street photography

[topaz]

The BBC's "Viewfinder" blog writes about the importance of street photography:

"For me, with my photographer's hat on, what keeps me doing this is a belief that one of photography's core purposes is to discover poetic moments in everyday life. From the invention of the medium, nosey parkers, journalists, voyeurs, and poets have used cameras to show us that this world is an intrinsically fascinating place to live in."

Comments

[lhn.livejournal.com]

I've started getting interested in street photography in theory (helped by the recent Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago), and I've taken to carrying my camera around more as a result. But I find I'm too self-conscious to take a lot of pictures of strangers in practice. (Though I did kind of like this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/infinitepixels/5020052505/in/set-72157625094738618/), dreamy focus and all.) I suspect that it would work better either for an extrovert (who'd be better at making connections) or else someone better-armored against (or more oblivious to :-) ) negative reactions.

(I suspect the upcoming Fuji X100 (http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091910fujifilmx100.asp) will be a fantastic camera for street photography when it comes out, with its small size and large sensor. I sort of toyed with the idea of getting it... until I experimented with the cameras I have and realized that I have a long way to go as a photographer before I need a dedicated street shooter.)

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

The 100 Strangers Project (http://www.100strangers.com/) (which I found on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers/)) challenges you to approach 100 strangers to take pictures of them. I love the idea and want to make myself do it.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

This is a really good point.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Have you dug Vivian Maier - Her Discovered Work (http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/)? I won't spoil the story by telling you how her work was discovered, but I'll warn you to give yourself a good chunk of time to explore the blog your first time looking at it.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Oh, also local-to-me (and living) artist Zoe Strauss (not totally SFW or kids) (http://zoestrauss.blogspot.com/). Zoe's done jaw-droppingly amazing, deeply personal portraits that are basically just street snapshots of strangers that she's walked up to -- sample (http://zoestrauss.blogspot.com/2010/04/there-are-few-photos-from-this-year.html).