Street Photography

 Four Women of Vernazza.

Street photography is an ever popular genre of photography. In the broadest sense, street photography is just documenting the world around you. 

In some cities, much of life is lived out in public, on the street. This is more the case in other countries, of course, but it's also still true in some cities in the U.S., especially the larger ones. This makes the streets an open-air studio for photographers sufficiently skilled to make something of the opportunity.

Browsing through photography web sites and blogs, I see a lot of what is called "street photography." And it is indeed street photography, if by that you mean someone out on the street photographing people and things in passing. However, most of the work I see has no point to it. Most so-called street photographs look as if someone had just gone into a public place and started firing his camera around at random. There's no apparent point. No apparent message. Not even anything unusual or unique to capture the eye or the imagination. Most of those voluminous photographs are simply meaningless junk.

I believe street photography must reveal some aspect of life, of the human condition. If it fails in this, it fails. Period.

Elliott Erwitt died Wednesday at the age of 95. I consider him to have been the greatest street photographer of all time. He created thousands of poignant, incisive photographs simply by carrying a camera with him at all times and keeping his eyes open and his mind engaged. He had a gift for this that most of us can only marvel at. He excelled at making photographs that show some aspect of human, or sometimes, as he so ably demonstrates, animal behavior. But the operative words here are "carrying a camera at all times." "Open eyes." And "an engaged mind." 

Sometimes Erwitt's wit is very subtle,

and sometimes it's like a slap in the face.

As he said, "It's about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere. It's simply a matter of noticing things and organizing them. You just have to care about what's around you and have a concern with humanity and the human comedy."

Check out his web site here.

(Top photograph: Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens.)

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Top hotograph and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins. Bottom photograph copyright Elliott Erwitt 2023.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:    photography     street photography    Elliott Erwitt     Vernazza     Canon EOS 20D camera     Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens