Street Photography and street photography
There is a big difference.
Street Photography is an unfortunate label for a genre of photography that is done on the streets most of the time. Joel Meyerowitz defines Street Photography as “…candid photography of everyday life on the street.”, but in my opinion there is a limit to that definition, although I use it as a quote on my home page! The limit is that it clearly states “on the street”. But Street Photography can be done in any public space: a park, a museum, a beach, an amusement park, anywhere the public has free access.
Street Photography is a document of our times, our customs, our fashion, habits and foibles in a set timeframe. We are not documenting a specific story on a long term project, that is documentary photography and it has its own characteristics that distinguish it from Street Photography.
We are not telling a single story with many images, although we can do a project based on a set theme. We are telling many small stories with single images. And that is one of the most difficult things to achieve in our craft: telling a story with an image.
A Street Photograph has a human presence in it, physical or implied, that gives the elements of a story. Or that shows juxtapositions, a quirk, a funny situation, the exceptional in the mundane. But even an interesting looking person doesn’t make a good photograph. A photographer will try and frame the shot in a specific way, including elements that add to the image, checking the background and making it add to the subject instead of detracting from it, waiting for the right position, gesture, light, crafting the image instead of just pressing the button.
And most of the time we fail to get that good or great shot. It’s hard to get all the elements right.
What Street Photography is not is random urban landscape. It’s not called Street Photography because you shoot the street. Empty. Or a building. A road. A shopfront. Just because the shot is taken standing in the street, it doesn’t make it Street Photography. The top of a building with a pigeon is not Street Photography. And converting it to black and white doesn’t make it so either. That is just street photography.
You shoot Street Photography with intent, concentration and dedication to the craft. You can shoot street photography lightly and leisurely or with concentration, but you are looking at something completely different.
Just being in the street doesn’t make you a Street Photographer. Looking for Street Photographs does.
I mainly shoot Street Photography. If I see something that draws my eye, I may also shoot a little street photography on the side. There is a big difference.