I do not know what to think.
I don't see these as "street. There's no attachment to anyone or anything. Too much included makes them typical touristy snapshots. There are several of what would have been possibly good street shots within each one, e.g. in #1 the mom and kid on the left, the guy on the bicycle, the two men walking on the right, the people in the open air cafe.
OddJobber wrote:
I don't see these as "street. There's no attachment to anyone or anything. Too much included makes them typical touristy snapshots. There are several of what would have been possibly good street shots within each one, e.g. in #1 the mom and kid on the left, the guy on the bicycle, the two men walking on the right, the people in the open air cafe.
Isn't what you are saying just that you'd rather have Street Portraits of the people rather than these wonderful examples of Street Photography where the subject is not them but instead is their life!
Not at all, Floyd.
I don't see anything here that says "this is their life". I only see the people in these shots as a secondary distraction to some otherwise snapshots of these buildings and as nice as the buildings are, I see NO connection to their lives.
OddJobber wrote:
Not at all, Floyd.
I don't see anything here that says "this is their life". I only see the people in these shots as a secondary distraction to some otherwise snapshots of these buildings and as nice as the buildings are, I see NO connection to their lives.
I see most of all a connection to their lives, and yes that makes them a "secondary distraction". Or better stated, they are the context rather than the subject.
Shellback
Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas
Thank you for your comments. That is what I was asking.
If you look closely at the "House in Cannes" you can see that someone painted movie actors in each of the windows.
And it is all trompe-l'oeil.
Is this more like Street Photography?
In the second picture, the building with the red stacks housed the apartment where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir lived and wrote until their deaths.
Thank you for your comments.
For compelling street photography, it is my opinion that the street photographer needs to capture a moment in which the subject is engaging with someone else, or with the photographer. A DOF that isolates the subject from everything that distracts is something that contributes to the success of the photograph. These are all shots of the street, but there is nothing here to engage the viewer IMHO.
On number one, I like the postion of the bicyclist, but the DOF allows him to remain part of the crowd. DOF would also help with the fact that the bicycle wheel intersects with the walking lady's heel.
Nightski wrote:
For compelling street photography, it is my opinion that the street photographer needs to capture a moment in which the subject is engaging with someone else, or with the photographer. A DOF that isolates the subject from everything that distracts is something that contributes to the success of the photograph. These are all shots of the street, but there is nothing here to engage the viewer IMHO.
On number one, I like the postion of the bicyclist, but the DOF allows him to remain part of the crowd. DOF would also help with the fact that the bicycle wheel intersects with the walking lady's heel.
For compelling street photography, it is my opinio... (
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Perhaps that misunderstands what Street Photograph is, because isolation of people or a person absolutely removes a photograph from the essence of Street. Street is not about describing the people or person as an object, it is about the detail of human interaction with surroundings. It doesn't portray a person, it portrays life. It's not the person that should be isolated, it's the relationships! That requires a whole different mind set than taking a Street Portrait.
Street Photograph absolutely cannot be defined as "shot of the street". No street need even be related to Street Photography!
While a more compelling image might result with the interhuman action that you suggest, care has to be take not to make that isolation excessive. In almost all cases the use of DOF to isolate a tangible object as the subject is detrimental to Street Photography. (Not that it can't be done, but it is exceedingly difficult and rare to do successfully in a Street Photograph.)
An interesting video by Joel Meyerowitz discusses the philosophy of that topic, as seen by an icon of modern urban Street Photography:
Joel Meyerowitz on framing in Street Photography
So .. did Graham Smith isolate this lady from her surroundings in a way that made this a piece of "not street photography"? He certainly used DOF to make his subject clear .. and yet .. oh yes .. I'm pretty sure .. we are all aware that she is on the street and that she has the attention of those around her.
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-186574-1.html
I am still confused.
One more
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Not too many bicycles here
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China Town, San Francisco
Nightski wrote:
So .. did Graham Smith isolate this lady from her surroundings in a way that made this a piece of "not street photography"? He certainly used DOF to make his subject clear .. and yet .. oh yes .. I'm pretty sure .. we are all aware that she is on the street and that she has the attention of those around her.
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-186574-1.htmlI'd say it is street photography but Dof doesn't classify street photography. I don't think it can be nailed down like that. For me there has to be something of interest. I think emotional contact helps.
He called the picture " The little black dress", not "Street in Cambridge".
To me this is a beautiful picture of a beautiful subject that happen to be walking on a street. It is not street photography. It is more expressive than the same young lady in a studio. It has movement. It enhances her whole. It is like a movie in one frame. And yet there is only one subject of focus.
The San Genaro festival in New York with all the people and their purposes is one version of Street Photography.
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