don't like Dali - doesn't mean Dali's work isn't good in its own right.
I can't stand anything by Julian Schnabel - but that doesn't mean his work isn't good to some people.

Dave