What is Street Photography for me in the new era?
We live in a new era and a new dimension. This inevitably also influences the way I live and do Street Photography.
In one of my books I written I given a definition of Street Photography:
“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. ”
Street Photography for me is all about the photography. There are so many genres of art, but street photography is the most powerful to me.
Street photography is one of the biggest passions in my life. My mind is always on street photography. I spend a large amount of time either shooting on the streets, blogging about street photography, networking with street photography, and thinking about street photography.
Street Photography has changed my life: because it’s an attitude, a mindset, a way of seeing the world. Street Photography has changed my life because I’m working with photography. I became a professional photographer thanks to Street Photographer. I given lectures to important universities. Street Photography has opened doors for me that I hadn't even imagined.
Shooting in the streets is thinking different. Shooting the streets is like a lottery,you can’t know the result never before.You can’t control the light, you can’t plan a shot, you never know how a scene can change within a second. And the search for the decisive moment is a challenge with yourself.
Street Photography is in some sense as a solitary sport: the only players are you and the camera, but at the same time you must be in close contact with people.
People are the essential element in street photography. You must love people, you can not think of staying distant to take pictures, and naturally I’m not only talking about physical distance.
Street Photography is also therapeutic.I relax myself when I shoot the street, and so many times is euphoria the emotional condition pervading me.
I enjoy interacting with people, many times I stop to talk with people. Some photographers or people who see me in action ask me if I’m not afraid to get close to people so much to take a picture of them.
I always answer that I am conscious of not doing anything wrong, and a positive attitude helps a lot in this job.
Because this is reflected on my body language, and in my being in harmony in the streets with the people.
As a commercial photographer I specialize in photojournalism, portraits, erotica and fashion, but I am and will remain a street photographer. Street photography is my essence and the way I look at the world. Because street photography gave me the opportunity to see in a whole new way that surrounds me and every moment I’m watching with my street photographer eye.
““That ongoing moment, you can feel it, a pure way of looking at the world…when you are in the street with your camera the sensation is vibrant energy, adrenaline running inside your veins, you can feel all the power, that intense moment when you frame through the viewfinder and you press the shutter. Now! That moment! Yeah! I have the picture!” ”
1- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS AN ATTITUDE, A DIFFERENT WAY TO APPROACH PHOTOGRAPHY
I think one of the main reasons I love street photography is because to be a street photographer you must live as a street photographer. One of the first things you learn when you start with this genre is the different approach you need to acquire in respect to the orthodox and academic photography. A different approach that will change forever your ideas about photography and art in general.
2- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS A CONSTANT LEARNING EXPERIENCE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ARE EXPERIENCED
You will never stop learning with this genre. There are other kinds of photography or activities where you can settle into a comfort zone but not with street photography because also the routine is not a real routine.
3- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ALWAYS SURPRISES YOU
We are talking about taking “unsettled” pictures and you are making photographs with subjects who aren’t posing for you. Street photography is always an adventure in which we do not know the direction it will take us. This is part of its charm, its ability to amaze me like when I was a child. That makes me feel extraordinarily alive and joyful for what the street will give me today and tomorrow.
4- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS REAL DOCUMENTARY
As I have written in one of my street photography pills, “Street Photography is the biggest contribution for visual arts to history of man to be the most genuine document of daily life” and I am sure the work street photographers around the world are doing will receive due recognition in the future. We are documenting the society of our time, through images and stories of the everyday. Currently I find most the truthful and sincere gaze on the world of a street photographer than many photojournalists.
5- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS MY MOTOR, WITH REGENERATING POWER FOR CREATIVITY
I use street photography as fuel for my creativity. I love to say street photography is a great prevention system against Alzheimer’s or senile diseases. Of course, there is no scientific credibility for this consideration but Michael Ernest Sweet in the past dedicated a post about photographers who have long life expectancy. For sure when I am on the street my brain is constantly generating new ideas.
6- THANKS TO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY, I AM THE PHOTOGRAPHER I AM
I owe everything to street photography. Today I am a professional photographer, which allows me to support my family. Street photography is more a method than a genre because I am applying the street photography approach to my commercial work. Usually my clients contact me to have a different work, and by different they mean often a candid shot, by giving examples of the work done in the street. Also with models I use the techniques that I acquired with street photography.
7- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED ME TO HAVE AMAZING EXPERIENCES, INTRODUCED ME TO WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO ARE TODAY MY FRIENDS, AND GENERATED IMPORTANT WORK OPPORTUNITIES
Thanks to street photography, I met a lot of people. Everyday I am contacted by someone and I am in contact with a lot of guys around the world. Street photography allowed me to go to Los Angeles, California, which was a dream of a lifetime for me. Thanks to street photography I have also given courses at universities. I am giving street photography workshops in three languages, and my students come to Mexico to take a workshop with me. So far I have had students from Italy, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Belgium, India, US, Australia, Japan, Denmark, UK…and most of them are still among my contacts. The fact I am known a street photographer allowed me to get in touch with many business brands and obtain work on assignment.
8- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED ME TO CREATE A A RESPECTED BLOG THAT IS VISITED AT LEAST ONCE BY READERS ALL OVER THE WORLD
My blog is a wonderful reality, already a universe of projects, a laboratory of ideas and proposals for the worldwide street photography community. Many important photography brands around the world believe in me and they sponsor contests and other projects and this is very cool to give something more to my followers and readers.
9- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS OVERALL A SOCIAL EXPERIENCE
One of the things I enjoy most about the genre is that I am on the street, so I meet and talk with a lot of people. I mean…most of the time I am not asking permission to take a picture, but it is pretty clear what I am doing. I am not hiding that I am taking pictures so sometimes I can talk with someone, which is a mindset that means I’m clearly open towards others. This is something that happens much less frequently if I don’t have with me a camera. So, I think street photography is able to give another kind experience inside an experience. The socializing experience is to be recommended to people who generally are very timid. I have seen outstanding results with some of my students.
10- STREET PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOW MY SPORT, ABLE TO RELAX AND ALSO GIVE ME SOME ADRENALINE RUSH
Street photography is currently the activity that makes me consume sneakers, more so than tennis and basketball. I walk thousands of miles thanks to street photography. I walk fast, and I’m always ready to react in case a vision of a moment to document with my camera strikes me. This relaxes me and usually I come home happy. I think street photography is a way to practice meditation, and I feel it is Zen in many aspects. The fact I am shooting strangers and that you can never be sure of the reaction of the subjects is part of the appeal of this challenge.
Let's not fool ourselves. We are living in a new era. The entry of artificial intelligence will change perception. It will be increasingly difficult to understand what is real and what is not. The testimony is at risk. This is what some photographers didn’t understand while they are playing with AI.
However the real experience is inimitable.
I see the problem but I think it's more about the will to make society and the rules that govern it even more dystopian.
Photographers who have staked everything on aesthetics will be the ones who will suffer the greatest impact and, from what I see, also those who will be most fascinated by the new technology. The reason is the great misunderstanding that I already denounced years ago. If everything is based on the superficial aspect and on the aesthetic result, with the aim of reaching consensus, then street photography is empty and destined to end.
But not for those who have always seen Street Photography as an extraordinary opportunity to be witnesses of our time. Street Photography will always need real experience, to get to know ourselves and others.
So, what is Street Photography for me in the new era?
Street Photography is a big opportunity to be a witness of my time. And it allowed me to make it without respecting a mainstream agenda.
Street Photography is focused on reality, the everyday life that is in front of me, without filters. It is a big public stage, sometimes funny, sometimes tragic. What I can see is that people's desperation has increased. Should I hide this reality just to have my photos with lighter subjects? No. I don’t think Street Photography should just be a kind of lighter photography. The street is tough. Its rules are harsh and the street is the place where every aspect of our society is reflected. Street Photography stinks of asphalt. It needs to be like that.
It is part of the human nature to collect moments in time. Despite most of people are not photographers, anyone in a certain sense is a photographer, Street Photography indulges on that natural impulse. Street Photography has its own value as a recording and observation of human nature, of the evolution of society over time. Although many consider it just a hobby, in reality it is an important act of recording historical documents that can help to understand how a particular society lives. The value of its anthropological and historical function appears evident from this perspective.
I've worked hard in recent years to underline and give nobility to this way of understanding and experiencing photography. We street photographers are the historians of photography, without the burden of having to comply with the policies of agencies governed by large corporate interests. We are really independent. We are just on the street with our cameras, observing and proposing an observation of the world before us. We are not doing this to promote a specific idea or advertise a product. I have the opportunity to let those who are far away know how we live here. At the same time I can know things about India or Australia. This is precious. This is the real gold of Street Photography. This is a political act. This is something that is also not good for the system.
Street Photography is even more important today. Proud to be a Street Photographer.
I hope you enjoy the photos proposed here.
