"When Will Street Photography Grow Up?"

[tirediron]

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

It's just that when you start shooting peoples' sacred cows, they get a bit irate about it...

Yeah, but have you ever tried a sacred T-bone? Deeeeeeeeeeee-lish!

 

[runnah]

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

It's just that when you start shooting peoples' sacred cows, they get a bit irate about it...

That's the problem with sacred cows, too damn big and easy to hit.

 

[fjrabon]

Maybe that is part of my reason for rejecting a lot of street, because there is a ton of crap of crap that gets passed off as art. For every alex webb or HCB there are 10,000 people trying to pass off snap shots as gold.
.

You do realise that there are legions of bad photos in every discipline. This is nothing unique to street photography save that its a more easily accessed and thus slightly more common genre than, say, diving photography..

Right but I can't take a blurry photo of a bird and still say it'a great wildlife photo. I can't take a photo of a parking lot and say it's a beautiful mountain landscape.

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

I guess I took the "dick" comment earlier more seriously than you meant it then, so w/e, no worries.

 

[Overread19 7]

Maybe that is part of my reason for rejecting a lot of street, because there is a ton of crap of crap that gets passed off as art. For every alex webb or HCB there are 10,000 people trying to pass off snap shots as gold.
.

You do realise that there are legions of bad photos in every discipline. This is nothing unique to street photography save that its a more easily accessed and thus slightly more common genre than, say, diving photography..

Right but I can't take a blurry photo of a bird and still say it'a great wildlife photo. I can't take a photo of a parking lot and say it's a beautiful mountain landscape.

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

Ohhhhhh yes you can
you just need to be more creative!

I mean take the bird, its a fantastic real life action shot that displays the energy that these avians have by the blur that the photo displays! The out of-focus - the blur - it all adds to show just how majestic and expect these animals are in the natural world; so fast and swift that they defeat even the best of photographers and equipment! Indeed were you there you could not have gotten a better shot - it is most indeed an excellent photo!

 

[bribrius]

Maybe that is part of my reason for rejecting a lot of street, because there is a ton of crap of crap that gets passed off as art. For every alex webb or HCB there are 10,000 people trying to pass off snap shots as gold.
.

You do realise that there are legions of bad photos in every discipline. This is nothing unique to street photography save that its a more easily accessed and thus slightly more common genre than, say, diving photography..

Right but I can't take a blurry photo of a bird and still say it'a great wildlife photo. I can't take a photo of a parking lot and say it's a beautiful mountain landscape.

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

I just take photos. Buildings, cars, people, whatever. I take photos of streets and stand on them. I never leave my house thinking "i am going to shoot street". I leave my house thinking i will end up on a street and shoot whatever i feel like. LOL

 

[vintagesnaps]

Scroll down to the bottom of the article, he's offering a free e-book. And seems to have himself in plenty of places online so I'm guessing the freebie and the blogging might be about promoting himself as much as anything.

If someone wants to learn more about street photography it might be better to look up known street photographers who have done it well and look at their work. Anybody and 'everybody' can do a blog, a website, etc., it doesn't mean they necessarily have much expertise or are good at what they're doing.

I've done sports and events and I agree that street photography is related to photojournalism. If you photoshop a pole out of the picture you're basically lying about what was there. If you adjust the contrast you're de-emphasizing it, maybe because it's a distraction and not adding to the picture but circumstances were such that you couldn't keep it out of the frame.

A good photographer would move around and change the vantage point or adjust the framing to keep distractions out of the frame as much as possible. A capable photographer would know it involves timing, and a certain amount of waiting and watching as people move in and out of the scene/your viewfinder.

In sports/photojournalism most adjustments done would be minimal and basically comparable to what would be done in a darkroom or with film images - adjust brightness/contrast, maybe slight cropping, etc. Street photography seems similar in that usually a moment is being captured as it happens and a lot of editing wouldn't usually be needed or done.

 

[Write Lighting]

Scroll down to the bottom of the article, he's offering a free e-book. And seems to have himself in plenty of places online so I'm guessing the freebie and the blogging might be about promoting himself as much as anything.

If someone wants to learn more about street photography it might be better to look up known street photographers who have done it well and look at their work. Anybody and 'everybody' can do a blog, a website, etc., it doesn't mean they necessarily have much expertise or are good at what they're doing.

I've done sports and events and I agree that street photography is related to photojournalism. If you photoshop a pole out of the picture you're basically lying about what was there. If you adjust the contrast you're de-emphasizing it, maybe because it's a distraction and not adding to the picture but circumstances were such that you couldn't keep it out of the frame.

A good photographer would move around and change the vantage point or adjust the framing to keep distractions out of the frame as much as possible. A capable photographer would know it involves timing, and a certain amount of waiting and watching as people move in and out of the scene/your viewfinder.

In sports/photojournalism most adjustments done would be minimal and basically comparable to what would be done in a darkroom or with film images - adjust brightness/contrast, maybe slight cropping, etc. Street photography seems similar in that usually a moment is being captured as it happens and a lot of editing wouldn't usually be needed or done.

I agree, it does kind of seem more like a promotion mixed with a justification of his definition of street photography. But the last part you mentioned made me think of something else. What about multiple exposures in street photography? Are they disqualified? It's something that can be done in camera without the need for any post processing necessarily.

 

[Gary A.]

Coming in late here ... against the article ... Without definitions we wouldn't have any genres at all. But I do agree with the article that many even argue on equipment. Outside of an equipment defined genre, (i.e. infra red photography), equipment has nothing to do with the genre. As a sub-category of photojournalism, Street should not be overly manipulated in post to create an image not representative of the actual scene. Alex Webb is a master.

 

[Amber Vira]

Street photography has been around for very long but doesn't come across that often. People are more focused on marketing there work online so much, that street shots has falled quite far in search engines. try and search more and you will see the responses alot....!!

Amber Vira

 

[sashbar]

I am not as worked up as people think about it, I frankly don't care that much.

It's just that when you start shooting peoples' sacred cows, they get a bit irate about it...

That's the problem with sacred cows, too damn big and easy to hit.

Yes, it is definitely easier than to take just one decent street shot.

 

[The_Traveler]

Because for most of the other genres a bad photo is much more apparent and less easily defended.
I could go to a crowded city, spin around and shoot at random and make a case for 99.9% of the photo taken being masterful street photography.

Te first sentence is true.
The second sentence is incomplete; you could make the case but how many people would accept it?

Maybe that is part of my reason for rejecting a lot of street, because there is a ton of crap of crap that gets passed off as art. For every alex webb or HCB there are 10,000 people trying to pass off snap shots as gold.

For every good landscape person (or wildlife person) there are indeed 10,000, perhaps 100,000 essentially just copying and showing nothing new or original.

I've done sports and events and I agree that street photography is related to photojournalism. If you photoshop a pole out of the picture you're basically lying about what was there.

If you adjust the contrast you're de-emphasizing it, maybe because it's a distraction and not adding to the picture but circumstances were such that you couldn't keep it out of the frame.

A good photographer would move around and change the vantage point or adjust the framing to keep distractions out of the frame as much as possible. A capable photographer would know it involves timing, and a certain amount of waiting and watching as people move in and out of the scene/your viewfinder.

In sports/photojournalism most adjustments done would be minimal and basically comparable to what would be done in a darkroom or with film images - adjust brightness/contrast, maybe slight cropping, etc. Street photography seems similar in that usually a moment is being captured as it happens and a lot of editing wouldn't usually be needed or done.

That in bold above is your definition.
Who cares what is there, this isn't evidence.
I think that whatever edit is needed to emphasize what is in one's mind's eye is OK. I don't see myself as a more mobile version of a traffic camera

 

[sashbar]

If I see another shot of someone walking in front of some ad, sign or graffiti I am going to go crazy.

Surely I could not resist.

 

[Gary A.]

I've been shooting Street for decades and I have yet to see or capture one of those ^^^ ... I am envious.

 

[ronitbajaj]

I think, if Street Photography have talent so no one can stop him/her.