Random Street

I know some people describe this type of photography as "zen" or "jazz". The posts got me to thinking and looking at some of my pics. What I mean is there is rhythm in in activity in the streets. Being "in sync with the street" to me means sensing something that sticks out, and being able to perceive it, even anticipate it and capture that moment. It can be the creation of geometrics by arrangement of people that just happens. It can be a person "going against the grain", an off conjunction with background etc. It can be an interesting lighting that occurs. Something that makes a moment jump out at you, and then being in-tune enough to be able to catch it. Could be comibination of the above, or an interesting looking person, or an interesting body posture or facial gesture. It can be a moment of contact.

Couple of examples hope they help understand what I'm trying to say.

Against the grain: 2 examples

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Lots of good stuff here. Really liked" state of the art photo". Nick D.

Indeed, a state of the art..

From Russia with love...

Jeez, I'm not included;)))

Thought I would add something I like to finish this post.

Hey, I made the effort.

From Russia with love...

 

 

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Allen, your posts ## 61 and 65 are very coincidental/patriotic from Russian point of view. The Bella Ciao son was very popular/patriotic in '60 - '70 in Russia.

I personally enjoy the acting in this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvxIjey1waE

Hi Pavel.

A song of freedom from tyranny.

Not just about actors.

Hi Pavel.

 

A song of freedom from tyranny.

 

Not just about actors.

Hi Allen.

I know. To me, frosting will never ruin the cake.

Cheers.

Being "in sync with the street" to me means sensing something that sticks out

For sure! But at least as important to my approach is telling the story of the street in an image. Rather than framing an anomaly, I like to capture street images that let the viewer also get in synch with the street. Telling its story can mean capturing a century of evolution in a row of buildings, or highlighting a mass of working people walking up the front steps of their cookie cutter row homes at the end of a long day. It’s lunchtime for a group of business people on a city basketball court with their briefcases, jackets and phones sitting on the ground.

“It’s what’s happenin’, babe!”

The Mall in Central Park last March, before...

I don’t think that is necessarily the case. To me, street photography is as much about light, colour and form as, say, abstract photography. Of course, ppl are readily identifiable, but the overall effect is the same.

 

(Not true of documentary photography)

I agree completely with that, but I think we’re exploring two sides of the same coin. A street scene can deliver both a story (or ten) and an assortment of artful images, depending on many things from time of day and who’s there to the eye, mind and heart of the photographer. Even the camera you have at the moment can affect the image you choose to capture.

That’s why I love street work - it encompasses every forum topic on this site from macro to fashion to portrait to abstract. Clusters of brightly painted shotgun houses of New Orleans suggest an abstract work of art, especially surrounded by residual hurricane-induced change. When the neighborhood kids are out playing between a fresh purple restoration and a lot filled with debris, there’s a story. And the weeds growing through the rubble can be an abstract, a metaphor for the persistence of life, a macro of the beauty of nature in an unlikely spot, or whatever else you see there.

That’s why I love street work - it encompasses every forum topic on this site from macro to fashion to portrait to abstract.

Very nicely said.

It also can apply to portraits, which encompass every forum topic on this site from macro to fashion to landscape to abstract,

And to landscapes ...

And ...

Photography often utilizes qualities that apply to all genres, and one genre blends into the next and the next. While not all genres will be apparent when viewing other genres, no genre escapes the connection to abstraction.

He who looks with both a narrative and an abstract eye will have a heads up.

He who shoots street with more abstraction and less humanity will have to do it carefully and cleverly. If not done well, it might still be said to be “street photography” but might not be very good.

He can do what he likes.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Thanks for repeating it for emphasis.

Anyway, time for a doggie pic. I feel so ... "liberated" ... now. :)

Scott, Happy.