Street Photography
What is street Photography?
There is no real correct or incorrect definition of street photography as many different photographers have different concepts of and approaches to this genre of photography. Some photographers believe street photography is about portraying the emotion and feelings in people where as others believe it is about the environment or the 'street' as such. Other photographers such as Eric Kim believe it is important to focus on both these factors.
'I believe that the most effective street photographs are the ones that synthesize both the human element as well as the urban environment'
(Eric Kim - What is street photography)
To me, street photography is about documenting real life people and showing the true emotions of that person at the time of the photograph and - although I do not believe that photographs have to be candid shots to be classed as Street Photography; I personally believe that candid images are more powerful and successful as the photograph is captured without appearing posed.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt
WALKER EVANS
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Using this idea of photographing people in work uniforms works really well on showing the peoples emotions and facial expressions as that is the only insight into that person; apart from the uniform indicating the possible employment and class of the person, it leaves the viewer asking more about the image and therefore we look at the emotion of the people and without these being candid shots that would not be possible.
After looking at the work of Walker Evans I feel that my ideas for my street photography have been influenced as I feel I have seen the great impact a candid image can have opposed to a posed image, therefore I would like to capture the moment in my image and take photographs where the people or person is unaware and carrying on with their daily lives.
As a start into my research into street photography I have been looking into the work of Walker Evans, the image above is from his work entitled 'Labor Anonymous' in the magazine 'Fortune' which he worked for and where he created many of his most successful work. The article above contains 11 shots that Walker Evans created of different people on the streets in their work attire. Some of these images look candid where as others look like they could be posed, personally I believe the candid shots are more interesting and powerful in this portrayal of people as we know nothing about the people apart from some clues from their work uniforms therefore we only see the person as an employee so the candidness of the photo is really important as it is lets us see the individual and not just the worker.
I want the viewers to be moved into the lives of the people that they are looking at, the visual experience is incredibly emotional.” Paul Fusco
