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In the first essay I attempted to create an umbrella or framework for thinking about “Street Photography”. A starting point if you will. In this essay I will dive deeper into definitions and key words that begin to define the practice and our understanding of a practice. |
On the street or street photography ?
Is there a difference of intent?
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© Michael Amrose, Photographs taken on the street
I thought it may be interesting to bring in a number of YouTube narratives as references. I feel that those shown here are part of the narrative in framing ideas and practices related to street photography. By showing them here I am not being critical of their author or the content. I just wanted to bring the ideas into our inquiry, letting them speak for themselves.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEFzXQSv8Y8&t=31s
Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6UwQv5eSDw
Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5oAxxzTG34&t=9s
Back to the definition
I wish to return to some of the definitions and frameworks noted in the first essay. I believe it is important to realize that narratives and definitions (through word and image) surrounding street photography by self acclaimed mentors and experts, begin to set the boundaries and limits of the practice (the beliefs and assumptions of what street photography is). In a sense the boundaries create a consciousness concerning the nature of photography and the photographer. How else would a person with a camera define their identity and practice to themselves and to others.
Before heading out into the world to make images, the photographer already knows the images he or she will make. That is, what images will be made and not made. I do not mean specific images but the type or genre. How terms like “good”, “capture”, “exciting” and others define not only what is attended to but valued. In a very real manner, the narrative defines the image maker.
As soon as a camera is picked up with the intent of making photographs/images, the persona of a photographer comes to light. The camera holder sees herself as an image maker. This is important to consider because the mind set of a photographer defines the location and moments the images will be made along with the judgements made concerning the image. We could refer to this as an identity or consciousness: I am a photographer, I make images and I see the world as a collection of possible images through my own eyes. Consider for a moment that we all talk to ourselves, we carry on a dialog, debating what, when and how to make an image.
Holding the camera to the eye, moving the frame/creating the frame, stepping in closer or further away, moving the frame up or down, making decisions, and then making the exposure or not, walking on or staying, all determine the image made as an object for further analysis (my position is that digital images on screen or paper are also objects). When you remove the camera from your eye there is a shift in awareness, you have stopped. You may start looking more intensely, bringing the camera back to a “shooting” position, waiting for “that” moment to record what you are seeing out there and in your mind.
My point is, what drives or steers the decisions made before you go “click” (excuse the reference to an analog camera) and move on to the next point in time. I wish to suggest that the paradigm you are working within determines the image(s) you construct. You have already made a number of decisions based upon notions of what you think or visualize the final result to be. Just by lifting your camera, standing in a place, selecting the time and conditions and pointing your lens, you are working within a set of assumptions and values defining your behavior as a photographer/image-maker. Even if you are challenging what is an accepted image, you are working within a social historical construct.
Examples of defining narratives are found on YouTube. Searching the term “street photography” will harvest a rich and wide array of mentors, experts, tips and guidelines that not only steer the image maker but defines the image maker and what makes a good photograph. This is also found in photography classes where an expert (of sorts) rate the work of students with a letter/term or number value, setting the definition of good work. We see in portfolio reviews (and I have reviewed my share) the well-meaning efforts of reviewers to guide and direct the work of others. Rarely does the reviewer provide a framework for how they see and understand images (What can you really accomplish in a 20 minute review?).
Interview with a street photographer/imagmaker: Giordano Cascone
Teachers and reviewers use terms in reviews and critiques like “it works”, “it is not really there”, “this does not work”, “great you got it”, “good work”, “it works” and other value statements. (Do we ever know what “it” is?) Doug Stewart, a photographer, teacher and therapist, deconstructed the value terms he would use in teaching and reviews. Doug would unpack the term “good” by inquiring into the elements which guide that decision. In short, terms like “good, bad or the phrase — it does not come together” serves no purpose to the photographer except to offer confusion, anxiety or happiness. Everyone enjoys good terms and expressions, but besides feeling good they offer no understanding of the foundations which formed the expression. I believe that this is important to realize because it impacts the future work and identity of the photographer and the photographic community. (By identity I mean the question “Who am I?”, “What am I doing?” and “why am I doing it?”)
Definitions
As mentioned earlier, there are many YouTube videos on the topic of street photography providing a rich field of thought and examples for our consideration.. “ Five Street Photography Tips You MUST KNOW” – Advice from the Photojournalist Sean Gallagher (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgP2L9fFdqI). Gallagher starts by providing the viewer his definition of street photography: “Photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public spaces.” He then proceeds to frame his definition with three concepts: the moment, the aesthetic (or visual approach) and the documentary/narrative. He then proceeds to offer five tips which will take street photographers to a new level. This is not outside the construct provided by other YouTube producers. Brian Lloyd Duckett offers a similar framework including terms that structure and define: the moment, artistic style, documentary or narrative, non-mediated or candid. Lloyd refers to a definition by Mary Warner Marien (2012): “Photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public spaces.” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEFzXQSv8Y8). In this video Duckett makes the call for moving beyond the notion that street photography is what ever we want it to be, to creating baselines, setting parameters, providing references, as well as explanations to define street photography for those just starting or in need of guidelines.
Both Gallagher and Duckett (and others) put forth the notion of non-mediated or “candid” photography. In candid photography the subject, soon to be turned into an object for the gaze, is unaware that their image is being recorded. (Here are some interesting points to consider; First, even though photographed in public spaces, what right does a subject have to their image and how it is used? ; Second, if it is legal (some countries it is not) how much freedom and control does an image-maker have and what is her responsibility to the subject?).
Omar Gonzalez takes it one step further. As the graphic below (from his full YouTube video also below) he provides an analysis showing the relationships of various elements of street photography.
image: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZdpyzUEPzQ 10 July 2024
What is missing in his map is the interrelationships between the elements. For example between neighborhood, decay, architecture and people. What is the nature of a neighborhood? (Image source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZdpyzUEPzQ
10 July 2024)
If you watch this video become aware of the narrative and how he constructs his understanding of street photography. It is a useful video to provide a structural analysis of the genre and practice.
Back to definitions.
Common to many definitions is the reference to the influence the photographer may have just by being there. Most definitions of street photography refer to “unmediated”, meaning that there was no influence by the photographer. Consider the “hidden camera” where subjects have no idea that they are being recorded (in a public space) providing an image for consumption (analysis). Human behavior in a space then becomes objectified. The moment, 1/250 of a second, is isolated and the subject becomes objectified for editing/analysis. What was once a subject, existing in the flow of time, now is an object with no history or future, no context or connection to a place, to others and objects. The moment becomes a representation, a signifier loaded with meanings grounded within a historical cultural moment. Connections are made to ideas existing outside the frame, outside the moment, outside the subject.
What is mediated is the image. As soon as the camera frames the subject it is a mediation. The photographer has mediated by framing, isolating and in a sense removing the moment from time. Further mediation occurs if the final image is cropped, modified in someway and then displayed in a new context (for an example: an art gallery or book). These forms of mediation make the subject into an object for the gaze.
What is rarely spoken about in the videos are the decisions made by the photographer (where to stand, when to record, etc.) over time, telling us about them. People who study photographers analyze the images produced as a pointer to the interest and nature of the image maker. Expanding on that point, looking at all the photographs produced by street photographers over time will tell us about the process, the photographers and the conceptual framework of the phenomena in the same way you can identify the mind-set of a curator or editor.
I would like to return to the idea of the “moment” in photography. It is believed that you need to catch the perfect moment to capture that image. Most often a concept know was the “Decisive Moment”, framed by the mind of Cartier-Bresson. (Google search 10 July, 2024, https://www.eyeem.com/blog/learn-from-henri-cartier-bresson-spotting-the-decisive-moment)
“Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson is rightfully recognized as a master of the craft. He was one of the first true street photographers and artfully captured everyday life through the lens. But he also coined a term: The “Decisive Moment”.. His words on the Decisive Moment: “To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.” (Google Search result 10 July 2024, EyeEm Web Publication. https://www.eyeem.com/blog/learn-from-henri-cartier-bresson-spotting-the-decisive-moment) Take that as you wish, but consider the “Moment of Decision” as proposed by Nathan Lyons. The moment of decision is focused on the photographer and the decisions made to record “a” moment. The “click” of the camera is the result of many decisions previously made by the photographer. (Google Search result 10 July 2024, EyeEm Web Publication)
The difference between the two positions is the location of the event. With Cartier-Bresson it is the external world, when the world comes together and the photographer see it and records it. With Lyons, it is internal, the mind of the photographer. It is about decision making by the image-maker. One case looks out the other looks within.
Street photography takes place usually the street. To understand the street photographers and their images we need to consider why she is where she is and when she is. What moves and what motivates her, what do they imagine even before they leave to enter the street.
There are two terms we will consider in the third thread to this VJIC theme: hunting and fishing. How these two domains steer and impact the moment of decision.