A small guide to Street Photography PT. 7

Why do Street Photography?

Fashion District, Los Angeles (2011)

I was asked many times about the motivations that push me to go to the street, take risks and photograph unknown people. And the first answer that comes to mind is that there is no why. This is because as a street photographer I am not commissioned by an organization as an agency, I am the client because I need to do it. And I am perfectly aware how this is not simple to understand for people out of the photography world or for those who think only in terms of money.

I can’t talk for other photographers. This guide presents my experience as a street photographer who lives it as a lifestyle. I don’t do the street photographer, I am a Street Photographer. And with this sentence we are also okay from the ontological point of view.

As I have already said for me Street Photography is part of Documentary Photography, different from photojournalism for motivations and approach, but we are photographing un-staged moments in the public realm. We can certainly also play with reality and offer a reinterpretation that also changes the meaning of reality itself, perhaps making it a completely different story.

I think that the opportunity for all of us is very important. And, sorry, but I am still of the old school: a balloon hiding a head or a way of framing that makes it look like a miniature character say nothing about our society and they are just visual games that can find approval on instagram, but I consider it boring and useless photography. Street Photography made as a visual game or a an optical effect will say nothing about our society.

Guys, look at the photos of Garry Winogrand, the first Bruce Gilden, Joel Meyerowitz, please. But hey, look also Linda Wisdom, Rinzi Ruiz, Renata Ginzburg, Blake Andrews just to quote the first contemporary names coming to my mind…

As you know I am a photojournalist too, collaborating with agencies, but I am perfectly aware that today journalism is censored (or jailed or killed) when it is not following the mainstream media narrative. With our Street Photography we have the opportunity to propose uncensored, un-staged and not manipulated reality. In such a delicate and crucial moment in human history we can offer a reflection on the human condition: that is the central motivation that I see with making photos on the street.

Other motivations are of a more personal nature. To make a very good street photo is a challenge. Street Photography indeed is not easy at all. And practice makes us better photographers in any other genre we can do. In this sense you can have the idea how Street Photography can be a training for any photographer.

Both as a photographer and as a photo coach I can observe how this genre has an undoubted ability to transform those who practice it. In particular, it can get out of the limbo of shyness and give security to the photographer who dedicates himself to it. It is not just photography. It is an experience in the experience. It allows you to see the world in another way. Suddenly also the things considered ugly can become beautiful because interesting to photograph.

Street Photography can be a therapy. Going around taking pictures allows you to get adrenaline pumping. I work long hours at home. After a while I feel the need to go out, otherwise I get nervous. Street Photography is a great help to me.

I feel that in the last years certain trends have diverted from the original motivations of Street Photography. But if Street Photography becomes a way to let see how good we are or a way to satisfy our ego, Street Photography risks to lose the way and becoming a huge mental masturbation. On this purpose I would share some considerations written by Marcelo Caballero in 2012:

To be valid in the future documentary of street photography, I would like it to be vindicated:

1. A photograph that is not empty of content in the aesthetic game of composition.

2. The value of photography as a purpose and not as a subject.

3. Always question the relationship between photography and things (that are photographed) based on representative similarity.

I think these points are good to consider in order to know what to photograph.