There are a great number of photographers that I admire of course. There are few that I idolise just a little. Parke is one of these, so writing about his work is a little intimidating. Of course he is loved by many in a way that is likely genre neutral, but its not the way others feel about his work that makes penning something about his books difficult for me, its my personal feelings.
Read MoreI read something that resonated with me recently and I wanted to both share it with anyone that would like to read it, as well as discuss my thoughts on why these couple of paragraphs weighed on my mind for a while. I think that this process of writing some text might help me take the words apart and analyse them for myself, so here we go. This is the short statement that I found on a site that I have been spending a lot of time on recently. I have stated already that an addiction to Japanese photo books is on the way, the site sells a lot of great titles. But this statement was on their main section: "To me, the recent use of the term street photographer is similar to calling oneself artist or art photographer with an intention to add artificial value. I don’t think any respectable practitioner worth their salt would proclaim themselves with this title in this day and age. Nonetheless it appears that it is often banded around, especially on the social interwebs, with an intention to gain credibility or cool the same way teenagers would display branded clothes or gear to gain attention from peers or lowly outsiders.
Read MoreThis discussion is a growing theme for some of the words that I pen here when I have the time and motivation to do so. I guess I write these things on topics that I feel passionate about. In all things in life this is where you get your best results (maybe a topic for another time). The theme in question is how the world is changing and how this is changing photography. I have asked this question specific to Street Photography, but I think we will be able to investigate the topic in a more holistic nature as far as photographic genres go.
Read MoreStreet photography is booming right now, and I think that this raises a few questions. Some of these questions in my mind will lead to desirable results, others however may not.
In the years gone by there have been a wealth of very talented artists that have walked the streets of the various cities and locations of the world with a simple camera in hand, and a very simple goal. The goal was to document and record the world around them. Some were doing it for different reasons to others. Some were doing it to preserve memories of their life, others as they loved to interact with their subjects and record life of people in the places that they either lived or visited. Others still as they were simply obsessed with the still image and its wonders. I think that even the later needed to be draw in some way to the people around them though, it was a requirement of the trade for most.
Read MoreSo there is a wealth of information out there on the classics of street photography, and what you can learn from their work. I thought I would take this tried and tested, well read blogging formula and perhaps have a look at some of the masters of photography in general, and what we can still learn from them from a street photography perspective. I have blogged on the rules of photography applied to the street, and I think that my aim with this initial blog will be to take some of those rules and contrast them with some work from some of the real greats of our art. Not just street greats, but landscape, studio, and fine art greats, surrealists... What can we as street photographers learn from them?
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