I chose the title for my website ‘Photography in the street’ as, to be honest, I really wasn’t quite sure exactly what ‘street photography’ was. I just know that I enjoy and take many photos in the street! For me, this doesn’t necessarily include people. For a long time, I thought it was appropriate to avoid having people in shots! Bicycles appear to be a theme of mine as you will see. I will discuss other themes in later blogs.

From left to right, photos taken on: iPhone 6x (Kyoto, Japan, 2019), Canon Power shot G7 Mark 11 (Wellington, NZ, 2020) & iPhone 12 pro (on train, Czech Republic, 2022)

Having spent the past two weeks reading about street photographers of the past (this information can easily be found), watching YouTube videos, looking at websites and Instagram accounts of street photographers, I think I have learnt a lot. Many thanks goes to nickturpin https://nickturpin.com and brianlloydduckett https://brianlloydduckett.com , Faizal Westcott https://youtube.com/c/FaizalWestcott among others. Continuing the bicycle theme!

All photos taken on iPhone 12 pro (L to R, train station in Brussels, Copenhagen & Budapest)

Definitions

For me, definitions are helpful, though I realise can also be restrictive. I understand that ‘Street photography’ is ‘a genre of photography that records everyday life in a public place’, as Nick describes it ‘candid public photos’. Candid being informal, where the models and the scene are not staged or posed. They are usually photographs of people. In 2018 there was a divergence of opinion in the community of Street photographers in the iN-PUBLIC international collective. On one side there were members who felt that this definition restricted creativity, experimentation and the use of a a digitally manipulated image and/or staged image as a ‘street photograph’ and those who wanted to be true to the original definition (Ref. Nick Turpin) - where there is no posing, no control of the person, props or light conditions.

Street photography?

In the street - evidence of humans leaving their mark (from left to right Regents canal, Islington, Chiyoda-Marunouchi railway station, Japan, Kristianstad, Sweden). All taken on iPhone 6s.

I am not quite sure yet, but I think I sit in the ‘candid public photos’ camp. Anyway, at the moment I wouldn’t know how to manipulate a photo (except the basics on my Apple Mac) even if I wanted to!!! However, listening to Faizal Westcott https://faizalwestcott.com on YouTube, he suggests that ‘street photography is capturing the human presence/experience’. I like this idea, as especially during the pandemic when there were few people on the streets, but there was certainly ‘a human presence’ which was widely photographed.

All taken on apple iPhone 6s in 2020 (From left to right; Brighton & Enfield)

Thanks for reading. Comments most welcome.

Pat (Learning to be a photographer on the street and learning how to make a website!!)