Street Photography
Street photography is a complex subject – What is it? How to do it? Where to do it? I shall address these questions over a series of blogs, starting with this one. My aim is to give high level introductions to the genre, over a series of blogs - starting here!
So…what is it? It can be hard to get a clear and agreed definition of “street photography” – all I can do is give my definition, based on my experience, thoughts and values – “street” can be a minefield with both moral and legal issues for each of us to address.
In my mind, i tend to divide street photography into three high level areas
· Life. Basically, candid images of people going about their every days lives, with all the issues that entails
· Portraits. Where I ask permission to take an image
· Environment. No people, just images of the street environment that happen to catch my interest
I shall post an example of each type at the end of this blog.
I believe most people think about the “Life” category when they think of street photography - i.e. capturing slices of life, real people in real situations. Frozen moments in time with no set-up involved.
The moments may be mundane, they may be dramatic – but they are real, not posed. However, even in an apparently mundane moment, it is possible to capture a certain “something” that lifts a shot. That “something” could be one of several things – for example, a moment of eye contact, a facial expression, interaction between people or a degree of connection between a subject and their environment. Essentially an element of a shot that lifts the whole image to give extra interest to whatever has been captured.
Overall, however, the driver should be to capture a scene that conveys some degree of emotion, an element that compels the viewer to spend time looking at the shot.
An excellent way to think of this is summed up perfectly by Henri Cartier-Bresson who coined the phrase “The Decisive Moment”. Anyone seriously interested in street photography should spend some time studying how HCB practiced and thought about the genre. Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment is an excellent resource.
Mastering Street Photography is another very worthwhile introduction to the art.
Some other examples of my own street photography can be found here.
Two significant factors to consider in street photography are legalities and moralities. Legalities – each country will have their own laws around who/what can be photographed and where. I shall leave that to your own research. The moral aspect is down to each individual – being allowed to photography something does not always mean you should take the shot.
Two examples that spring quickly to mind on the moral aspect are suffering and embarrassment.
Hopefully these do not require much explanation, so I shall keep this brief. If you are a witness to suffering, should your impulse be to assist or to take a photograph? Your decision will be based on the circumstances and your own moral compass. At an extreme level, war photographers have a clear job to do – document and record the horrors they witness. Nick Ut’s chilling image of Kim Phuc fleeing from a napalm strike is possibly one example – an iconic image that sums up much of the horror from the Vietnam War. But most of us are not War Photographers – so, if we see suffering, do we assist or do we document?
The embarrassment angle is another tricky situation. I am sure most of us have laughed at the misfortune of others at some point, be it in images or video. However, would we be so amused were the subject ourselves? A partner? A child?
Again, variables such as the circumstances, how extreme the suffering or embarrassment is and our own moral compasses all come into play. I’m in no position to judge, make your own calls.
My second category is “street portraits”. To be honest, that’s simple enough - you ask for permission and take the shot in the street environment. I won’t dwell any further on this topic for the moment.
The final subset I shall touch on is street photography that does not contain a human element. Sometimes images of the street environment itself can create interesting or compelling images. An example is posted below.
Finally, please consider this as an introduction to street photography – in future blogs I shall give some basic tips, equipment thoughts and suggestions on locations. Thank you for reading!
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“Life”. A candid image taken in Chinatown, Singapore.
“Portraits”. Permission clearly asked, taken in Hoi An, Vietnam.
“Environment”. No people, just an image from the back streets of Little India, Singapore. I like the grittiness, the colours - especially the yellow in different areas of the frame - and door/red/white triptych effect.