Street photography
Encyclopedia
Documentary photography
Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit...
that features subjects in candid situations within public places
Public space
A public space is a social space such as a town square that is open and accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants...
such as street
Street
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...
s, park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s, beach
Beach
A beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles or cobblestones...
es, malls
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
, political convention
Political convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
s and other settings.
Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography
Straight photography
Pure photography or straight photography refers to photography that attempts to depict a scene as realistically and objectively as permitted by the medium, renouncing the use of manipulation....
in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. Street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter, and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with. In the 20th century, street photographers have provided an exemplary and detailed record of street culture
Street culture
Street culture may refer to:* Street market* Children's street culture* Street carnival* Street identity* Cafe culture*Several topics pertaining to outdoors youth subculture or counterculture of urban centers. These can include street art, street dance, street sports and hip-hop culture....
in Europe and North America, and elsewhere to a somewhat lesser extent.
Many classic works of street photography were created in the period between roughly 1890 and 1975 and coincided with the introduction of portable cameras, especially small 35mm
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
, rangefinder camera
Rangefinder camera
A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus...
s, most famously the Leica, as used by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
, among others.
Technique
Most kinds of portable camera are used for street photography, for example rangefindersRangefinder camera
A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus...
, digital and 35mm SLRs, point-and-shoot cameras and smartphones
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
. A commonly used focusing technique is zone focusing
Scale-focus
Scale focus, or zone focus, is a type of focusing system used by many inexpensive cameras from the 1940s and 1950s. These cameras have an adjustable focus, but lack a focusing aid such as a rangefinder. It is necessary to determine the distance to the subject and set the focus using a scale printed...
— setting a fixed focal distance and shooting from that distance — as an alternative to autofocus
Autofocus
An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...
, particularly using wide angle lenses with their increased depth of field. Zone focusing facilitates shooting "from the hip" i.e. without bringing the camera up to the eye. Alternatively, waist-level finder
Waist-level finder
The waist-level finder is a type of viewfinder that can be used on twin lens and single lens reflex cameras. While it is typically found on older medium format cameras, some newer and/or 35 mm cameras have this type of finder ....
s allow for composing the shot and/or adjusting focus without bringing attention to the photographer.
See also
Street photographers (category)- Legality of recording by civiliansLegality of recording by civiliansThe laws regarding the recording of other persons and property by means of still photography, videography, and audio recording vary by location. In many places, it is common for the recording of public property, persons within the public domain, and of private property visible or audible from the...
- Photography and the lawPhotography and the lawPhotography tends to be protected by the law through copyright and moral rights. Photography tends to be restricted by the law through miscellaneous criminal offences. Publishing certain photographs can be restricted by privacy law...
- Social documentary photographySocial documentary photographySocial documentary photography may be defined as the act of recording, with a camera, human beings in their natural condition. Often is also refers to a socially critical genre of photography dedicated to showing the life of underprivileged or disadvantaged people.-Origin of social documentary...
- Google Street ViewGoogle Street ViewGoogle Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
Further reading
- Bystander: A History of Street Photography by Joel Meyerowitz and Colin Westerbeck (Boston, Bulfinch, 1994).
- The Sidewalk Never Ends: Street Photography Since the 1970s by Colin Westerbeck (Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 2001).
- Photography Now, by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren (Thames & Hudson) (2010). (Retrieved 10/8/2010)
External links
- Why We Shoot And How: Street Photography For The Purist - various authors mainly from DeviantArtDeviantArtdeviantART is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc...
- Street Photography Information: A tutorial from photo.net
- Kantor, Andrew: Legal Rights of Photographers (in the U.S.).
- Macpherson, Linda: Photographer's Rights in the UK.
- Thind, Rajesh: Issues in the UK regarding photography from a public place.