The old school terrace
Today I see two types of street photography: the old school street photography and the new wave. The old school preserves the attention and main focus on documenting the human condition where Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand and Joel Meyerowitz still has a sense. The new wave responds to instagram and the breed of likes, with perspective visual effects and photographs presenting jokes, with anything for a smile and an immediate wow effect. I stay with the first one. We will see in 10 years what photos we will still look at.
Once again I find myself to share a day on the street with the readers of this blog. Let me say a thing: street photography is about the process. The process to be on the street and making photos. It is about the experience of the photographer, the streets where he/she goes and…the decisions taken to propose his/her vision. As opposed to something planned, the street lives on what you find. And you never know what you find. Cracking the street code is the first move, but you know what? It changes every day. And therefore you cannot think of always approaching the streetin the same way. You have to move according to the pace of that day, or that particular energy pouring out on you at that moment. Like in surfing. Each wave is different. With its character and its determination.
From one street to another everything changes. And you have to be good at understanding and indulging.
If I see something while I'm on the bus that takes me to downtown, I photograph it. Quality doesn't matter. Rather, it is important for me to start immersing myself in the day ahead.
As soon as I get off the bus I try to take a shot. It is not in the desire to take a good photo but a way to enter that meditative and cathartic state at the same time. Like waking up on the street to start focusing. A determination to get into what I have to do.
And then the first photos are affected by this intention of mine, by the setting in the energy of that day, a way of testing the surroundings but above all myself.
The first shots I take are therefore ways of getting closer to what is the mood on the street that day. A perception that I feel strongly and that makes me enter a certain mental scheme. It sets me up. A return to familiarity with the camera and especially with the lens, which since I shoot manually I have to take into account certain positioning conditions with respect to the subject. The blurry question is always the balance on which I move…the margin of error becomes wider but it must be so to take my picture and avoid a certain cold precision of the camera that I shy away from…
I immerse myself among the people and move with discretion. I slow down and snap. I accelerate to reach the other sidewalk. I shoot again.
I cross streets of varied activities. In the morning, much is reflected in the preparation of the traders in the places that are part of their daily life.
The first photo that tells me something comes when I least expect it, as almost always. I feel it and I know I have it, with no need to check out on the LCD of the camera.
In the process there are attempts and risks that I take. The perception widens. I become one with the street. When I try certain shots it's because I want to try to create something that is as different as possible from what we see every day. The shot fails, but that's okay. My way of photographing is conditioned by the intuition of the last moment. It has to do with a different urgency and way of photographing that I have in the street that is less thoughtful than many photographers, and also compared to, for example, the AMERICANA project. It does not even have to do with the fact of more risks than digital because I often photograph with this approach even when I use film cameras. Photographing by privileging intuition and the emotional state leads me to photograph quickly, with a result conditioned by the speed of the action. I expose myself to blurred photos, subjects out of frame, photos probably to be thrown away. But this approach has also often led me to interesting results and important photos. For me, speed is combined with what is many times the energy on the urban space. You have to feel the photograph and you have to enter the same rhythm as that moment.
My aesthetic and approach to street photography does not belong to this time. This is why I speak of old school. I'm still interested in the kind of street photography I studied and learned to love. I don't care if my photography is not understood by many today. Trap music sucks for me, for example. And some street photography too. I see on instagram celebrated street photos made like in Piazza dei Miaracoli, in Pisa (Italy) with staged photos to achieve optical effects. This is not something I am interested to do. Street Photography to me is candid and based on what you recognize in a few moments on the street.
You make the story.
I've learned to tell stories that don't belong to me. I don't want to impose a story, but rather suggest it. In every photo I take there is an indecipherable part that is part of the mystery. Maybe that's why I'm comfortable with street photography. Maybe that's why for years I find myself photographing things that I don't fully understand. Asking to myself questions is part of me in everyday life. I have no certainties. And for this my critical thinking attacks dogma.
This, too, is part of not accepting everything and not accepting the truth that they impose on you as pure gold. They ask myself, shouldn't I question everything that comes before me?Reality is not what they tell you. I have learned to see with my own eyes and the truth may not even be that of the reality you are facing. Everything is questionable because everything is mystery. For this reason I don’t have much sympathy with those who only show certainties.
The construction of a photograph on the street is conditioned by what is happening. Knowing how to solve the visual equation in an effective way has only little to do with the technical preparation (however necessary) and a lot with that form of seeing, which I call intuition, trained by taking many photos on the street. Previewing is one of that skills that are acquired and that prove to be a precious ally during the work of us street photographers.
On the people who pass in front of me I have an open argument. A photo that only shows someone passing by doesn't have much to say. But I admit I do them often because sometimes this has given me very important shots. And in my process of understanding others and society, these shots are indicators of understanding for me, even of my mood at the moment.
On the street it's not just about people. I photograph anything that I find interesting. Because I experience the urban space in its entirety. Let me also say that I always think about taking photos for prints and books that I publish. This is something absolute for me and that is part of me and my approach constantly.
The day examined in this post was very special. I found myself facing detours due to the closure of the historic center of many streets in the perimeter around the government building. And so at a certain point I found myself in Tepito, a not recommended place to find yourself alone with a camera, in which, however, I found myself photographing a few times in the past, as you can read by clicking here.
This time it was full of policemen divided into groups and so I photographed with even more tranquility.
A girl runs and I photograph her. I have to find a way that allows me to get out of Tepito and rejoin the streets that are most familiar to me.
Interaction between people interests me. I love to document those looks when people talk. Something that I learned to observe and appreciate since I was a kid and that continues to attract my photographer's eyes.
I wouldn't have dreamed of photographing in these areas a few years ago. Today I feel that I have a different experience and that I am more connected with the city.
San Judas Tadeo always represents something that identifies very certain Mexican culture. In front of the statu I take a first shot including the police cordon.
The second shot is completely dedicated to this religious icon.
What others do is a photographic theme for me. If they do something, my curiosity arouses even if I may not understand what kind of activity they are really engaged in.
A couple kisses and that's enough for me to raise my camera, frame and shoot.
Sometimes I connect certain subjects because of some detail. I photographed a lady with an umbrella before, now I photograph another who has two.
The closed area is very large. I will have to walk again to return to the streets where I was before. The preparations for September 15th, a national holiday, in the background and the police blockade are enough for a photograph showing this block.
The mannequins, a recurring subject. I lean on it from time to time to offer a different view of the city. Reflections are part of my photography and this is the main reason why I avoid using anti-reflective filters on the lens.
Sociality in restaurants can be another center of attraction for my photography. Sometimes there are interesting stories in these contexts.
I continue to photograph a lot. It is one of those days when I feel in the mood and the result is a very prolific fishing. Look at the gestures. The hands. They tell a story without fully including people.
Guys, today there are far too many overly perfect photos. Rigorous compositions that I often find good but cold. I think back to Garry Winogrand. When you are in the action what matters is what you frame and it doesn't have to be a straight shot. Everything is for the subjects and for what I see. The photo is in the detail of how the little girl's hand rests on her mother's arm. Everything else is a direct consequence of the shot.
Once again a gesture gives me the photo. And a story. It is photos like these that can be analyzed in the distribution of the subject and the space around it. Few elements, actually, and straight to the point.
Here's for photos like these you really play it. First of all because shooting vertically is more complicated and in the rapidity of the moment you could fail big time. The child's eye and the doll's. For me this is the photo. Then in my opinion even the colors work well.
I think in this post I managed to show how my photography evolves over the course of the day. In the last photos you can see how I warmed up and everything is going better than the first shots of the day. It depends on me no doubt, but it also affects the fact that the energy changes over the course of the day and offers more opportunities. After this shot the man smiled (as far as you can tell with the mask on your face) my thumb up and a gracias to them. When this happens, I get excited. I love street photography and I love people.
I was in Reforma Avenue and I've seen this woman before. I was about to photograph her when her gaze fell on mine and then I gave up. I sat down for a moment to rest on a bench and at a certain point she started walking again passing right in front of me. I took a pair of shots but this is the one I want to share here.
I reached the Zona Rosa, but guys I got tired: I walked many kilometers. I thought I was going back, but I have seen the time. I decided to take the metro, where I took this shot. I photographed at f1.8. I think this photo is a worthy conclusion to my day. I really hope you enjoyed this post. For me it is an opportunity to show the process of a day of street photography. If just one of you is inspired by these photographs and words, that's fine.
More posts like this will follow, so stay tuned. If you want to comment here and let me know what photos are your favorite, it would be great. In any case thanks to read my blog.
