On The Street

 I periodically encounter conversations online about street photography.  Such exchanges are characterized mainly by listings of the reasons people do not do street photography.  Photographers fear confrontations with subjects who object to having their pictures made in such a fashion.  Occasionally people report actual such interactions which have made them forever forego further attempts at snapping candid shots in public places. I have some sympathy up to a point with those attitudes. I am neither particularly sociable or courageous. Nevertheless, I have done street photography over a period of many years, most intensively in the late 1960s when I was first getting serious about photography.

El Paso - Kiev IIa

A couple factors combined to push me beyond my initial anxieties about the undertaking.  An important one was the flowering in those days of street photography as practiced by some extraordinary photographers such as Gary Winogrand and Diane Arbus.  Those two deployed very different techniques in practice.  Arbus worked mostly with a cumbersome twin lens reflex camera usually equipped with a flash, and she tended to engage directly with her subjects.  Winogrand shot with a compact 35mm, moved very fast down the street and shot yards of film on every outing.

NYC - Nikon S

 

 The other big thing that got me started in street work was the opportunity presented by time and place.  I was living then In New York and attending a commercial photo school in the financial district at the south end of Manhattan. . The school taught a commercial style of photography, mostly practiced in studios; it held little real interest for me.  I did learn some important photographic basics in the course, but what really motivated me was capturing images on the fly by day and by night in Chinatown which was just a short distance from the school's location. I spent weeks walking the streets and making candid shots of the area's residents as they went about their lives.

 

Chinatown - NY - Nikon S

My photo technique resembled Winogrand's more than that of Arbus.  I moved fast, shot a lot and tried to capture expressions, postures and interactions without arousing the attention of my subjects. I shot Tri-X, a fast, wide-latitude film.  The focus of my Nikon S camera was usually pre-set to around ten feet; with the aperture at f-16 that gave me optimal depth of field, and a high shutter speed avoided camera shake even when I was in motion. 

 

Chinatown - NYC - Nikon S

 I typically had the camera on a strap and hanging at waist level.  With a little practice it is possible to accurately frame the subject and trip the shutter with a thumb without raising the camera to eye level.  That hip-shot technique probably accounted for half the pictures I made. Often, of course, when a subject's attention was away from me it was perfectly feasible to shoot by raising the camera to the normal shooting position, and having the exposure and focus pre-set enabled a very quick capture of the scene.

Rhodes, Greece - Voigtländer Vito II

I don't recall a single instance of anyone objecting to my street work in making that long series of pictures in Chinatown.  Shooting technique aside, I think the fact that the community was very accustomed to seeing large numbers of tourists with cameras in their midst was also helpful to avoiding any critical confrontations. Beyond that, I think my own frame of mind played an important role. My objective was not just avoiding objections; I really was trying to create a visual narrative about the essential character of the community without interfering with the natural flow of life on the street. I have never intentionally tried to candidly capture subjects in situations that would be embarrassing or demeaning and I would certainly not use a picture of that type if it were accidentally recorded.

Las Cruces, NM - Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 35

It will be argued that times have changed and that the mood of the street has shifted toward paranoia and combativeness.  I don't disagree with that thought, but I think it can be overstated.  Regardless, there are still techniques available for making street photography possible.

UNM - Albuquerque - Ansco Panda

Film shooters have something of an advantage these days because the old cameras attract interest and are nice excuses to start conversations. My twin lens reflex cameras always elicit comments, and in use they don't arouse suspicion because looking down into the viewfinder does not produce the appearance of a fixed forward stare which can be interpreted as an aggressive posture.

From a recent stroll in Tiguex Park - Mamiya C330 tlr

The need for stealth in street work can be lessened by the choice of venues.  At places like amusement parks, street fairs and holiday celebrations there is an expectation of photography taking place, and often holiday events include people who are in costume and looking for attention. In Albuquerque the Day of the Dead celebrations offer many such opportunities in which subjects will become collaborators.

Day of the Dead - Ansco Panda

So, the street is still a viable venue for photography.  Some good examples of current work on the street can be found in ongoing conversations at the Rangefinder Forum:

• Our Street Photography . . . Post yours!
•  W/NW The Streets of Yokohama! 

Update:

I was reminded in coming across a review in the New York Times by Arthur Lubow about an interesting, if enigmatic, practitioner of street photography, Vivian Maier.  She preceded the era of Arbus and Winograd, but had no influence on them or anyone else of that time because her work remained totally unknown to the world until 2007.  Lubow thinks Maier's best work is to be found in her self-portraits, and he calls her a talented photographer, but not a great artist.  What Lubow did not do was to identify or even speculate on any influence Maier may be having on the practice of street photography since 2007.  Her work has certainly had significant impact on the art appreciating public and critics.  I have seen a lot of comments by photographers who have expressed admiration for her work.  Whether that has translated to actual stylistic influence is hard to know.