(English version at the bottom of the page)
Cette phrase n’est pas de moi, rassurez vous ! Récemment Michael Ernest Sweet (MES) a écrit un article qui a déchaîné pas mal de réactions sur le web. Depuis cet article a été retiré (par son auteur ou par le Huffington Post). Néanmoins il reste des traces de cet article grâce au cache de google. Vous pouvez le lire en intégralité ici. Tout d’abord, je tiens à préciser que c’est un photographe que j’apprécie tout particulièrement.
J’ai acheté l’année dernière son magnifique livre “The Human Fragment“, recueil de photos en N&B que je vous conseille grandement. Dans cet article, on retrouve un MES, désabusé, fatigué et assez critique vis à vis de la Street Photography actuelle. D’ailleurs il dit se retirer de ce genre photographique car beaucoup de déceptions (pratique trop individualiste au détriment de la communauté) et de lassitude (pas de réel public pour la Street Photography). Je ne vais pas aborder l’ensemble des points abordés par MES, mais certains sont assez pertinents.
Existe t’il un esprit de communauté dans la Street Photography ?
MES reproche le manque d’aide de la communauté. Que ce soit un support moral ou plus précisément un support financier pour des projets. Je ne fais partie d’aucun Collectif de photographes, mais il me semble que des collectifs existent et c’est le but de ces regroupements de photographes. Etre plus fort à plusieurs, pour des expos ou des publications de livres. Mais au delà de ces collectifs, je ne suis pas vraiment d’accord sur le constat assez amer de MES. Il existe une entraide dans la communauté. Dans la vie, j’ai peu d’amis, mais ceux qui font partie de mon cercle d’amis, sont des personnes sur qui je peux compter. Pour la photo, je fonctionne de la même façon. Privilégier la qualité au détriment de la quantité. Je sais à qui je peux faire confiance si j’ai besoin d’un avis ou d’un conseil. Pour le support financier, c’est compliqué. Dès qu’on parle argent de toute manière, ça l’est. Le truc c’est qu’il ne faut pas avoir trop d’attente car comme toujours, on aura vite fait d’être déçu…
La Street Photography actuelle est de qualité médiocre.
La photographie s’est démocratisée avec l’iphone et les réseaux sociaux. Plus besoin d’avoir des appareils photos onéreux pour faire de la photo. Le ticket d’entrée est devenu très abordable. La Street Photography est très accessible. De plus en plus de personnes s’y adonnent et par conséquence, un nombre incalculable de photos sont partagées sur les plateformes comme 500px, Flickr, Instagram. Il est évident que la qualité n’y est pas. Beaucoup de daubes et assez peu de bonnes photos. Le pire c’est que pour les photos qui surnagent dans ce flot insipide, on ne les remarque pas car qui a envie de trier des millions de photos ?
On a tendance à trop partager de photos au détriment de la qualité. En gros, “Je poste donc j’existe”. ! Ne vous trompez pas sur mes propos, je suis coupable aussi. Quand j’ai commencé sur 500px, je me suis mis à poster frénétiquement, tous les jours. J’étais omnibulé par les “likes” et je jugeais une photo sur son nombre de ♥. Le problème c’est qu’on finit par poster même si on sait pertinemment que sa photo est pas terrible. Et c’est là où je rejoins l’avis de MES. Le travail d’éditing n’existe plus, on poste tout et n’importe quoi. J’essaye de poster que des photos qui à mon avis ont un petit quelque chose en plus des autres (je parle de mon travail) . Je poste peu. Je partage plus de photos dans mes Blogs sur mon site. Alors oui je n’existe pas sur la toile, à part les feedbacks de quelques photographes dont j’apprécie aussi le boulot, c’est le désert. Pas grave, peu d’avis sincères valent mieux que des avis intéressés.
Est on obligé de faire des photos engagées pour donner du sens à sa démarche ?
Quand on regarde des photographes comme Gary Winogrand, Robert Frank ou Martin Parr, on se dit que ces photographes avaient une vision et que leur démarche artistique allait bien au delà que de prendre des photos de parfaits inconnus dans la rue. Quid de la pratique de la Street Photo aujourd’hui ? Les gens font des photos (beaucoup même) mais la démarche est différente. C’est devenu un passe temps comme aller à la pêche. Combien d’entre nous ont une vision précise de ce qu’ils font ? Moi même, je suis toujours incapable de vous dire pourquoi je fais de la Street Photography. J’aime marcher dans les rues d’Aix-en-Provence, j’aime essayer de capturer des moments de la vie ordinaire, j’aime ressentir cette adrénaline quand je prends des photos. Je ne fais pas de photos engagées politiquement, socialement… Alors est ce que ma démarche a un sens ? A mon niveau oui. Je ne vais pas révolutionner ni marquer le monde de la Street Photography. Je ne serais qu’un de ces anonymes qui auront pris des photos d’Aix à une époque. Mais ces photos seront ma vision de ma ville et personne d’autre n’aura la même vision. Pourquoi ? Tout simplement parce qu’il y a beaucoup de moi dans mes photos et ça, on ne me l’enlèvera pas.
Street Photography = HYPE.
Depuis plusieurs années, la Street Photography est devenue à la mode. Il y a qu’à voir tous les workshops et les festivals photos consacrés à cette pratique. C’est devenu une machine à $$$. Celui qui a tout compris et qui a été là au bon moment pour surfer sur la grosse vague est Eric Kim. Il a pu bâtir un petit Empire sur la Street Photography et la demande la concernant. J’ai beaucoup appris de lui avec tous ce qu’il a partagé avec la communauté, mais je trouve assez indécent de faire payer des workshops à des tarifs aussi élevés. Après tout si des gens sont prêt à payer pour, il a tort de ne pas le faire. L’offre et la demande…Je ne sais pas ce qu’on apprend dans ces workshops. J’en ai fait un à Liverpool sur une journée avec Matt Hart (un embassadeur de la marque Fuji). Eh bien c’était une expérience intéressante, mais je n’ai rien appris. Ça ne m’avait coûté que 70€… C’est tout le paradoxe de la Street Photography. Ça ne rapporte rien, vous ne vendrez jamais (ou presque) une seule photo mais il y a plein de gens qui vous vendront des workshops à des prix exhorbitants allant de 500€ à 3500€ (si si…Regardez sur les sites d’Eric Kim et de Valérie Jardin pour ne citer qu’eux) ou sinon d’autres comme Lensculture qui vous vendront du vent en utilisant le terme “Street Photography”. Je ne pense pas que la plupart des photographes de rue fassent ça pour l’argent, mais c’est assez rageant de voir de tels comportements.
Michael Ernest Sweet a t’il raison de quitter la Street Photography ?
Il a ses raisons et sa décision lui appartient. J’espère juste qu’il ne le fera pas. C’est vraiment un photographe dont j’apprécie le travail. J’ai pu lire au travers des réactions lues sur le net que son franc parler dérange. Je ne suis pas d’accord avec tout ce qu’il a dit mais il a soulevé des points intéressants en dénonçant notamment nos comportements sur les réseaux sociaux et aussi en mettant le doigt sur les pratiques de certaines personnes qui font de l’argent sur le dos de la Street Photography. Personnellement, je crois que le plus important est de suivre sa voie. Je ne serais jamais un photographe célèbre. Mon travail restera toujours confidentiel. La reconnaissance, je l’ai déjà eu de mes pairs. Pour le reste, j’ai toujours préféré l’ombre à la lumière.
~o~
Why I’m quitting Street Photography…
This sentence is not mine, rest assured ! Recently Michael Ernest Sweet (MES) wrote an article that unleashed a lot of reactions on the web. Since then, this article has been removed (by its author or by the Huffington Post). Nevertheless there are traces of this article thanks to the google cache. You can read it in full here. First of all, I want to say that he is a photographer that I particularly appreciate. I bought last year his beautiful book “The Human Fragment“, a collection of photos in B & W that I advise you greatly. In this article, we find MES, disillusioned, tired and quite critical of the current Street Photography. Moreover he says to withdraw from this photographic genre because a lot of disappointments (practice too individualistic to the detriment of the community) and weariness (no real public for Street Photography). I will not address all the points raised by MES, but some are quite relevant.
Is there a community mindset in Street Photography?
MES blames the lack of help from the community. That it is a moral support or more precisely a financial support for projects. I’m not part of any Collective of photographers, but it seems to me that collectives exist and this is the purpose of these groups of photographers. To be stronger to several, for exhibitions or book publications. But beyond these collectives, I do not really agree on the rather bitter assessment of MES. There is mutual help in the community. In life, I have few friends, but those who are part of my circle of friends, are people I can rely on. For the photo, I work the same way. Focus on quality at the expense of quantity. I know who I can trust if I need advices. For financial support, it’s complicated. As soon as we talk about money anyway, it is. The thing is that we must not have too much expectations because as always, we will quickly be disappointed …
The current Street Photography is of mediocre quality.
Iphone and social networks have made photography easily accessible. No need to have expensive cameras to take pictures. The entry ticket has become very affordable. Street Photography is very accessible. More and more people are doing it and as a result, countless photos are shared on platforms like 500px, Flickr, Instagram. It is obvious that the quality is not there. A lot of crap and pretty few good pictures. The worst is that for the photos that stand out in this tasteless flood, we do not notice them because who wants to sort millions of photos?
We tend to share too much photos at the expense of quality. Basically, “I share so I exist”. ! Do not be fooled by my words, I am guilty too. When I started on 500px, I started frantically posting every day. I was omnibulated by the “likes” and I judged a picture on its number of ♥. The problem is that we end up posting even if we know for a fact that the photo is not terrible. And this is where I agree with the opinion of MES. The editing work no longer exists, we share everything and anything. I try to post only photos that in my opinion have a little something besides the others (I’m speaking of my photos). I post little. I share more photos in my Blogs on my site. So yes I do not exist on the web, apart from the feedbacks of some photographers whose work I also appreciate, it’s the desert. No big deal, few sincere opinions are better than interested ones.
Is one obliged to make committed photos to give meaning to his approach ?
When we look at photographers like Gary Winogrand, Robert Frank or Martin Parr, we think that these photographers had a vision and that their artistic approach went far beyond taking pictures of complete strangers in the street. What about the practice of Street Photo today ? People make pictures (even too much) but the approach is different. It has become a hobby like going fishing. How many of us have a clear vision of what they do ? I’m still unable to tell you why I’m doing Street Photography. I like to walk the streets of Aix-en-Provence, I like to try to capture moments of ordinary life, I like to feel this adrenaline when I take photos. I do not make photos engaged politically, socially … So does my approach make sense? At my level yes. I will not revolutionize or mark the world of Street Photography. I would only be one of those anonymous people who took pictures of Aix at one time. But these photos will be my vision of my city and no one else will have the same vision. Why ? Just because there are a lot of me in my photos and that, no one will take it away from me.
Street Photography = HYPE.
For several years, Street Photography has become fashionable. There is only to see all the workshops and photo festivals dedicated to this practice. It has become a CA$H machine. The one who understood everything and who was there at the right moment to ride the big wave is Eric Kim. He was able to build a small Empire on the Street Photography and the demand concerning it. I learned a lot from him with all that he shared with the community, but I find it rather indecent to charge for workshops at such high rates. After all if people are willing to pay for it, it’s wrong not to do it. Supply and demand … I do not know what we learn in these workshops. I made one in Liverpool on a day with Matt Hart (a Fuji X ambassador). Well, it was an interesting experience, but I did not learn anything. It only cost me $ 70 … That’s the paradox of Street Photography. It’s not profitable, you will never sell (or almost) a single photo but there are plenty of people who will sell you workshops at exorbitant prices ranging from 500 € to 3500 € (Oh yes… Look on the sites of Eric Kim and Valérie Jardin to name a few) or else others like Lensculture who will sell you dream using the term “Street Photography”. I do not think most street photographers do that for the money, but it’s pretty frustrating to see such behavior.
Is Michael Ernest Sweet right to leave Street Photography ?
He has his reasons and his decision belongs to him. I just hope he will not do it. It’s really a photographer whose work I appreciate. I read through reactions read on the net that his outspoken speech disturbs. I do not agree with everything he said but he raised some interesting points by denouncing in particular our behavior on social networks and also by pinpointing the practices of some people who make money on the back of Street Photography. Personally, I think the most important thing is to go his own way. I would never be a famous photographer. My work will always remain confidential. Recognition, I already had it from my peers. For the rest, I always preferred the shade to the light.
Good article, man. I think the big error is to continue to think in term of genres. I have also doubts street photography is a genre, rather I consider it an approach and a way of living photography, which ends up affecting our vision. If we will think more about MY PHOTOGRAPHY and not about STREET PHOTOGRAPHY, we will reach important goals. I do. It will be less popular and in some cases you will end forgot by the army of street photography, the accolade making reference to themselves and participating to any festival and contest, those contributed to create homologation, the search of the approval, so loved by the judges of lensculture…but is this so bad? I don’t think so.
Hey Alex, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Of course I know your point of view on that and you know that I agree 1000 %. You’re right when you say that Street Photography should not be considered as a genre. I was about to title the article “Street Photography is dead… Hail to Life Photography !”. Humm ok, I still gave him a genre, but what I wanted was something that includes everything and not only focused on the streets. About Life. But this term already exists and it’s “Photography”. I sent the link to Michael because I wanted to know why he wrote (and erased) that. I love his work and as you, I hope that even if deeply he really meant what he wrote, that he will not quit Photography. Things need to be fought. Giving away would mean that you accept their behaviour and I personnaly don’t…
You’re rapidly turning into the thinking mans photographer Jeff. Super article and some extremely salient points made. I agree, in fact with all of the points. Street Photography is just a name, it doesn’t mean anything, it covers so much. It’s simply photography, moments of life captured; Photography has always been just that, whether it’s on a street or a landscape or a piece of architecture or a portrait…
I remember seeing “popular” phots on 500px. Usually a child dressed up in 19th century clothes with a suitcase or some with someone stood on an empty road in a sickly orange/red cast to the image. Usually these were accompanied by an invitation to learn how to take crap like that for only $300 or buy the presets to look like this. People did I’m sure and they went on a workshop. They should have spent money on art or photography books and developed their own style, learnt to see the frame, nobody could possibly teach that.
Anyway, it’s necessary to be selective what we show regardless of what others think. We do so for a sense of pride in our work, not for likes or selection in a competition.
We’ve be discussing about that for quite a long time now John. As Alex Coghe mentionned, we shouldn’t consider Street Photography as a genre. We should call it Photography. But we have this urge to categorize things. Street, Landscape, portraiture… People are not editing their work now. The most important is to share stuffs to be visible on the web. No matters if what they’re sharing is any good or not. I only try to share my best shots on FB and Instagram. Here on my Blog, I feel that I can post whatever I want, beacause the purpose is different. I might try something odd soon… Desinstall FB and Instagram on my smartphone for a while (why not 1 month for a try) just to feel free again. Not looking at other’s photographs and focussing on my work. A good way to purge myself from Social Media.
I deactivated my Facebook account a week ago, temporarily or maybe permanently, undecided at the moment. It’s the only Social Media I used. I’m not on anything else apart from occasional uploads to LFI Magazine. It’s therapeutic, no urge to post something, no comparing yourself to other more talented photographers. The downside is that if I decide to write a blog it’ll be read by just me.
I read the comments from Alex and Vasco, could agree more with what they have stated.
Wow ! You did it ! I’m still asking myself if I can do it. Ok it’s very simple… Just desinstall the FB and Instagram applications. My concern is also my Blog. With less than 20 people in my newsletter, my articles will not be read at all. Well is it a big deal ? Not really. Need some time to think about it. This Social stuff is like a drug. And like any addiction, it’s hard to let it go. Where can I keep in touch with you except your Blog ? Messenger ? Whatsapp ?
It’s probably temporary…in the meantime you already have my email address.
Congrats Jeff. A very important subject. I agree with almost everything MES wrote except that it is the end of so-called Street Photography (maybe it should be called Public Photography) and giving up and walk away instead of fighting for a better Photography made in public places.
As every person have a photographic voice. The great question is: what you really have to say?
Nowadays everyone is a photographer – with or without smartphones. 95 million photos and videos are posted to Instagram every day and over six billion photos per month to Facebook.
And a large percentage is poor quality photography. Constantine Manos said – 99% of the work on the Internet is bad photography. Of course the vast majority have no great things to say and pretensions or ambition to make also great photographs and they all almost shoot the same picture. Photography then becomes a game, an act of friendship, of love. That’s fine.
But if you take Photography in a more serious way you wil have several challenges when you start to share your work and you feel there is almost a fight for acceptance.
So when we start to publish have to choose between lots of Sites and pages because photographers have become a huge target to the photomarket. Of course there are a few honest Sites and with good know-how about photography – where we can share our work.
But we can see also lots of Sites asking you to submit your work – where you read promises that you will have international exposure and fantastic awards if you will be a winner of competitions. Competitions judged for unknown photocelebrities and run by people living of photography without knowing anything about Photography. So their reviews are dangerous in many cases because it creates a false notion of what good photography is. So award winning photographers are common these days!
But are they really encouraging good works? Or, on the contrary, are creating the disappointment and desistance of many potential good photographers – encouraging only a restrictive and competitive social group?
But at same time we see more and more images obtained by anonymous amateurs are as or more interesting as those made by some recognized as Photography Masters. What then distinguishes the top photographers? Why does one reach the celebrity and distinction and others with equal or superior quality remain anonymous? What are they finally doing to Photography?
But the worst! Not only we have increasingly paids entries but also must pay to be published!!! Yes you can receive an e-mail saying: “Congratulations! Your image(s) have been selected for the BEST OF THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS 2017. You’d be even more delighted to know that your work is among the Top 3% that made the cut! The publishing fee is between US$ 375 – 500 per page”! I think we must fight this and not give up.
Cheers
Very well stated Vasco. Totally agree.
Much appreciated! Thanks John. Cheers.
All these online competitions are just CA$H machines ! They just want your money… They won’t get mine. Another point I haven’t pinpointed is the cronyism existing in Photography. I didn’t want to speak about this because it’s another sulfurous topic that might need another Blog… May be later
The best way is to stay true to your vision. Keep the heading and keep away of theses distractions. But we must also denounce these practices. We need more people with legitimacy, like Michael Ernest Sweet and Alex Coghe to stand up and say it out loud. I have to thank them for that.
Thanks Jeff. True. Cronyism is a problem but I did not talked about it because it would be to much and as you wrote “it’s another sulfurous topic”. Also an interesting subject would be “form and content” on photography made in public places. Garry Winogrand said: “Every photograph is a battle of form versus content.”. But he also wrote: ““Photos have no narrative content. They only describe light on surface.”. We see that the great “master” photographers were not always coherent in their statements (H. Cartier-Bresson too).
Cheers.
I do feel the MES does have a point about a lack of community and support, or least in the places I look.
Most Internet celebrity photographers want you to join their community on either Facebook, Google+ some ‘special’ forum they have created just so they can get the numbers, when you ask for a critique of an image the ask is usually ‘Oh join a workshop and this will help you to understand’ or this is the way to have been in my experience.
These people are only interested in your money, they very rarely interact with the people within the community, unless you have been along to a workshop (or two) then you can because one of the chosen few.
Whilst I agree with you about iphones and social media making it easily accessible, I feel there is another reason and this I believe is the fault of John Maloof and Vivian Maier.
Pre 2009-2010; very few non-photography people knew or cared about street photography, I would have conversations we friends and work colleagues along the lines of:-
“You take pictures of random people on the street?”
“Yes; but not just random people, people that are interesting. Trying to capture life.
After 2010-11 I would have conversations along the lines of:-
“Oh, you do stuff like that Vivian Maier”
“What would be a good camera to shot stuff like that Vivian Maier?”
“Where would be a good place to shot stuff like that Vivian Maier?”
Friends would ask if I was going out at the weekend and could they tag along!
People believed that if a nanny could become an international star then so could they, it didn’t matter that she was dead and was earning nothing from the venture, they believe they will be ‘discovered’.
For my late teens I knew I would never be the next Eric Clapton or David Gilmour but it hasn’t stopped me playing guitar, its the same with photograph, and its the same with street photography but I still enjoy taking my camera out most Saturdays and try to capture life in my City, and occasionally I will capture something that has meaning to me.
Back to workshops; last month I attended a street workshop, it was a terrible experience. The “teachers” weren’t that interested in teaching and it was all very basic, with no feedback at all.
Talking to a couple of attendees they had the same feeling but most thought it was a good workshop but these things just proliferate the numbers of bad images appearing on social media as these people thing that because they have been on a workshop theie work must be good.
I even heard people saying that after being on this workshop they were looking to start their own!
I now see the Valerie Jardin is sitting up a worldwide photowalk network, using volunteers to help her build her Empire.
In the last year I have distanced myself from most of the social media sites and have left communities and forums that are only looking at you as a number and a potential cash machine.
Street Photography lately is a cool thing. Even some “people” confessed having a Fuji X100 to take some snapshots. Personnaly I came to Street less than 2 years ago. Not because of the “cool” but because I’ve always been interested in capturing people candidly without knowing exactly how to do it. I didn’t know much about Street Photography anyway. How people (including me) were drawn to Street Photography ? You don’t see SP anywhere. Do we have famous people in SP ? No. Do people buy SP to hang in their living room. No. Street Photography is a niche. Social platforms like 500px, Flikr or Instagram might have given popularity to SP. And let’s face it, as I said the entry ticket to SP is cheap. You just need a camera or a phone and a city. No need to go to exotic expensive places to make photographs.
Concerning workshops, there should be interesting ones. But I still believe that it’s a waste of money. You can’t learn anything in one or two days. You have to be engaged to teach to someone. And the money shouldn’t be the motive. I would like to share what I was able to learn to other people. Why not a workshop ? But not for money. Just to help people who struugle and don’t know how to operate on the streets.
The disillusion with street photography comes from some previous illusions which were destroyed by the hordes of people with mirrorless cameras and their self-proclaimed leaders like Kim, Leuthard or Jardin. The genre “street” is the Jerusalem Syndrom of photography: every single one believes to be the messiah and the final enlightenment is near. Bad news is, the messiah is long dead and so is the art of street photography.
I can’t understand what this has to do with mirrorless cameras. Use a DSLR ( analog or digital), a compact, a mirrorless, your smartphone, a toy camera… or anything you want to capture moments in the streets. A camera is just a tool. Your vision is what counts. Not gear. Street Photography is dead or a living dead ? It’s like Rock & Roll. People said that Rock & Roll was dead. What counts, it’s that we shouldn’t think in term of genre as Alex Coghe said. We’re doing Photography. Sometimes it might be in the streets, sometimes with your family and kids, sometimes during holidays…
Long time reader. First time caller….
Someone made the point that street is a-la-mode. I think that’s part of the truth. I think the broader issue is more complex and multi-faceted. First of, street requires no skill other than taking a picture of someone on the street with or without their knowing or permission. Most of what I see being called street is crap. No thoughts to composition, or subject, or statement, or quality what-so-ever. I know this because I shoot pictures of the backs of people heads all the time and most of them are crap and it has nothing to do with whether or not they are street photos or not.
The lack of creativity in so much of what is called street is only surpassed by the rampant amount of blatant plagiarism in street. Yes, there is nothing that is new and that includes photography–it has all been done before. Yes, I am guilty of bending/borrowing another photographer’s style. I look at the previous two statements as important aspects of establishing one’s own shooting style and I embrace it, but that’s not the photographic journey most street photographers are embarking on. They are specifically limiting themselves to a particular genre because they believe there is a dogma attached to street that *doesn’t require* them to develop any style or photographic capability other than haphazardly shooting a picture of a person on a street or their silhouette against a colorful background. It’s like the Danish Dogma “films” of the late 90s. Quite easy to be a street photographer if you go in thinking all you have to do is be brave and approach people with or without their permission and completely diminish the act of creating an image to just pushing a button.
Lastly, certain tech has infiltrated street photography with a stronghold and attracted a crowd of people that are into the image of that particular tech. The most notable is Leica and the second most notable is film–both of which I shoot. Most self-proclaimed street shooters buy a Leica because they’ll automatically be in the high-end of the street club, able to look down their noses at everyone else. They’ve read somewhere about HCB or Winorand or Gilden or Meyerwitz or whoever at Magnum and think that the secret sauce to shooting street is one of these über cameras. And the film crowd is arguably just as bad at times. The number of conversations I’ve had which start with:
“Well I shoot (insert Leica or film here) so I mostly shoot street.”
…are to many to count and they always end with the person I’m talking to saying how people who don’t shooting with (insert Leica or film here) don’t really understand the true essence of the street. Fucking kill me right now.
Ultimately I shoot a style of photography that I identify as street because the photographers who I build my personal style upon all identified with this genre that we today call street. If the makes me a documentarian I’m fine with that. The label doesn’t define the work, it just makes it easier for people to put in a little box because that’s hat human beings do. We like to classify shit.
Am I a committed photographer? As much as I can be and probably more than I should be at times. I’m not as lucky as other’s to have stumbled in to stills early enough to attempt a career. Does that make me or anyone else in a similar situation less capable or committed to developing as an artist (Yes John I said it)? I don’t think so. I spend countless hours mulling over books of other peoples work. I spend more money than I should processing and shooting film because it’s organically developed (no pun intended) into an important part of my process as well as the aesthetic I have come to prefer. I shoot as often as I can, I practice my focusing at work. I print books, write my silly blog. I even post on Instagram where I follow the works of photographers far more talented than I’ll ever be… gasp.
Now I’ve soapboxed to long but the last thing I want to say is that I do believe the critical mistake that people make when it comes to all forms of photography is to think there is a point here you as an artist have reached a point where you no longer need to continue developing. By developing I mean stylistically, or the process, or the tools, or the genre or any aspect of the craft. Continuing to learn and try and fail is what makes any pursuit infinitely personal, non-curruptable and ultimately enjoyable. Surrendering yourself to being malleable means no one else defines what you do but you. No one can tell you when you have failed. Setting abstract goals like being “the best” or having 100K followers will mean nothing but a feeling failure whereas deciding you want to try to shoot a different lens or a different technique mean success every time.
God I sound like a self help video…
Hey Chris, thanks for sharing some of your thoughts on the topic. You’re right when you say that a lot of crap is shared on Social Media. It’s like people don’t have any filter now. We share everything. It’s a society thing. Everything has already been done ? Not wrong but think of it in term of Music. I find myself seized with emotion when I listen to some new songs from contempory artists. How is it possible ? I think that Photography is like music. everything has already been done, but we as photographer can share our vision of what has already been done.
Yes, Street Photography is a major trend in photography lately. As you said, Tech have understood that. You’re refering to Leica, but it’s the same for Fuji. I love the X line, and Fuji is making a lot of money on the X100 series. Good for them. For some people, the ultimate goal to achieve is to shoot with a Leica. Does the red dot give you some legitimacy as you said ? I ‘ll keep my 10 MP old Ricoh GRD IV for my work…
As you said there’s no finish line in Photography, oh well there’s one when we’ll leave Mother Earth. Until then, we never stop learning, failing. I read on your Blog how you were amazed by the vision of your kids on photography. It’s because by growing up, we lost our child’s mind. We take our stuff too seriously and forget to stay curious. That’s what I’m working on. Trying to see things like a child and stay curious.
Hi Jeff, good to see that you are still alive and kicking. I think that we share the same views on photography and maybe social media as well. I currently only post on kujaja and have recently joined Facebook at the tender age of 44…so far just the one friend – my wife!
I have always considered the term “street photography” to be slightly restrictive and it implies that certain unwritten rules have to be adhered to – people must be in the shot, little or no editing and, shocker, it must be in black and white!!
I have always considered my best work (the minimal, predominately dark images) to be on the fringe of street photography and, currently, I actively go out of the way to capture strong images that do not have people in them and most are in colour! No doubt there are purists out there that do not consider them to be “street” and I suppose that is the whole point of your article.
It is a different challenge trying to capture a strong image without people but I found that I was spending too much time waiting for people when I really should have been taking photographs! Perhaps a good example is The Man Who Sold the World – thanks again for the title!
I consider photography to be therapy and I know that I am a nightmare to live with if I don’t get my fix, it just so happens that the sort of images I like to take are taken on the street…does that mean I am a “street photographer”…probably not but I’m happy with that.
Hey Paul, Nice to see you around here ! Well I’m taking a break on Social Media. I will certainly come back by 2018 ! There were multiples reasons for staying away for a while from SM. To refesh myself and also to prove to myself that I can exist without FB, Insta and also sharing platforms like WSP. I’m still hitting the streets (well not quite a lot for a few weeks due to my work…) and still blogging. I’m no more distracted by anything and am able to work on some exciting projects.
I will look for you when I’ll be back on FB. I like FB to keep in touch with photographers I like, but it has to be said that’s it’s time consuming. You have all these groups where you can participate and share your pictures. When I started I wanted to post everywhere. Now, I only a 3 or 4 groups and I rarely share. I see people sharing everyday. I don’t know how they do it…
Speaking of your street work without people, I really love it. I don’t have the eye for that for the moment. I’m kind of attracted by people. But I neeed to work on that. I have very few pictures where there’s no one in the frame and I really like these pictures. MAy be I should start a project on this 😉
Best regards Paul
Hey, man. You did it good some time ago. I received a bad treatment by them. I was curator for them several years. I was one of the first photographers joining the curator team. For book 5 I am the only curator without the photo featured and this makes the book very weird and pretty amateurish. You can know more about this bad experience here: http://www.alexcoghe.com/i-am-not-anymore-curator-for-world-street-photography/ I recommend real photographes to avoid that website. Also, if you have some account there, you can’t quit immediately, you need to remove photo per photo, blog per blog.
I’ve heard of that Alex, that both Michael and you didn’t have a single picture in the book. I find it very disrespectful… Gido claims that it was the publishing house veto. But WTF the Curators and also the photographers made the book. Not the Publishing House. Pretty sure that there could have been some arrangement to fix things. I haven’t seen the book since I don’t visit anymore the site. I still have an account overthere but I’m gonna delete it ASOP.
Cheers Alex