Photographers of Urban Life?

[rj__]

There don't appear to be a lot of contemporary photographers who are

using 4x5 and larger to photograph outdoor urban scenes that include

people who, while they may be aware of the camera, are not posing.

Nicholas Nixon comes to mind, and I recently saw a reference to a

fellow who is photographing people playing basketball on urban

outdoor courts. Can anyone refer me to others?

 

If it is correct that few photographers are using large format to

record urban life, why is that? I'm asking because I was in the

middle east recently and ran into a number of situations where I

think a large format camera could have been used, such as at the

Western/Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and at various outdoor markets. I

realize that there are aperture/shutter speed issues depending on how

much depth of field one wants, but is this really a hinderance, or

are there other reasons why one doesn't tend to see large format

photographs of people in urban areas?

[dan_smith]

Bill Owens did Surbubia, a book on urban life some years ago. Why re-hash it? The fact it is done with a specific type of camera won't make it better. Or it could be that many who look at it realize they really don't care about urban life & find it boring.

[brian_c._miller]

Most LF cameras are not geared for quick shots. You would need a press model camera. During the heyday of the LF press cameras, there were many makes and models. Today, I think there are only a couple which could conceivably be used in a hand-held mode.

 

Another drawback is how street photography is typically done. Photographers usually go through a few rolls of 35mm film, so 108+ negatives. LF cameras, with multi-sheet backs, have 6 (Grafmatic holder) to 8 (Fuji Quickchange) sheets. Or a person could use Polaroid 55. At any rate, it isn't as easy as with a Leica.

[tom_westbrook]

I'm not sure this is what you're referring to by Urban Life, but you might want to look at the work of Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, and William Eggleston. I'm sure there are others.

[Troll]

Because you'd get your ass run over, standing there with a tripod and a shawl over your head.

[art_haykin]

Weegee used a Speed Graphic, but he was blazing fast with it, and the old WPA shooters used mostly folders while Arbus used Rolleis. When 35mm cameras first came out, they were called "Candid cameras," and for good reason. If you can get the results you seek with LF, then go for it. Getting the shot is the important thing, in my view, and I did much of in the '60s and '70s on the streets of L.A., both day and night, with a Retina IIc with a 2.8 50mm lens: that, and a Nikon F with a1.2 55mm lens, as I recall.

[jerry_flynn1]

I would add George Tice. Although his photographs in "Urban Romantic" and "Urban Landscapes" are not specifically oriented towards 'people pictures' people sometimes appear. Certainly, they are devoted to the topic of city life. The photographs in "Urban Landscapes" are all from 8X10 negatives. I belive the same applies to "Urban Romantic".

[sjixxxy]

Not sure if it qualitfies as contemporary, but did some excellent urban work in the 50's-60's with large format. I'm certain that his E. 100th street series was done with large format. I beleive the brooklyn gangs series was also with a 4x5.

 

<a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf.aspx?E=29YL53IQUP9">Here is a link with some nice galleries. </a>

[bob_moulton7]

Add to the list Michael A. Smith, Paula Chamlee, Bob Thall, and Ray McSavaney. Thall especially has published two monographs in the last four years treating the city (Chicago) and "the new American Landscape. All these artists use large format.

Bob Moulton

[tim_atherton2]

"Add to the list Michael A. Smith, Paula Chamlee, Bob Thall, and Ray McSavaney.

Thall especially has published two monographs in the last four years treating

the city (Chicago) and "the new American Landscape. All these artists use large

format"

 

But very few people in them. I think these days (post-press graphic with a massive great flash bulb) most LF urban landscape photographers are like architects - they don't like people in their work, it just messes it up :-)

 

That said, all those mentioned above do very much photograph urban life - even if the people aren't always evident.

 

To the list above I would add Gabriele Basilico, perhaps one of the leaders in photographing urban life in LF, along with our own Geoffrey James and Paul Davies in the UK. People are not always absent from the work of these photographers - Geoffrey's "Paris" book as an example.

 

My own work tends towards this kind of documentation. And having come from an editorial/photojournalistic background using my Leica's and Nikons for a lot of "street photography" type reportage, my attempts to do so in LF (with a Super Graphic) have been more than a little frustrating. You can't do the same kind of thing - and I find I don't want to in LF. It's a different sort of work. But I'm still photographing urban life

 

As for the topic not being interesting or attractive - the urban condition is the one in which the majority of the population lives their lives. It's far from boring or uninteresting - indeed I can't find the time (or the money!) to do all the projects I would like, exploring and plumbing it's depths as a subject. The possibilities are almost endless.

[geoffrey_james]

I would check out Joel Sternfeld's work -- he has done a series of impomptu 8x 10 colour portraits for a show at San Francisco MOMA that picks up on some earlier portraits he has done. They are quite amazing.I imagine there is a catalogue.(I saw the work in London recently.) Also Philip Lorca di Corcia, who sets up urban lighting situations into which people inadverdently step. Much published. There is always the remarkable Jeff Wall of Vancouver, who is now so influential in the art world as to resemble a one=man academy. There are set ups, often requires production crews as if for a movie.It is a remarkable body of work, with a few things that really are masterpieces.There are many many publications, with another in the pipeline. A vulgarized version of Jeff Wall is the American Gregory Crewdson. You might want to check out the new Met catalogue of Thomas Struth, who incorporates people into his scenes, though recently he has taken to posing people, which doesn't work at all. Eggleston, cited above, shoots 35. I think if you want to deal with flux, a view camera is not ideal. But if you want to make big gorgeous tableaux, then you have the right tool. BTW, how nice to have a question that doesn't deal with techy stuff.

[ellis_vener_photography]

There is also Andreas Gursky, who works with a 5x7 camera and Thomas Struth, who works with an 8x10. Peter Brown and Geoff Winningham in Houston, Texas are documenting urban life with large format cameras.

[james_chinn]

Every now and then I will go out with my Speed Graphic and try some street/urban shooting. No matter how hard you try, it is very difficult for the camera not to become a part of the image because of its size and strangeness to most people. in a world of smaller and smaller where casio just introduced a 3.5 mgpxl camera the size of a credit card big cameras will by nature influence the people in the scene. With Leicas and digital you can get the "decisive moment" and be anonymous to the subject.

 

With larger formats, urban photography with people is more environmental portraiture. I made a series of images from a small street side cafe area where cars had to stop at the corner about 20 ft from me. I set the camera up set the focus for the side window of the cars and got great shots of individuals gawking at the camera from their car. The gawking at the camera was what I wanted. People notice a big 8x10.

[deardorff8x10]

You could look at some Japanese photographers like Hatakaeyama (hopefully spelled correctly), who recently did urban scenes in Tokyo and some in England too. I think most people in urban settings like to be spontaneous, so they use handheld cameras. I have used an 8x10 in Brooklyn where I live! Interestingly, the Russians in Brighton Beach who stopped said they all used to see such a camera back home -- it really wasn't wierd for them to see an 8x10 at the boardwalk. Some asked me to take a picture of their granddaughter, which I did.

[rj__]

Thanks very much for the responses to date. I've now got a starting point for some research. I should be able to get Messrs. James's and Wall's books at one of the museums where I live and I'll track down work by the others next time I'm in New York.

 

K. Palowicz suggested that Bruce Davidson may have used a 4x5 to make the photographs for his book Brooklyn Gang, and included a link to photos from this and other works by Davidson. Can anyone confirm whether Davidson did use a large format camera for this series? I find it hard to believe, but if it is correct it suggests that large format may in the right hands be more flexible than I thought. The same goes for some of George Tice's photographs of Amish people.

 

From reading this forum, I've gotten the sense (perhaps incorrectly) that many large format photographers are happy to do landscapes (rural or urban) but balk or semi-balk at the idea of dealing with something animate showing up in the frame :) I wonder to what degree this is an aesthetic choice and to what degree it is based on a perception, correct or incorrect, that animate objects will wreck havoc with the process.

[john_randall3]

Can anyone here who has experience shooting scenes similar

to those suggested within this posting, comment on possible

legal issues with recognizable faces showing in the finished

print of these scenes? Do you have an assistant to coordinate

signed releases, assuming that might be necessary? This is an

especiallly touchy issue here in Southern California, where

everyone seems to have their hand out whenever the cameras

appear, and every other pedestrian is an attorney.

 

I realise this would be an issue only if the images were to be

published, but since there are obviously pro photographers

responding to this thread, input could be of value to those

contemplating another Great American Story.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Best regards,

[eliasi_sharon]

Rory,

take a look at Jean Marc Bustamante tabloux(french)-work from 1978-1999.

[john_kasaian1]

John, interesting problem. Most if not all editors won't publish a photo unless releases are signed from everyone recognizable in the pix. Of course newspapers and TV crews routines stick thier lenses in the faces of anyone remotedly in shock when a bad thing happens, and broadcast images of the "man on the street" or "person in the background" all the time with nary a slap on the wrist or barbed comment on thier grossly poor taste(close up of mother in shock:"How did you feel when you heard that your daughter was incinerated in the plane crash?)I suppose it is these kinds of issues that keep lawyers busy and contented to be confined in safe places, like court rooms, country clubs, and club med. Places where thay can't pose a danger to normal people. ----------------Cheers!