The Undead Street

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The importance of street photography

The importance of street photography

I've enjoyed following this thread and looking through the images here. And then today, by happenstance, I came across a lovely book of Eugene Smith's street photography in my local book store. Its called "The Jazz Loft Project" and presents a lot of the images Smith made in New York after returning from the war. The images are roughly evenly split between photos made in jazz clubs and out on the streets of New York.

This book reminds me, yet again, of the importance of street photography and the perseverance it requires. If we didn't have images by people like Smith, we'd not be able to reflect nearly as well on our past and nor be able to measure how far we've come.

Another matter raised for me as I look through this book is that a street photography does not have to be profound nor capture some 'decisive moment' to be valuable. I think if any one of the images from this book showed up in this thread, someone here would argue that its too mundane, or incorrectly composed, or not printed correctly. Yet as a total body of work, the book offers a wonderful glimpse into another era and is a valuable documentation of humanity as it was 50 or so years ago.

Oh... and none of the images in the book have a caption, except where a musician is occasionally named; the images seem to stand on their own with no explanation required.
 
Jamie Pillers said:
I've enjoyed following this thread and looking through the images here. And then today, by happenstance, I came across a lovely book of Eugene Smith's street photography in my local book store. Its called "The Jazz Loft Project" and presents a lot of the images Smith made in New York after returning from the war. The images are roughly evenly split between photos made in jazz clubs and out on the streets of New York.

This book reminds me, yet again, of the importance of street photography and the perseverance it requires. If we didn't have images by people like Smith, we'd not be able to reflect nearly as well on our past and nor be able to measure how far we've come.

Another matter raised for me as I look through this book is that a street photography does not have to be profound nor capture some 'decisive moment' to be valuable. I think if any one of the images from this book showed up in this thread, someone here would argue that its too mundane, or incorrectly composed, or not printed correctly. Yet as a total body of work, the book offers a wonderful glimpse into another era and is a valuable documentation of humanity as it was 50 or so years ago.

Oh... and none of the images in the book have a caption, except where a musician is occasionally named; the images seem to stand on their own with no explanation required.
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Yes I agree to a point but I do think that the images have still got to be strong photographs. I do believe then that there is, in this type of work, only a fraction of a second that the elements come together to make a photograph. I think W.Eugene Smith's better work is just more evidence of this.
 
Seeing as everyone else is doing it, I thought I should drop some of my cliche, b/w street shots in here too :D

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And just to make sure I have a back shot in there

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airfrogusmc said:
Yes I agree to a point but I do think that the images have still got to be strong photographs. I do believe then that there is, in this type of work, only a fraction of a second that the elements come together to make a photograph. I think W.Eugene Smith's better work is just more evidence of this.
Click to expand...

Well now, we have to have another thread: "What is a strong photograph?" :)
 
I don't think there's a formula for that, Jamie. Take the second of tomtofa's photographs above ...it breaks many of the established rules but in my humble opinion it's an arresting photograph.
 
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