Space framed and how to manage it in a street photo

“I don’t see photographs when I photograph, I only see life.” (Garry Winogrand, 1979)

When it comes to Street Photography the narrative totally changes.

And this is the reason why I consider Street Photography the most different kind of photography from all the others. Although I believe that street photography is part of the documentary genre, it is in a way distinctly distinct from what photojournalism is. When we think of iconic photos of street photography we realize that they are in a different way than what is an iconic image of the classic documentary photography.

I think it is extremely wrong to even talk about history inside the image, because that is not what we are talking about if we are talking about street photography, even if it is a very widespread idea and a cliché. Rather, it is a matter of sensations, of a particular mood that occur through a particular expression, a gesture or a posture. Or maybe a combination of elements within the framed space that together create that scene that makes you say: here, this is a street photo. For this reason, with street photography, titles and captions are not needed.

We can have a particular aesthetic predisposition and a particular mindset, even if we know how much difference there is in each of us street photographers. Street photography does not aim to tell something but rather to record that thing. The communicative process of the street photographer is therefore less didactic and more aimed at giving a sensation.

Recalling the words of Winogrand inserted at the opening of this article, the moment you recognize life in a photo, you feel that idea of street photography. Without message. There must be no messages because the point is to let you experience that moment captured through the shot in your freedom of thought.

I believe this is a fundamental part to fully understand the objective of the street photographer, substantially different from other photographers.