Part One - Photograph as document: Project Three - Reportage: Research Point - Post Script

Since completing my original post on Project 3 - Reportage - Research Point I have come across another piece of writing that would have been helped me in my original research provide a more balanced article.

The article in question is written by Anita Strasser, who is a fellow member of Crossing Lines, and is studying for her MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London.   In 2013, Strasser wrote an assignment paper entitled Re-re-conceptualising Street Photography:towards a more reflexive definition, which included an account of her own experience in entering a street photography competition with restrictions on non-candid images.

Strasser argues in her reasoned and thought-provoking paper that due to the popularity and impact of the In-Public style of Street Photography, the genre has moved away from the traditional role of documenting social and historical contexts in the street and towards the representation of the "funny and bizarre" using a shoot and run approach that I stated as my Street Photography practice in my previous post.  She further makes the point that the now current exclusion of the traditional approaches and purposes of Street Photography has no purpose and also undermines the real value of Street Photography in opening social debate.   Strasser reinforces the point with the example of the Museum of London exhibition and book in 2011 of Street Photography from 1860-2010 (see previous post), which excluded the work of Markéta Luskačová (to be reviewed in a later post). 

Strasser is of course right in her views.  Street Photography in the traditional sense has played a significant role in documenting social, economic, and "providing historical insights into cities and peoples" and it absolutely must continue to do so.  There is clearly a place and purpose for this kind of photography, and what street photographers are capturing now will be of significant interest to people in the future; there is no denying this.

In In-Public's defence, and these observations are anecdotal from my experience of attending their workshop (I have not sought to validate them with references):

• There is very little, if any, commercial gain in their type of photography.  Yes a few of them have published books and hosted workshops, but this is not how they earn a living.  They all have real jobs, either in photography, or in some other field.  And in fact, Matt Stuart told me that the workshops are mostly loss-making.
• They do not profess to be offering any social, political or historical value, or in fact any significant purpose at all. 
• At the In-Public workshop I attended, we covered the history of Street Photography as each photographer spoke about their influences.
• The objectives of this type of photography are not to ridicule or humiliate people but to capture random events that manifest together in a frame usually to provide a resonance or contrast, in such a way that an unique and spontaneous scene presents.  If the outcome is comical, that is a bonus.  When you engage with a subject, and move from candid to non-candid, that unique moment is lost.
• The final image is a truth - at that moment in time.  Of course it's heavily influenced by the angle, framing, perspective etc, but isn't that true of all photography?  Aren't all photographic images representations of what the photographer saw and excluded during that moment in time?
• And what of another In-Public photographer, Maciej Dakowicz?  His work is sometimes engaged, sometimes candid, sometimes about the random events but not always, has strong travel/documentary/reportage themes, and can be serious and funny.  
• This type of photography is extremely hard.  It takes a certain kind of thought process, lightening speed reactions, and extreme dexterity to make it work. 

In my defence, I am interested in both types of Street Photography: social documentary and In-Public style.  My limitations with practicing social documentary are that once I have worked a full week, kept up with my OCA studies, seen my neglected family, friends and rescue animals, there is very little time left and certainly not enough time available to start engaging with communities.  I enjoy In-Public style street photography as a way of letting off steam.  It allows me some freedom of movement away from computers/offices, fresh air, visual stimulation, I can jump into it without doing any planning, and to be honest it's fun.  I am also extremely right-brained in my approach to photography (and I make no apology for this -it's instinctive), which goes hand-in-hand with the In-Public style of looking for these random events and springing into action.  Is it shallow?  Yes of course it is, but I think there is enough meaning in the rest of my life to afford me this escape.  Long-term I realise it has no real future for me as a photographer in terms of career development, and I am still searching for what that path might be, but I hope it will always remain at least in the hobby part of my photography.

So what is the answer?  The conclusion of Strasser's essay is a call to redefine Street Photography.  If that was the case, would we have two new categories: street documentary and street random manifestations?  And what about street travel?  A lot of street photography to me also looks like travel photography, e.g. in APF (because it is an international magazine and I see it from an English point of view), and I consider this also to be in a documentary style rather than In-Public style.   There is also a similar boundary, although perhaps more obvious, between nature and wildlife photography: the former accepting and the latter excluding captive animals; but surely both can provide pleasing studies of animals and both are acceptable in the right conditions?

I am actually not sure what is required, as there is sufficient work around Street Photography that does not include the In-Public definition, to make me believe that not everyone considers that this is the be all and end all of Street Photography.   For instance, on the LSP course I attended (see July and August posts), the In-Public style was not mentioned once during the eight days, and nor was it mentioned in the Michael Freeman book I reviewed.   In fact, I really wonder why we need genres, labels and so on.  Part of the problem I have is that in searching for a path to follow, it seems that I should be expected to drop other interests.  Why do I have to chose between wildlife, travel, street (In-Public style) and more conceptual work (e.g. for OCA assignments)?  I enjoy them all.  Why do I need to be labelled?  Surely I am documenting life in a variety of situations?

Whilst I strongly sympathise with Strasser, and I think in her shoes I would have had the same reaction, in my view, what is important is that boundaries or requirements for competitions, exhibitions, pieces of work are clearly defined, so that entrants and audience alike understand what they are in for, i.e. it must be made very clear, so that there can be no doubt, whether the work in question relates to engaged documentary or to candid observational photography.  At the end of the day, Street Photography is such a broad topic that some refinement is needed to define the precise purpose of a body of work be it to engage in social reflection or quite simply to provide some light entertainment.

References:

• Strasser, A. (2013) Re-re-conceptualising Street Photography: towards a more reflexive definition [online] available from https://www.academia.edu/7931001/Re-re-conceptualising_Street_Photography_towards_a_more_reflexive_definition [accessed 4 October 2014]

Websites:

• Art Photo Feature Magazine available from http://www.artphotofeature.com/#sthash.uychs4cB.dpbs [accessed 4 October 2014]
• Crossing Lines available from http://www.gold.ac.uk/cucr/vurbanism/crossing%20lines/ [accessed 4 October 2014]
• Goldsmiths University of London available from http://www.gold.ac.uk/ [accessed 4 October 2014]
• Maciej Dakowicz available from http://www.maciejdakowicz.com/ [accessed 4 October 2014] 
• Markéta Luskačová availble from http://www.marketaluskacova.com/home [accessed 4 October 2014]

Own work referenced:

• Adcock, A. (2012) London Street Photography 1860-2010 by Mike Seaborne and Anna Sparham. TAOP Blog [available online] http://jointheaa-taop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/london-street-photography-1860-2010-by.html [accessed 4 October 2014]

Part One - Photograph as document: Reflections

Well - what a jam-packed experience this has been!  Probably largely due to the amount of off-course activities I've been doing as well, but also from the increased momentum in undertaking more academic work than actual photography.  During Part One, I have (in no particular order):

• Conducted some thorough research into Street Photography
• Understood the difference between Street Photography, Documentary and Reportage
• Learned more about and tried out Photojournalism
• Photographed the 2014 Pride and the Naked Bike Ride
• Considered my own feelings on war porn
• Investigated the nature of the neighbourhood I live in
• Created my first and last composite photograph
• Reviewed eight exhibitions
• Read nine relevant books/articles
• Met Dougie Wallace, Matt Stuart, Nils Jorgensen, David Gibson and David Solomons
• Caught up with Dave Mason
• Taken 311 photographs for Bleeding London
• Understood that I am a right-brained photographer (and successfully resisted peer pressure to keep a sketch book - what's that for??? - I would never be able to plan a photo like that!)
• Taken part in an LSP course on Street Photography and Photojournalism
• Taken part in an In-Public workshop.

No wonder I'm tired....

The highlight of the course, despite my reservations about not being able to produce 60 photographs that meet my interpretation of street photography, was in fact my day out in Brighton for the Project 3 Street Photography Exercise.  This was an amazing day and my favourite kind of day; I loved both the shooting and the editing afterwards, and I wish this had been the assignment brief!

The Street Photographer's Manual by David Gibson

Well, judging by Facebook at the moment, there is no self-respecting street photographer that has not promoted The Street Photographer's Manual by David Gibson.

Logical, easy-to-read, and informative, The Street Photographer's Manual offers explanations of and tips and techniques to help the student street photographer.  Gibson works consistently through the various facets of street photography from busy to quiet to still, abstract to defined subjects, and references what to me are now household names (maybe not to my mum) such as those that are members of the collective In-Public, plus other names that I am less familiar with, and also references to less contemporary photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Colin O'Brien.

Gibson takes the reader through an organised route of learning different facets by explaining the theory in the context of a project and then introducing masters of that theory.  Of particular value to me was Project 18 on Projects, Gibson (2014) pp 168-171; I have recently started to organise my street photography into projects and reading this section has reinforced my conviction that this is a great way of keeping momentum and inspiration going in this practice.  Plus the photos look great when they are grouped together around a theme.

Also pertinent, is Project 2 on Events, Gibson (2014) pp 58-61: recently I realised that when I go to photograph events, e.g. this year I tried to get street photography at the Naked Bike Ride and London Pride, that I was focusing too much on the event itself rather than the peripheries (see commentary about Dave Mason in my post about research into street photography).  I think the advice Gibson gives about wandering off around the edges of the event without an agenda - you will find a lot more than if you try to capture the parade or whatever the event is.

All-in-all, this is a great book: you can dip in and out of the various different projects, or follow the book as a sequential process.  It is just what it says on the cover: a manual.

References

• Gibson, D. (2014) The Street Photographer's Manual, London: Thames & Hudson pp 58-61, 168-171

Part One - Photograph as document: Project Three - Street Photography: Exercise - 60 shots from one street

On Sunday 14 September I went to:

30 shots in colour:

30 shots in black and white:

Which do I prefer?  Overall I prefer street photography in colour, including for my own pictures, and especially seaside scenes; I think you get a much better sense of the atmosphere and light that is so "Brighton" with colour.  All the images that I converted to monochrome looked better in colour than they do in black and white, with the exception of the M&M image (which bizarrely is the image that is closest to my "In-Public" take on street photography described in my previous post), the shot with the coffee barrel and the chap putting on sun cream pulling a face (better cropped in, colour and under-exposed!).  I also like the picture of the old lady looking at a gentleman's piercings, but this one could have been composed better.  As I noted in my previous post, the black and white adds a more documentary feel, and I think the exclusion of colour in this particular setting takes away the "joy" of Brighton.  Clearly, the images with better shadows are more successful in black and white than the flatter images. 

Not all of these images meet my criteria of street photography previously described, but some of them do.  But, as a collective piece of work, they document a day in the life of Brighton with its diversity of residents and visitors!  And this is the kind of photography I love doing - right-brained, fun, spontaneous!  And looking at these, if I could learn to slow down, look and frame the shots better, I would get better results.