The Best Street Photograph Ever

Robin Harrison

aka Harrison Cronbi
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Apr 12, 2005
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Nick Turpin, of In-Public fame (and, as I once saw him described, ‘the Simon Cowell of modern street photography’) has an interesting crowd-sourced project/experiment/gallery on the go. Called ‘The Best Street Photograph Ever’, it allows the upload and rating of street photographs, and the highly rated ones bubble to the top.

Check it out: http://www.sevensevennine.com/?page_id=2580

(also blogged via http://www.cronbi.com/2011/08/12/street-photography-is/)

It's not a perfect system, but the ranking seems pretty sound - the photos on page 1 are all exceptional, whilst the photos on pages 4 and 5 are more average.

Frank fan? Wild on Winogrand? Mad for Meyerowitz? Partial to Parr? (I'll stop now). Time to vote.
 
Just curious, why is he considered the "Simon Cowell" of street photography? Thanks for the link, btw, interesting concept.

Well I think it's because he plucks street photographers from relative obscurity, or at least isolation, and brings them to a wider audience via his In-Public collective. But maybe it's not the strongest analogy!
 
Well I think it's because he plucks street photographers from relative obscurity, or at least isolation, and brings them to a wider audience via his In-Public collective. But maybe it's not the strongest analogy!

Oh, that's pretty cool. Im just glad it's not that he mercilessly insults people publically in a sadistic fashion!
 
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Do people here not like Simon Cowell? I think he is such a great personality and a genuinely really nice guy.
 
Yeah, mob rule is a useful method for "rating" street photography. What an incredibly depressing and awful thing that site is.
 
Wow, quite a harsh statement. Can you elaborate on that? Just curious.

I'm not a big fan of 'mob rule' in general as it tends to flatten out outliers - which often I find more stimulating.

Yet as an exercise for sampling the taste of a large community I find it quite interesting. And the pictures selected (anyone can upload any picture they want) are very good.

Yeah, mob rule is a useful method for "rating" street photography. What an incredibly depressing and awful thing that site is.
 
Yes, I can elaborate. The "star" system for ranking items is suitable for comparing toaster ovens at Amazon.com, not for comparing some of the most important, complex, and moving art of the last hundred years. It makes my skin crawl.
 
Points taken.

Yes, I can elaborate. The "star" system for ranking items is suitable for comparing toaster ovens at Amazon.com, not for comparing some of the most important, complex, and moving art of the last hundred years. It makes my skin crawl.
 
Yes, I can elaborate. The "star" system for ranking items is suitable for comparing toaster ovens at Amazon.com, not for comparing some of the most important, complex, and moving art of the last hundred years. It makes my skin crawl.

OK. It's a shallow exercise. It's just for fun. It's the internet!

Cheers,
Gary
 
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Wow, quite a harsh statement. Can you elaborate on that? Just curious.

I'm not a big fan of 'mob rule' in general as it tends to flatten out outliers - which often I find more stimulating.

Yet as an exercise for sampling the taste of a large community I find it quite interesting. And the pictures selected (anyone can upload any picture they want) are very good.

Actually, I did. But, there never are more than five pages displayed and my shots never had a chance to get any rating before being pushed back into oblivion.

I'd say the idea is nice but in practise it's moot.
 
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