What is Street Photography?

The answer to this question can’t be easily summed up in one small sentence. There has always been a lot of disagreement in the street photography community as to what street photography is and what it isn’t. Photography by it’s very nature is subjective and even within street photography there are many sub-genres. For me a good street photography image must at least satisfy the basics of any good photograph, which is good composition, however unlike the name suggests I don’t believe it necessarily has to be taken on the street. I have broken down street photography styles into the following, however this is by no means a definitive list.

Documentary

Documentary street photography for me depicts life on the street in a very raw format, i.e. just how it is without the bells and whistles. This is about capturing peoples emotions and encompasses the scene as a whole usually with multiple subjects, post processing is kept to a minimum. It’s common for this type of photography to focus on a particular area of society or subject matter. One of the most famous photographers in this genre is UK photographer Martin Parr, some of his most popular work includes ‘The Last Resort’ which features images of the beach resort of New Brighton in the UK.

Juxtaposition

This is possibly the hardest type of street photography as it largely depends on luck, that being said you make your own luck sometimes and if you have a keen eye you’re much more likely to spot these type of opportunities.

This type of street photography can consist of coincidences such as the image on the left, which depicts two strangers almost mirroring each other’s actions. It can contain repetitions where for instance people are stood in a row all dressed in the same coloured clothes. Another example is someone walking past a billboard with a static image which seems to be interacting with the person walking. One street photographer who is a master of this genre is Matt Stuart. He’s gained a reputation of being one of the best by putting in the hours on the street over the last 20 years.

Silhouette

This is one of the most popular sub genres of street photography today mainly because it can look fantastic when done well and is relatively easy to achieve with good light. However it can also look very average when it’s done poorly. The idea is to capture a subject in good light, but at a point when they are walking through a shadow to create a silhouette. This only works well though when the surrounding scene is interesting or aesthetically pleasing. It can create an air of mystery as the subject should be unidentifiable. Although this type of street photography can look really pleasing to the eye, it could be argued that it lacks emotion due to not being able to see peoples faces.

Abstract

Now I’ve been doing street photography for more than 4 years, I’ve started to look at more interesting ways to create images. This has led me to start trying to take more abstract photographs, using layering and reflections. For more on this see my article on Matt Hall’s workshop here. It’s early days so a lot of the photographs I’m taking are trash, but so far this is one of my favourites which was taken through a telephone box in the City of London. I tried to focus on the dirt on the glass and let the subject walk behind. It was also a nice sunny day which helped, as the light was hitting the subject face on.

The key with these kind of images is that it shouldn’t be obvious straight away what the viewer is seeing or how the photograph was taken. At the same time it needs to look interesting and not just a jumble of different objects mashed together. I know I need to experiment more though to try and push the boundaries. Photographers such as Jack Davison and Sarah Van Rij have clearly been doing this for a while to great effect.

Light and Shadow

Just like silhouette images these types of photographs require good light to create a contrast with shadows, however the subject can be seen in full view. They’re possibly one of the easiest street photographs to take as long as the light is good. You just need to expose for the highlights, which in itself creates the dark shadow with very little detail. You’ll often see social media flooded with these kind of images as there is a popular misconception that just because there is great light with dark shadows and then it’s turned into black and white, it makes a great image, however this method should be used sparingly. I personally like to retain the mystery you get with silhouetted images by letting the shadow cover the face of a subject, but the composition should still be there.

What Street Photography Isn’t

Whilst the above are the different types of what street photography can be, I believe there are rules which excludes an image from being classed as street photography. Firstly it can’t be staged, the image has to be a candid snapshot of what is happening at that particular time. There are however some fantastic photographers who take images that aren’t candid and I admire and take inspiration from some of them all the time. As I stated earlier street photography doesn’t have to be actually on the street, an image could be taken on a train for instance.

I also believe that a good street photography image shouldn’t be repeatable. For instance a photo of the front of a building or even an abstract reflection without any human subjects can be easily repeatable. It seems really popular at the moment to take photos of shop windows with manikins in with a reflection to try and make it abstract, not a difficult shot to take and very repeatable, I don’t get it.

Not all street photography with human subjects make good photographs either. Taking a photo of a fella walking out of Sainsbury’s with his shopping bags, then turning it black and white doesn’t make for an interesting shot at all. I love black and white street photography when it’s done well for example Alan Schaller, but this is rarely the case.

Conclusion

So to conclude there are many type of street photography and it’s not always possible to put every image into a category, but for me these are the ones that most of my images fall into. Please comment below if you think others should be included. I haven’t even touched on night photography as this in itself can contain many sub-genres too.