Street Photography
The genre of street photography is naturally an ever changing one. Since the goal is to capture candid life on the street, the photographs in each time period will therefore reflect what the world looks like at the time. For example, street photography taken in the 1936 will look drastically different than photos shot in the 2009 because the world looked different. Street photography has been around since it was commercially introduced in 1839 but really took off in the early 1930s with Henri Cartier-Bresson. He, along with other men, wanted to record life; more specifically the reactions of “the-man-in-the-street”.
This yearning to capture “man-in-the-street” or “man in his natural habitat” is why a key element of street photography is spontaneity. If a photograph does not have any of the other usual markers of street photography, it could still loosely get by under this category if it was taken in public, without a preconceived idea. Spontaneity in photography, defined by J-F Levy, is “the choreography of synchronizing an impulsive emotional or cerebral response that may transpire over the course of milliseconds with making a photographic exposure” (Levy, 3). Street photographers need to be observant of their surrounding and quick to capture the certain beautiful accidents that tell a good story. A photographer is not shooting street photography if they already know what they are trying to say and just finding the characters in real life to convey their own message, street photographers capture raw, non-staged life. Levy also mentions that a special talent of a good street photographer includes, “not knowing what a good photograph will look like, yet trusting the desire and impulse to pick up the camera, frame the scene, and rely upon intuition to recognize the moment where form and content are at an apex” (Levy 3). This genre relies more on intuition and empathy with the subjects rather than the photographer’s own vision.
A classic marker of street photography is the black and white filter. The black and white phenomenon started mainly because of the limitations of technology when this genre was taking off, street photographers shot in black and white because there was no other option. Nevertheless, even as technology progressed and color came into play, black and white still dominated the street photography world. This could be due to the fact that black and white pictures hold a sort of timeless beauty. Color gives too much away about a time period but black and white can never look outdated. Color can also be distracting in many circumstances; if color is not adding something or maybe even hurting the photo, it does not need to be there. Street photographer David Geffin explained it beautifully when he said, “I care more about the relationship between my subject and background, rather than the distracting color. Black and white allows you to begin to think about these key elements (lighting, composition, elements in and out of the frame) that you might otherwise not focus on as much when you are thinking about making colors work together” (Geffin 7). Black and white photography is more intimate because when you take the colors away, there is nothing to distract the viewer from the true emotion of the subject.
Juxtaposition is a huge theme in street photography. The art of composing a frame with two or more objects that create an obvious compare and contrast is amplified when it is caught accidentally in the street. This is based on the chance appearances of two elements and the true talent of a good street photographer is the ability to notice and capture those special moments. Juxtaposition is one of the most effective ways for a photographer to tell a story. Josh Dunlop of Expert Photography explains, “to create a point of juxtaposition, the photo must contain at least two elements with strong visual weight. The viewer looks at both of these at the same time, coming to their own conclusion about the purpose of each element” (Dunlop, 5). The weight each item holds determines how long the viewer is likely to look at that item. Therefore, if two contrasting elements hold the same weight and the viewer looks at them each for the same amount of time, this tells a certain type of story. For example, there is a famous mural in Paris on Rue Saint Merri of a man shhing and a photograph was taken of children playing in the street in front of the mural. Both the mural and the kids playing carry an equal weight, but the ideas contradict each other; one is quiet and the other is loud. This is what causes juxtaposition and is fascinating to the viewer when captured correctly. Furthermore, a good street photograph will give the viewer just the amount information they need to construct a story in their head, but not too much information where the story is too obviously laid out. Making the audience do more of the work allows them to connect more deeply with the photograph and makes them an active participant in the art.
The genre most similar to street photography is documentary photography, but the differences lie in the process of creating the story and the motives behind taking the picture. Although these two genres share key qualities such as being shot on the street, the dominant use of black and white and the apparent candidacy, where street photographers try to capture unpredicted moments, documentary photographers are usually shooting to serve the purpose of their larger narrative. By this component alone, I would classify documentary photography to be less honest of an art form than street photography. That is not saying that the genre is dishonest, just making the point that it is run through a certain bias whereas street photography is supposedly not. Documentary photography also is used to mainly document significant and historical events. This includes large social movements, wars, poverty, cultural celebrations and other parts of life that are deemed pivotal in society. Although street photography can capture these events, the focus is smaller and more geared to human emotion than historical events. Moreover, the majority of it instead focuses on the ordinary day to day life of man.
Now that we have entered the social media era, capturing the day to day life of ordinary man is not a rare act. In contrast, there is too much of this content out there. With the use of Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, billions around the world are documenting their lives and posting it online for their friends to see. It is plausible to conclude that all of these digital platforms have done more harm than good in the street photography world. Although more people are able to pursue their street photography dreams, it is now harder to be recognized because of how much content is floating around. Richard Bram tackles this subject with mixed emotions in an interview saying that, “social media has given a voice to a very large number of street photographers… but it is completely unfiltered. Good images are almost immediately buried beneath scads of ordinary ones” (Resnick, 10). Therefore, the only way for a modern street photographer to get noticed is to market themselves. To be successful, a photographer must share his content on social media, usually on multiple platforms, and develop a following. This is a harsh contrast to the early days of street photography where the good photographers could easily distinguish themselves, get their art in exhibits, and even sell their prints.
While street photography is a very unique and compelling form of art, there are critics who will argue that it is a violation of privacy or even altogether unethical. Some people may be uncomfortable having their photo taken or are scared that they will be portrayed in a way that they do not want to be seen in. In certain situations, there is a fine line between capturing a person’s true image and violating their privacy; but the truth is that there is no presumed privacy in public spaces. Photographer David Sutton supports this with the argument that, “we live in a time where nearly everyone has a camera in hand. So it would seem by participating in modern society, you are tacitly offering your consent to be photographed” (Sutton, 6). Although street photography is completely legal, at least in the United States, there certain basic human rights that photographers should respect in regard to taking a stranger’s photo. The use of common sense is a main one: not invading the subjects personal space or being aggressive in the act of taking a photo. Knowing when not to photograph someone: when they are vulnerable or embarrassed. The US National Press Photographer’s Association provides a few solid guidelines on this subject, “The code says that you should provide context when taking photos of subjects, give consideration to vulnerable subjects, not intentionally stage the scene, and avoid altering your images in such a way that is misleading to viewers or misrepresents subjects”. The point is to capture the truest possible image while also respecting the subject you are photographing.
Regardless of the techniques, the subject matter, the platform it is shared on, or the ethics, I believe that street photography connects people on a deeper level. Street photography is a way of learning about the community around us and a way of learning more about human nature in general. In celebrated fashion street photographer Bill Cunningham’s testament to why he loves street photography he explains, “I love the magic of fleeting everyday moments that will never happen again. I love cities and especially my city and my neighborhood and want to capture its citizens and energy, right now and forever… I love the theater and chaos of an ever-changing cast of characters, how they look and how they look at each other” (Corral, 10). The appeal of street photography is that it captures those small, fleeting moments and documents them so they can last forever. By capturing moments of pain, embarrassment, humor or even joy, those emotions can be amplified and experienced again and again by a greater amount of people. The process of taking the photo can be a very intimate act between the photographer and the subject. That is to say, if done right, a photograph can cause an intimate moment to happen between the viewer and the subject. Due to all of these reasons, I can stand behind the statement that street photograph the most honest and uniting genres of photography.
“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street”. Celebrated street Photographer Robert Disneou beautifully justifies the appeal of street photography in this simple quote, that content in human life can naturally create just as surprising pictures as one can arrange with their imagination. There are certain aspects this genre holds to make it their own: mainly the spontaneity, the classic black and white filter and the juxtaposition to tell some sort of story. These are all markers of street photography that determine whether a picture will fall into this category or not. The genre of photography most similar to street photography is documentary photography. These two are very similar to each other and often get mistaken for one another, although there are distinct differences that set them apart including the intention for taking the photograph. This specific genre has changed throughout the years, transforming and adapting to society as well as changing due to the advancement in technology. The social media age has affected street photography with the transition into a world where everyone seems to own a camera and photographers now have to compete for the viewers’ attention. The intriguing genre of street photography gives viewers a glimpse into what is going on in society and unearths true emotion found in public. I believe it to be centered around the theme of human connection and to be the rawest, most honest form of photography.
