By now you will have understood it. This is not the usual guide. It is based a lot on my experience and vision and it is not the usual copying from the internet. Also because in the past they also copied my texts. I am writing a new guide for this new blog. Certainly a reference to history cannot be missing. Let's begin.

A street photographer probably experiences photography like no other. We practically live with the camera hanging around our neck, ready to capture every moment that catches our eye. Street photography, which must be done to truly understand it, is first of all a state of mind and an attitude, a way of being in the world.

The shot is born first of all in the head and in the eyes, and therefore we understand how the rest, that is the material realization of the same, is a reaction to a stimulus, the result of the process of an elaboration of visual information, in which the real shot and it just happens in an instant. As a photographer my intention is, constantly, to tell what happens before my eyes and to do it in a way that always looks like a photograph. To be able to do this, the first thing every street photographer must be able to rely on is a genuine and sincere curiosity about the environment around us and for the human being.

Ready every day for a day on the street, it can be the popular neighborhoods or downtown of Mexico City, I observe, I immerse myself in the scene, I enter the rhythm that that day has in that place, I become an integral part of the place and of those who live it and animates it. Usually a camera with one lens is enough: a 28mm is just fine, although sometimes the choice shifts to 35mm. When I'm out all day I take two or three cameras with me, with some spare batteries. Comfortable shoes, usually sneakers like vans and all stars, and a small Messenger bag, allow me to work well and moreover with all the advantage of not looking like a photographer, something absolutely fundamental especially when I work in the barrios, popular neighborhoods of the City of the Mexico. More rarely I also photograph in the state of Mexico, paying, if possible, even more attention.

Some photographers go out and want to take nice pictures. I think this is like putting the cart in front of the horse. Good photographers are the byproduct of some other exploration, or some other intention. - Stephen Shore

The man and the environment in which he lives are what interests me as a photographer. This interest feeds on itself, naturally, almost always. A constant that accompanies me both as a photographer and as a writer, the interest in other people, their stories, their gestures, expressions ...

Walking, looking, exploring and smelling comes first. Only then does the photograph come. This is a condition that for me is unavoidable and that perfectly describes the different sense of what photography means for a street photographer.

As I continue to walk, I follow the ever new story that the road and the various places where I find myself offer me. It is a flow without interruptions, translucent kaleidoscope of humanity, of billboards, of faces, of asphalt, of architectural elements, of shadows and lights, of shop windows and reflections, of suggestive backlighting ... There are, of course, techniques and modalities to shoot on the street, but the first fundamental thing to consider is to take the time to understand it.

The first photos with humans at the dawn of photography. Straight photography. The Photo League. Andrèe Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson. WIlly Ronis and Helen Levitt. But Street Photography, its crystallization took place in the 1960s.

Robert Frank probably more than any other pointed out a way, later recognized by the famous triad composed of Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Joel Meyerowitz which is a bit like talking about Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple when we talk about Heavy Metal.

New York City is the capital of Street Photography and as such it is morally and aesthetically preserved. The Leica and range finders remain in the imagination, although today we can use practically any type of camera, even that of a mobile phone. The idea, the perception of street photography is that of a daily photojournalism and, therefore, very much linked to the experience that the photographer himself has on the street and in any public place.

In this regard it is good to specify: it is called street photography, but not only on the street is it done. The boundaries are wider than a definition suggests, so let's not take it literally. There are photos taken on the beach, like those of Bruce Gilden in Coney Island or at the zoo or waiting for an elevator as Garry Winogrand showed us.

Street photography is also dichotomous in the sense that we cannot limit it only to the pure documentation and reproduction of reality. Scenes are photographed that are not posed and without intervention (also in discussion sometimes just think of those who use the flash) of the photographer but the narrative element is often a reinterpretation of reality, a visual and conceptually playing with it, heavily influenced by vision subjective of the author, of his ability to transfigure it, capturing the details that most people, those who are not literate in this genre and way of understanding photography.

The street photographer is generally a visual storyteller supported by a medium-high culture, and endowed with lateral thinking. This last definition is urgent for clarification: by lateral thinking, as defined by the psychologist Edward de Bono, a method of solving logical problems that provides a particular approach through the observation of the problem from different angles, as opposed to the traditional method that provides concentration on a direct solution to the problem. Also taking up a famous idea proposed by photographer Stephen Shore, the photographer takes care of solving problems when he is busy framing and composing before shooting.

Another very important consideration to make is therefore the self-determination of the street photographer and his interest in the reinterpretation of reality that he will propose through his visual research: street photography cannot be trapped within strict formal and content rules. Those who do this generally would like to impose universally recognized codes on something that basically feeds on the sensitivity and eye of each individual photographing on the street.

Toy District, Los Angeles, California (2011)

By accepting this principle of self-determination, which may seem obvious but which is opposed by those who are always looking for new religions to impose, we can understand how gender is constantly evolving, with decidedly elastic boundaries. Yet I would like to highlight one consideration: every street photographer establishes an almost symbiotic relationship with the place where he is photographing and this fact is even more true in the place where he usually operates and prefers. In this way we can explain how even the same place, photographed by different photographers, always presents their different personality and their unique vision of the world.

The focus on the ordinary must not be misleading. Today we are experiencing such a boom period. Something unthinkable just a decade ago, when Facebook and Instagram weren't the most popular places on the internet for photographers and photography forums existed. We must not be fooled by the incessant flow of street photographs that we see and unfortunately we should not be influenced by certain contests and festivals that today are only proposing standardized models of conceiving and making street photography. The result is that of an evident homologation which in fact flattens this ability to bring out our inner voice. As in any cultural movement that at a given moment suffers the interest of a larger audience, the problem is represented by an impoverishment of the proposals because we want to impose a way of understanding and conceiving street photography, when we have already seen how important it is that each photographer can present his stories and his way of seeing. Law of large numbers aside, in any case today, thanks to the democratization of photography, which took place with digital and with the spread of cameras for everyone, street photography also benefits from the fact that a greater number of talents are present on the international scene.

It is up to those who work, mainly as a communicator and educator, to spread as much as possible a true culture of street photography, which I believe to be, as I did during my conferences at universities in Mexico, a really important opportunity for social and anthropological reflection to understand man, society and our own evolution. In my opinion, it is a game to be played with great attention and knowledge of the facts to prevent street photography from being trivialized and seen as a mere visual game for alternative photographers.

There is a need to spread it well, still avoiding proposing posts in blogs that are excessively trivial and that follow simple formulas to attract the attention of the undemanding. An adult attitude that will allow a noble genre like that of street photography to really enter art galleries and not just with the few, recognized masters who already enjoy this access.

We are living a particular, hard period in the history of mankind. I think that currently Street Photography is the actual photojournalism. Because Photojournalism is flattened most of the time on the theater of pain, responding to urges from the mainstream media that imposes the single thought and every different point of view is silenced through censorship. With Street Photography we can use irony and sarcasm while engaged in offering an observation of the human condition. We are on the streets, the best stage of the world, and we can see the reality, at the same time we can play with reality.

This is Street Photography, guys. And we are on a mission.

A small guide to Street Photography PT.3

A talented photographer and model

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