One thing I find most scary when it comes to photography is Street Photography. There are many ideas of what actually constitutes what the term actually means. For some it is the deliberate in your face, get a candid shot and show the bare bones of the human condition. For others it is the somewhat voyeuristic look of watching people off guard. Me? I like it to be somewhere in between.
Environment
Environment in Street Photography is the actual whole point of street photography, I think. It is about not only capturing the subject, but subjects. There needs to be more than one thing to look at if it is a street photograph for me. “Lived in” faces are fine, but they do not tell the whole story of that face. Indeed there are some who would argue that street photography does not actually need to have any humans at all, but then where is the reactions and interactions, and the body language that makes the picture? I think it is basically all about how you see it. Which is why photography is so subjective.
Reactions/Interactions/Body Language
I think the pictures above represent most what I think Street Photography is, reactions can be passive interactive or even unknown. The first pic is definitely in the ‘unknown’ because only one of the subjects can see the advert in the bus shelter. The next picture shows passive where the 3 subjects are walking along the usually busy Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. The last shows a bit of reaction as this US police car sits on St.Vincent Street and is noticed by the man passing by.
Street Photography can be daunting, but isn’t the current climate much the same?