Street photography, a genre of photography that records everyday life in a public place. The very publicness of the setting enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, often without their knowledge. Street photography aims to capture everyday life in public places, particularly in urban landscapes. Usually it’s a form of candid photography, when the person isn’t aware they’re being photographed, which creates more realistic and powerful images. Great street photographs say something about life; they speak to us; they fill us with an emotion; or they give us insight. They are not about light; they are not about shapes or forms; they are not about faces. Light, shapes, and faces can only aid in the success of a photo; they cannot be the reason for it. When you look at a great street photograph you should not leave it saying, ‘Wow that light was amazing.’ You should leave it saying, ‘Wow the emotion or story in that photograph really hit me’.
Garry Winogrand
Winogrand became interested in photography while serving in the military as a weather forecaster. He defined a new approach to street photography in 1960s and 1970s. A relatively new book, The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand (published in March 2018), presents an inspiring and unusual overview from his life’s work, including many images that have never been seen before, along with his classic iconic photographs and some surprising early color work.
Winogrand takes photographs and captures many different gestures, facial expressions, body language and relationships. He is known for transforming photography – “…he transformed it from an art of observation to an art of participation”. People’s opinions of his work are extremely positive; “I was overwhelmed. They were the first photos that struck me as relating to the other modes of creation”.
Final Images
I like the first two images partly because of the emotion on the man’s face, he appears to be happy and content in his current situation and nothing seems to be negatively effecting his mood. What I also like about these first images is the range of black and white tones after making the image greyscale.
I particularly like these two images, although you can’t see any emotion portrayed through these two photographs, the sunlight and saturated colours are eye-catching and they create a happy, positive atmosphere, leading the viewer to think the woman in the photography is also in a light-hearted mood. I also edited this image in black and white as the natural daylight contrasts strongly with the inside walls of the coffee shop, and the woman’s body, almost creating a silhouette.
These four images capture people’s attention being grasped by something that isn’t in the frame of the photograph, leading the viewer to wonder what could be the interesting things, people or events that has gripped their attention due to the different facial expressions and mannerisms; in the bottom right image a woman is pointing questionably at something, in the top right image the woman in the couple is admiring something above her, both creating a sense of mystery for the viewer.
I particularly like these two black and white images, the wide stride of both women create a sense of confidence and dominance. In the top image, the women walking in from each side creates a geometrical reflection, almost making it look like one woman is being mirrored to the other side of the photograph. There are strong contrasts of black and white tones, the highlights are bright because the image was taken in natural sunlight. The bodies of the women, along with the sun, create elongated shadows.