In street photography, I have found something which
truly inspires me, I’m not particularly good at it... yet, but I do think it
fits my personality and my way of working. For me, catching that perfect moment
far outweighs any technically perfect studio shot. That’s not to say that
street photography doesn’t require technical ability, on the contrary, it is
vital to know your camera inside out in order to quickly manipulate settings to
fit a rapidly changing scene. It also takes an enormous amount of
confidence to take photographs of complete strangers going about their
business.
I have spent this week
doing some research into what makes a successful street photograph.
Emotional content
Juan Josereyes has
created a process using five levels of street photography to aid the culling
process. He assesses the emotional content of each image, giving a score of one
to five, dependent on what emotion is evoked. Josereyes believes that different
emotions bring on varying levels of cognitive friction; higher levels of
cognitive friction demand greater understanding, meaning that these images are
more likely to be remembered long term.
The five emotions, given
in order from low to high cognitive friction are: interest, joy, surprise,
distress and mixed. The points below show the impact of an image inducing these
emotions:
While researching the
greats, I stumbled across international street photographer, Eric Kim. His blog
lists many famous names in street photography, each with a page on what Kim has
learned from their work.
Irony
Looking into Kim’s own
work, I discovered his album entitled, ‘Only in America’. This ironic insight
into American values reflects the work of such greats as Robert Frank and also
Martin Parr’s reflections on the British public.
A young girl smoking a
cigarette and black and white segregation on the buses – not quite images of
the American dream
Images from Martin
Parr’s, ‘The Last Resort’ – the British holiday at its worst
The interest in these
images lies in the irony; they show a state of affairs contrary to the
expected. This in itself can induce mixed emotions, ranking them at the higher
end of Josereye’s scale of cognitive friction.
It also should be noted
that this book is shot in colour, which at the time, was thought of as the
format of amateur photographers. Parr, along with other American photographers
such as Joel Meyerowitz, worked to bring some acclaim to this medium.
Timing
In order to capture such
interest, timing is often vital; whether quickly capturing a scene as you
notice it happen or waiting as a scene unfolds in order to catch that
Cartier-Bresson style decisive moment, timing is always of the essence. In this
image, Henri Cartier-Bresson hits the shutter at the precise moment when the
bicycle is perfectly framed by the fence.
Surrealism
He was also well known as
a surrealist photographer; the girl leading the horses, the boys watched over
by angels and the walking shadows are great examples of this.
Meyerowitz shows some of
Bresson’s surrealist influence in his work, he has the same talent for noticing
bizarre situations.
Meyerowitz, as mentioned
ealier was also influential in changing attitudes towards colour photography.
Colour versus black &
white
A search through the
decades of street photography brought interesting results; the sixties show the
introduction of some colour work, leading to a larger surge in the seventies
and eighties. However, throughout the last twenty years or so, street
photography has tended towards its original black and white format. I began to
wonder, is this just a fashion thing or is there more to it?
I decided to research
debates on black and white versus colour in street photography; is there a
‘better’ format, what are the reasons for choosing one over another?
The first and most
obvious question is; does the colour add anything to the image? If not, colour
can be a distraction from elements of design, emotion and other features. As
street photography can produce busy, cluttered images, omission of colour can
aid to draw the eye to what is important in the image.
As previously mentioned,
street photography is a fast paced genre and even the pros don’t always manage
technical perfection. Motion blur and grain induced by using high ISO can look
much more pleasing in black and white. In fact, the format can even work
alongside the grain in making the image look classic and timeless.
Facial expressions are
more emphasised in black and white, creating a more dramatic quality. The
absence of colour can help to evoke feelings of sadness, loneliness and other
negative emotions. While colour generally adds a more light-hearted feel to an
image, each hue has the ability to evoke its own emotion. Colour can often draw
attention to the main subject, especially if the colour is mirrored elsewhere
in the image, the yellows and blue show fine examples of this in Meyerowitz’
photographs above.
In the age of digital
processing, we have the luxury of deciding after taking the photograph. As a
result, we can now view any image in both formats, think about what we are
trying to promote and make a more informed decision in post processing. I will
consider these points as I look at my own street photography.
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