Street Photography - An introduction for non-photographers
Street photography is an approach to photography rather than a
location, although the streets are the usual place it happens.
"When I saw the photograph of Munkacsi of the black kids
running in a wave I couldn't believe such a thing could be
caught with the camera. I said damn it, I took my camera and
went out into the street." Henri Cartier-Bresson
Alternatively it is refered to as no rules photography. The
plethera of equipment (tripods, lenses, filters, lights etc etc)
associated with "serious" photography is left at home, or better
still in the camera store. Its just too heavy and bulky to cart
around, takes way too long to set up and by the time it is set
up the moment is gone.
Street photography is shooting from the hip.
Likewise the rules of photograph, the f stops, the shutter
speeds, the rule of thirds etc etc are left in their dust
jackets on Amazon shelves. By the time all the technical
considerations are taken into account, the birdy is in another
country.
Thank Canon, Nikon, Fuji et al for point & shoots.
It is just the camera and the photographer with their
enthusiasm, intuition and open mind.
Street photography can be and often is: Out of focus; a tilted
horizon; a soft focus.
Street photographers are optimists, for them the glass is always
half full. They go out on a photo shoot with no plan in mind
secure in the knowledge that this wide world of ours will
provide. A subject, a situation, a scene will present itself all
they have to have is the presence of mind to capture it when it
does.
Street photography can be and often is: Odd things in the fore
ground; no central focus; Odd crops.
Street photographers see the usual, the every day with fresh
eyes. The reflection in a rain puddle, the colours in a crowd,
the balance of a negative space. Their minds are open to all the
stimuli that they see and they curse the days when they leave
their camera at home.
Street photography can be and often is: Very busy; A tilted
perspective; Upside down.
Street photographers are not only on the streets, they are at
weddings,school concerts, next to you on the train. They look a
lot like tourists, its their favourite cover, but they are one
without the big flash. It was left at home, the available light
will do.
Street photography can be and often is: Under exposed; Blurred;
Suffering from vertigo.
Street photography is, what all photography is, a snap shot.
What shines through is the photographer, his/her interpretation
of the scene, what they see in the situation, their reaction to
the stimuli, the art they see in the every day. Technicians take
technically correct and often pretty pictures. Visual artists,
whatever their medium, create images that stimulate the mind,
the heart and validate the human condition in all its guises.
Because, after all, pretty is in the eye of the beholder and
consequently very subjective, whereas art speaks to all who are
prepared to listen.