The real street
About the topic of identity and representation
Street photography. A term that conjures images of quirky characters, fleeting moments of humor, and a world bathed in golden hour light. But is this the only story the streets have to tell? Where is the real street? As a photographer venturing into the often-rough neighborhoods, I find myself increasingly frustrated by a trend: the sanitized version of street life, the one curated for social media validation and awards.
Let's be honest, the streets aren't always pretty. Most of th time are not. We, the ones who walk them, the ones who live the rhythm of the city in its rawest form, know this. Of course not the little prince or princess that thinks the world is just what he lives most of the time: easy and with few things to be worried. We, living the streets and not just downtown in the weekend, know that there is a stark reality that transcends the "perfect" frame, the one begging for likes and online glory.
As an outsider, with the telltale marks of someone not belonging, I enter these neighborhoods with a healthy dose of respect and a genuine desire to capture the essence of the street.
Street photography can be a powerful tool for dismantling stereotypes and showcasing the unfiltered truth of a city. I do my job exactly for this. Because when i was a kid, I have seen the real core of metropolis in Rome, evend with my grandparents. It was the end of 70s and starting the 80s and in the subway and the places where we went i could have a particular imprinting of the street reality. It is thanks to that memory and also a lot of detective movies that I started to build my imagery as a writer and then as a photographer,
The real streets pulsate with a life force that transcends aesthetics: many times you don’t have time to be so precise with the composition, so what bwe are seeing with these street photographers and theitr fashionista gaze? Th streets where I go are messy, unpredictable, and often dangerous. This is precisely what makes them so captivating to me.
What do you think? Would you come with me and with your 2000 US$ (or more) equipment?
Street photography must talk about the street
And not about how dad made you a prince or princess.
Is it a social issue?
Yes, even politics I would say. If you live in the wealthy world where the fuck are you going? What the fuck do you see if your world is a hologram? If you drive most of the time and have no idea about the real world?
This is why in most competitions we see street photography which is a sort of game, something for children. And where the street, the real one is not there.
In fact, a real selection takes place in reverse: there are festivals and awards that ask you a lot of money to participate.
Who do you think will participate? That’s right: fucking daddy’s boys, retired doctors and dentists with a passion for Leica, supported princesses.
Then if they see photographs showing the street, with stories of drugs and prostitution, they say that that is not street photography. Oh, yes… the street has to show the bullshit…
What for me is the great opportunity with street photography is to say things much more openly than journalism that follows an agenda (financed by banking groups). And if it becomes a social topic then much more is done on a political level than through classic photojournalism. The homeless and mentally disturbed people, perhaps through drug use, has reached very high peaks following the pandemic. Photographing this situation, for example, I do not consider it to be exclusive to the photojournalist.
If we all agree that Street Photography is about documenting the human condition and the reality in the streets of a city without filters, I ask you: what is the role of Street Photography? Is Boogie a street photographer for you or not? Are you not tired of people making visual jokes completely unuseful? Or you think street photography is only a funny hobby for rich kids?
Right, not anyone is open with taking risks on the street. It is fine. I respect it. But what about the representation of the street?
Street Photography is not born yesterday on instagram. And Street Photography is not even the one presented in tik tok where a guy makes a portrait, asking permission to a model, in a fake video. Street Photography has in its ADN the snapshot aesthetics. I can’t see that in the new guys. I can’t see the snapshot aesthethics and I see a glamour aesthethics that doesn’t gives us the authenticity of the street.
Street Photography is, certainly, a snapshot of urban life observed in its daily facet and that includes all its aspects: irony, tragedy, unpredictability, cruelty and even beauty.
