Street Photography - Definitions
Bob Patefield
@bobpatefield6 Jul
Street Photography - Definitions
Hi. I'm looking for as many definitions of street photography as possible, so if you have any SP books that attempt to define it I'd really appreciate it if you could take a snap, or quote it and let me know who wrote it. It's for an upcoming article. Many thanks.
Thank you Carl.
From Magnum Streetwise: “the impulse to take candid, unrehearsed pictures in the public realm.”
It goes on to more poetically say “ …the street's capacity for throwing up micro-dramas that, when seen with the right eye, can resolve themselves into captivating and mysterious photographs whose narrative potential would excite a Tolstoy or a Proust.
Street photography revels in the incongruous, the implausible, the inconsistent and the ineffable. It celebrates ambiguity, hinting at parallel realities that we can only occasionally tune into, and then only for a fraction of a second. It is more of a tradition than a genre, a suite of improvisational tools to be used when the moment demands it, like a jazz musician searching for a riff.”
Thanks for taking the time to share that with me Chris. Much appreciated.
Do you know who actually wrote that Chris? Was it Stephen McLaren? I believe he compiled, edited and wrote the introduction. Cheers.
I don’t, but I can check when I get home.
That would be great, but no panic. Thanks Chris.
Replying to Bob Patefield
Yes, it says “text by Stephen McLaren”.
Replying to Chris O'Brien
Brilliant. Thanks Chris.
I don’t know if it’s street photography exclusive, but I always loved this quote.
“To photograph is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
That's a nice quote. Thanks Gennaro.
Geoff Dyer did a very interesting book called The Ongoing Moment about photography which I found fascinating, strange and perplexing but made me look at things in a different way. I'm not sure if I entirely understood it all or even if I agreed with some of his points but his viewpoint is definitely unique and well worth a deep dive into.
Cheers B. I will definitely take a look at that. At the moment I'm after as many hard and fast definitions I can find. Here's an AI example....
Street photography is a genre of documentary photography that captures candid, spontaneous moments of everyday life in public spaces—typically streets, urban environments, or other public settings.
It emphasizes unposed images of people, their interactions, emotions, and surroundings, often taken without the subjects' awareness, to reflect authentic human behavior and the "decisive moment."
That's the kind of thing I'm looking for, but written by humans if at all possible.
😉
Thanks B. I'm a very slow reader and I've a couple of deadlines i need to deal with first, but I'll get to it. Just wanted to show you that i took your recommendation seriously. 😎
“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
“My street photography is grounded in real people doing real things, and my observing them, reacting to them and trying to squeeze them into a rectangle.”
Richard Kalvar
Richard Kelvar's quote sums it up perfectly for me. Thanks Keith. That's a cracker.