Street photography is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.
Street Photography is a sub-genre of photojournalism…
Street photography does not necessitate the presence of a street or even the urban environment. The concept of the “flaneur” or people watcher is often referred to street photographers
This image below was taken in Seville at the beginning of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s career as a photographer. It has a strong geometric form. The viewer sees the gang of boys through a large hole in a wall which frames the scene. Without knowing the date of the image one might guess that it was taken during the Spanish Civil War (1936–9) or afterwards. The fact that it was taken in 1933 gives it a strange sense of premonition; the boys are playing at war in the ruins of a war that has not yet happened.
Blog Post 1 : Define, describe and explain street photography.
Include images, moodboards, hyperlinks to relevant articles and URLs and add a video or two on street photography if you can
Take care in your choice of images…browse the list of street photographers below and choose from the work to “speaks” to you…
Aim to show knowledge and understanding of how street photography can reflect the life / lifestyle / politics / history / social class of an area or group of people…
Do the images make a statement…or ask a question?
Blog Post 2 :
Henri Cartier – Bresson and
“The Decisive Moment”
Create a blog post / case study about Henri Cartier-Bresson that includes…
- Brief biography
- Mood-board of key images
- Select one image and apply Technical | Visual | Contextual | Conceptual analysis (image analysis)
- His contribution to MAGNUM Photo Agency
- Add any other relevant research / insights
Then Compare and Contrast Cartier- Bresson to one (or more) of the following street photographers…
- William Klein
- Diane Arbus
- Vivian Maier
- Robert Frank
- Bruce Gilden (see below)
- Martin Parr
- Saul Leiter
- William Eggleston
- Gordon Parks
- John Bulmer
- Trent Parke
- Garry Winogrand
- Raghubir Singh
- Lee Friedlander
- Joel Meyerowitz
- Tony Ray-Jones
- Bill Owens
- Fred Herzog
- Alex Webb
- Ernst Haas
- W.Eugene Smith
- Robert Doisneau
- Brassai
- Weegee
Discuss in detail the differences / similarities / intentions / outcomes and, of course, the photographers’ technical and visual approaches
Blog Post 3 : Practical Response + Photo-shoot
- Add your contact sheet
- Choose 3-5 images to develop as final outcomes
- show your editing process
- qualify your choices and present them in a suitable format
Technique : Taking street photographs
- Be more aggressive
- Get more involved (talk to people)
- Stay with the subject matter (be patient)
- Take simpler pictures
- See if everything in background relates to subject matter
- Vary compositions and angles more
- Be more aware of composition
- Don’t take boring pictures!
- Get in closer (use 50mm lens or less)
- Watch camera shake (shoot 1/125 sec or above)
- Don’t shoot too much!!!
- Not all eye level : try holding the camera at waist level
- No middle distance in your pictures
Article on Trent Parke’s Techniques
Article On Japanese Street Photography below
Bruce Gilden
‘What do artists do all day?’ – Dougie Wallace, Featured on BBC. from Wren Agency on Vimeo.
Think | Answer | Discuss
- What are you expecting to see / encounter on your own photo-shoot?
- How do you think you will deal / cope with your expectations?
- Can you devise a photo-shoot plan for street photography?
- What would include / exclude in your plan?
- Remember to be respectful to others
Suitable locations to position yourself…
- airport
- bus stations
- cafes
- restaurants
- street corners
- doorways / entrances
- steps / stairways
- road crossings
- shopping centres
- supermarkets
- markets
- harbour terminal
Marking Criteria
The four assessment objectives clearly outline expectations, so you must provide high quality evidence for each AO…
AO1 : Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations, informed by contextual sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding
AO2 : Explore and select appropriate resources, media, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops
AO3 : Recording ideas (taking photos) that are relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work as it progresses
AO4 : Present a personal and meaningful response(s) that realises intentions, and makes connections with other artists
Ensure your process looks like this…
- Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
- Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
- Artist References / Case Studies (must include image analysis) (AO1)
- Photo-shoot Action Plan (AO3)
- Multiple Photoshoots + contact sheets (AO3)
- Image Selection, sub selection (AO2)
- Image Editing/ manipulation / experimentation (AO2)
- Presentation of final outcomes (AO4)
- Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1)
- Evaluation and Critique (AO1+AO4)