What is Street Photography
There’s a huge confusion somehow when it comes to what the definition of street photography is, the confusion is only in India in instagram; google and wiki and all books on the topics are nowhere ambiguous about what it means. Maybe we Indians are a little lazy about just googling it, I don’t think those people will be reading this blog anyway. But maybe for those who are already aware I will share stuff to help them to have a stronger resolve in their solitary pursuit.
Like Caravaggio is father of Baroque Painting and Picasso of Cubism, the Father of Street Photography is Henri-Cartier Bresson. Bresson may not have invented candid photography but he proposed in his writing the approach, the philosophy, the very essence of this genre of photography which was later named street photography by the followers of his school of thought. What falls under street photography and what doesn’t, will be crystal clear when we understand the philosophy behind it. Let’s see what he is saying, these are not just motivational quotes, they are the definition of the genre, so try to understand them.
“There are those who take photographs arranged beforehand and those who go out to discover the image and seize it. For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give a meaning to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity and a sense of geometry - it is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
“To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.”
- Henri Cartier-Bresson
The key phrase here is “recognition of the significance of an event” (while simultaneously organizing and capturing it), that’s the crux of it. If the recognition of the event is disconnected to the capturing of the event then it’s no more (street) photography for Bresson. What does this mean… if you preconceive an image and set it up before capturing it, it’s no longer street photography. The capturing and organizing (composing) has to be together.
“Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
Street photography is not about documenting an event happening on the street with a series of photos but the skill lies in capturing the whole essence of the event in a single image.
“A photographer must always work with the greatest respect for his subject and in terms of his own point of view.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
The definitive statement on ethics of candid photography, do not show your subject in a disrespectful manner. Don’t tag #poorkid for likes.
“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
This can mean many things, my understanding is that a photograph should be good technically, visually and conceptually.
So that’s street photography. This does not mean other forms of photography are somehow wrong, one can do anything they like, I do multiple things myself, from architecture, still life, portrait with interaction, etc but it’s good to know that they are not technically street photography to avoid confusion, to discuss them in context and not to bother fashion photographers with candidness of strangers.
Street Photography is an approach to photography and is not defined based on subject or location like other genres. The approach as defined by Bresson limits the genre to have the subject matter to be unstaged and unposed as if it’s staged it is no longer simultaneous recognition of event occuring and it’s capture.
If you can get a hand on Bresson’s books “The Decisive Moment” or “The Mind’s Eye” get them.
Footnote: Image used in this post is Callejón of the Valencia Arena, 1933 by Henri-Cartier Bresson.