Street photography, for Mike Kovacs

[nicolas_douez]

Thanks Mike.

 

By a very strange hazard I have a photograph in my collection that perfectly matches many points of your well detailed post. So I couldn't resist going in the kitchen once and again and shooting the print - now it's night here, I used the roof tungsten light and I finally got less reflections than with the daylight through the bow window.

 

Story of that photo : I had been staying in front of that famous cafe for minutes trying to have the most banal behavior as possible. My target was the pair of young beauties who had quite an odd old-fashioned look - one was even wearing an evening dress although that summer afternoon was very hot.

 

When I thought I had become a part of the background, I calmly aimed, and shot.

 

Alas that man on the right suddenly noticed me - and promptly hid his face with his left hand, which ruined the charm of the photo.

 

We can't get lucky everytime !

 

Good night to all.<div></div>

[mskovacs]

Lets just say that this guy's collection was not innocent judging by the crops of the swimwear of the kids. In any case, I don't hold this view, but there are those that become very defensive, especially with children involved. Quite honestly the best street photographers have a way of engaging their subjects which clearly goes beyond stealth shooting techniques. Your work has this character Nicolas and I think it means you have a certain good rapport with people to do it.

 

I was quite at ease last night with the Rollei last night shooting nature scenics. Just me and the mosquitos!

[Sandeha Lynch]

That's it, in a word. When I'm self-conscious I can do nothing, but when I'm self-absorbed I feel invisible and get what I want. (Though it's <i>very</i> rare that I shoot on the street.)<div></div>

[nicolas_douez]

Cut your beard off Mike, you'll frighten children much less then !

 

;-))

 

My last photo (for today) will be one of my favourite children photo. I often ask myself which kind of adults they have become, where they live, if they're happy, etc.

 

When I noticed them playing in the sand in that small public park I went by them and stayed with them for a while, having a small talk - the basic first contact I have with any child I meet for the first time : for how long they were living there, what their first names were, if they were brothers and sisters, etc. Then they noticed the FM2, and asked me to take their photo !

 

Nikon FM2, Nikkor 2/35mm AI-S, Ilford 400 Delta.

 

Good night again.<div></div>

[nancy_bueler]

Mike, I'm like you, in that I feel very odd taking pictures of people I don't know, but I've taken all the advice I'v gotten on the Street section of PN, and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. I started taking sneaky shots of people sleeping on the subway, which gets you used to people looking at you funny. Then, I moved on to people and their dogs, which they are only too happy to have photographed. I think in today's atmosphere, I would stick to only taking photos of children I know, when they're with their parents. As a parent, I would be very suspicious of anyone taking pictures of my children, unless I knew them.<div></div>

[nancy_bueler]

Oh, and I love the Pez dispenser thing; I'm going to do that right away!

[fresh air]

Nicolas t'es doué(z)

another outfit for street photography is rolleiflex. Gives a classic touch to the most recent

shots. 1 exemple from last year in Italy.

[connealy]

My objective in street/documentary photography is to be the fly on the wall. I'm after images that show life uninterrupted by my presence. As Mike has noted and Nicolas has shown with some of his fine photos, an alternative is to directly engage subjects and achieve a momentary relationship which allows the making of photographs with some degree of control over the content rather than just taking things as you find them. That is a perfectly legitimate technique; Salgado used it to great effect to produce images with compelling impact. It seems to me, however, that such photos are closer to environmental portraiture than to street/documentary. I know this is a subject that has been debated many times in the past, but I think it is still worthwhile to make the distinction. Just to clarify a bit more with a nod to the classics, I think HCB and Frank were basically fly-on-the-wall shooters, while Hine, Sander, Wegee and Arbus were engagers.

[nicolas_douez]

Marco, it's a very good question.

 

I assume I've been shooting far less street photography between 1994 and 2001 for several reasons. Street photo is highly time consuming, so as my student period ceased in 1994, I further was too much busy to continue. Regarding street photography, there is no other way, IMHO, than spending many hours around with a camera to get one or two good photos - or none ; so that it's a long-term occupation.

 

I had to commute for work during all these years, I got married, I had a child, so that I mostly shot the family. And went back to color - with no regrets as I largely enjoyed the last Kodachrome glory years.

 

So - no time free enough during that decade to spend in the streets hunting the good scene, or to meet people to organize an exhibition (I exhibited my work twice though, once in 1988 in a city museum and once again in 1999 in a museum of modern art).

 

Since the beginning of that new century I can be back to photography and relax a little bit. My interest to classic cameras emerged, and with the arrival of digital photo I realized that there were some other very interesting ways. So, mostly by chance, I got classics I had always been coveting and I couldn't have afforded before (Rollei 35 Germany, Nikon F, Leica SM, Contax RF, Rolleiflex) and learnt how to service them ; then the purpose was to test the serviced cameras so that it was another goal which could help getting the envy to shoot again ; I got some excellent Canon PowerShot G digicams and a PC ; then thanks to Mike Elek I discovered that forum, that is a great source of motivation, etc.

 

Also, the world we live in has changed very quickly - so quickly that the pictures I took in the late eighties couldn't be taken any more today. Street photo has become something quite old-fashioned and almost doesn't rise interest any longer. Photo press has disappeared ; the last journals are dedicated to equipment tests only ; exhibitions are getting rare ; etc. I'm not bitter at all saying that - just the obvious facts.

 

Anyway here is a picture I shot in December of 2004 - a new shop getting dressed up for the December 31th night.<div></div>

[grahams]

Nicholas - You are really gifted - your street shots grab the imagination and leave a lasting impression - please let us see more in future.

 

Here on the other side of the channel, we are fighting for our rights as honest photographers and citizens to enjoy our street photography without getting arrested on suspicion of being paedeophiles! Our idiot mayor of London has just made an appeal to the public to report to the police anyone seen to be taking photographs of children in a public place! This means that I can't even take pictures of my own grandchildren in playing on the swings in our local park, nor could I take pictures of the children on the amusement park rides at a recent fair! The lavender and lace brigade now run around screaming "Paedophile!!" whenever they see a camera on the street or in a park.