The Power of a Single Image
It's generally accepted that a series of photos tells a story in a better way than a single photo can. I disagree with this notion and feel a single photo can be as powerful if not more. Single photos have had bigger impact on us historically than a series, be it the Napalm girl or the Afghan girl, no one remembers a series. In street photography also a single picture can convey as much as a whole book can provided we understand how to read it. Here's a photo by Alex Webb, like any good street photograph it is open for interpretation of the viewer and my reading can be totally different from the photographer's intent, but he has left enough elements and hooks for me to make my own interpretation.
Here's my interpretation of the photograph - The top left of the photo has arabic script, the right top has devanagari script, the two eyes are split in the middle and their an advertisement of razor below the eyes with Roman script. The theme of the photograph mirrors the history of India, which was partitioned by the British on religious lines into India and Pakistan.
And the beauty of street photography comes out in this image, it does not pour down the narrative into the viewers throat, one will just move on to the next image if they don't see the symbolism in it but if the viewer knows how to read a photograph it's a delight for them.