So how do you do it, photographing people in public?

[ChrisC]

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I'm a great believer in developing an 'invisible persona' when photographing people; I concede that I am not as good at it as I was when younger - but it is a real skill which can be developed. It's the opposite of the Bruce Gilden style whereby he photographs his interaction with his subjects. I think we all have to decide early on whether we prefer our own presence in our photographs or whether we observe and record others interacting without our influence.

 

Alternatively, a friend has a different take on how to present himself when photographing people in public; he wears a bright yellow high visibility, reflective jacket to make himself as obvious as possible. It's not quite my style - but he might have a point?

 

................. Chris

[RSL]

I have to agree with Tina on this one.

 

I think if you actually stop and think how you, yourself (not directed at anyone in particular) would feel if, while walking down the street, some bloke jumped out in front of you and stuck a camera right in your face and fired a temporarily-blinding flash. I sincerely doubt that anyone subjected to that sort of surprise would be thinking "gee, that was fun!"

 

I know I wouldn't appreciate it, so I certainly wouldn't do it to someone else.

 

Kent, You're right. Anyone trying to do street photography with flash obviously belongs in confinement and under "professional care."

 

Gilden's doing the same thing William Klein did back in the sixties. The difference is that when Klein did it it was new and original. His stuff certainly wasn't my favorite kind of thing, but it was interesting. The Klein I remember most is a picture of a kid with a mean look pointing a toy pistol directly at the photographer while a second kid with a gentle look has a hand on the first kid's arm as if he's trying to get him to lower the gun. It's a great photograph.

 

The trouble with an awful lot of street photography is that it's just that: a picture of the street, usually with some not very interesting people doing nothing particularly interesting. Garry Winogrand can show you the difference and so can Elliott Erwitt, to name just two of several. Gilden's stuff may be annoying, but it's good because it's not about boring people doing boring things.

 

Incidentally, I haven't run across any of Gilden's snaps where he used a flash, though I'm probably missing some since he's not one of my favorite photographers.

[Guest malland]

...The trouble with an awful lot of street photography is that it's just that: a picture of the street, usually with some not very interesting people doing nothing particularly interesting. Garry Winogrand can show you the difference and so can Elliott Erwitt, to name just two of several...

Although I like both Winogrand abd Erwitt, there are photographers that have a more expressionist approach, most notably Moriyama Daido. And on "not very interesting people doing nothing particularly interesting", a photograph is not going to be interesting or good if he or she has nothing to say. A few more pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Mitch/Potomac, MD

Flickr: Mitch Alland's Photostream

[sean_reid]

Kent, You're right. Anyone trying to do street photography with flash obviously belongs in confinement and under "professional care."

 

Interestingly, much of Winogrand's work for "Public Relations" and "Stock Photographs" was done with flash. I'm with Winogrand, though, that there really is no such thing as street photography. But photographing strangers in public spaces using flash...Winogrand did a good deal of that - zoo photography with strobe. <G>

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[Kent10D]

The trouble with an awful lot of street photography is that it's just that: a picture of the street, usually with some not very interesting people doing nothing particularly interesting.

 

Amen to that! 90% of "street photography" in a nutshell. Well spake. And examples abound!

 

Garry Winogrand can show you the difference and so can Elliott Erwitt, to name just two of several. Gilden's stuff may be annoying, but it's good because it's not about boring people doing boring things.

 

There aren't too many photographers who really make the "street" genre work. For me good street photography has to exude deep, intimate involvement with the street, whether it's the people or the environment or a combination of the above (but that doesn't necessarily mean "interaction").

 

But I guess the need for involvement with the subject actually applies to any type of photography. It's just that it requires a special approach, as well as talent, to pull it off in the street.

[dpattinson]

For an interesting sampling of street photography, take a look at this flickr group:

Flickr: Hardcore Street Photography (HCSP)

 

It's a curated group, however they draw from a very wide range of styles and techniques. If you want to read some passionate, if sometimes heated, debate on what 'street photography' is then the discussion forum is worth a look.

 

With 25,000 members, and only about 9,000 images in the pool - it's one of the toughest groups on flickr. The guys who moderate it have seen just about every kind of street shot that can be imagined, and while I certainly don't think everything that gets in is great - everything that gets in has something special about it.

 

Oh - and they have some pretty damn impressive flash street photography in there too

[RSL]

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Amen to that! 90% of "street photography" in a nutshell. Well spake. And examples abound!

 

There aren't too many photographers who really make the "street" genre work. For me good street photography has to exude deep, intimate involvement with the street, whether it's the people or the environment or a combination of the above (but that doesn't necessarily mean "interaction").

 

But I guess the need for involvement with the subject actually applies to any type of photography. It's just that it requires a special approach, as well as talent, to pull it off in the street.

 

Kent, I tend to agree with you -- especially about the involvement. When you go out to do it, if you're not involved you just don't get anything worth pressing the shutter button for.

 

But the thing I notice in all the street photographs I consider to be good work is that every one tells a story. You may not quite understand the story as you look at the picture but you know there's one there. Way too many people go out and shoot a picture of someone walking along the street and are convinced they've done street photography since they actually shot a picture of someone on the street. What they shot was a picture of the street but it isn't street photography. I think of Winogrand's pictures of drunken women dancing at parties for instance. The story you get from them is that these are desperate people leading desperate lives. They may be wealthy, etc., but that doesn't make life less desperate for them.

 

I've attached an example of my own. I'm not suggesting it's great street work, but it has that story element to it, which makes it genuine street photography as opposed to pictures of streets.

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