Thanks to everyone who attended our meeting on street photography! For those who weren’t able to make it, here’s an overview. 

Street photography is a diverse genre, which can be rather difficult to define. It involves everything from the more meditative approach of photographing beauty found in the streets themselves, to the humanist street photography popularized in 1950s France, to the err… unique approach of some individuals, such as Bruce Gilden. Some common themes are emotion, documentation (of daily life, and particularly to changes in daily life over time), and analysis of society. It is a very easy genre to get into, as compelling street photography relies almost solely on the photographer, and gear is of very little importance. With that said, let’s get into the interesting parts!

In the meeting, I mentioned a number of famous street photographers: particularly Weegee, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fan Ho, and Janine Niépce. I brought up Weegee in part because he was one of the earliest and most interesting examples of the genre - he would get to crime scenes before the police and take high-contrast flash photographs of them - but mainly because the philosophy of “f/8 and be there” is (likely apocryphally) attributed to him. That philosophy is prevalent amongst many street photographers, as it allows for the camera to be, for the most part, forgotten about. When set to f/8 and the hyperfocal distance (generally 10-30 feet, it allows for everything from a certain distance to infinity to be in acceptable focus), the camera settings rarely have to be changed, and a photographer can simply point and shoot. This is indicative of a common philosophy in street photography: that the focus of an image should be its content.

If you ask what that content should be, however, you will get varied opinions. Geometry, contrast, lighting, emotion, and motion are all often found in street photographs, but there is no set formula. Color can also be a strong part of street photography, though if it is not important to the scene it can act as a distraction. As an example of these themes, Fan Ho’s “Approaching Shadow” (1954) makes use of all except motion and color. There is strong geometry in the setting, the shadow is meant to symbolize “youth fading away,” there is plenty of contrast, and the diagonal shadow contributes to both geometry and lighting. Another interesting tidbit about this image is that the diagonal shadow was created in the darkroom, which opens up another highly subjective point of contention: honesty. There is a sense in many that street photography should be “honest,” portraying life as it exists, and not altering any major element significantly. This criticism is also commonly applied to Bruce Gilden, as they view his up-close-and-personal style and use of flash as creating scenes, rather than capturing them. However, it is important to keep in mind that these are all subjective criticisms, and there is no “right way” to do street photography.

With that said, there is one area where strong subjectivity can create real issues: ethics. Many/most street photographers take photos of people without first asking consent. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to get consent without disturbing the scene. This is where something called implicit consent is at play. By being out in public, people legally give up their “reasonable expectation of privacy,” and thus implicitly consent to being photographed. Ethically, explicit consent should always override implicit consent, even though there is no legal requirement for it. If someone shows or explicitly that they do not wish to be photographed, or asks the photographer to delete it, they should show respect for that person and comply. However, the lines can get blurry. For example, if the photograph is journalistic in nature, consent is generally of zero importance. But in more “edge” cases, such as Bruce Gilden’s brand of photography which captures reactions whether negative or positive, some will make the argument that artistic expression should override consent and privacy. 

These issues get even more complicated when power dynamics are considered. Taking photos of homeless people is a common issue in photography, and is subject to much ethical debate over what constitutes art and what constitutes exploitation. I personally have nothing to say on the matter, as there is nothing I could possibly add to this interview with formerly homeless photographer Robert Shults. Ethics and issues of exploitation may not exactly be fun to think about, but they are extremely important questions that one must fully ponder before taking up street photography.

I hope this was a good primer for y’all, but if you’re left with questions, our GroupMe is a good place to find answers, or to share your street photography!

Some other stuff for those who are here for the first time…

Any Purdue student, staff, or faculty can join our club regardless of skill level or photography gear. We would like to build an inclusive community of photographers. We do not have membership dues, but we will gratefully appreciate any donations. It would really help us during this difficult time. In addition, if you want to have access to the studio or darkroom, the yearly fee is $20. If you pay for the studio and darkroom access, you should receive an automated email with the instructions on how to access our facilities. 

Thank you for reading our blog posts of the Fall 2020 semester. We will continue to post in our blog throughout the semester to recap our meetings in case you missed it. Feel free to look at our past blogs as well. If you have not already, please sign up for our email list on our homepage. If you do not receive our weekly emails, please check your Cisco Quarantine and add our email to your safelist to make sure you receive future emails.

If you want to join our GroupMe to discuss photography topics with other members, please click here. We will not be sending any notifications for club events in the chat, so it can simply be used for creating conversation.

Lastly, you can follow us on our Instagram page! We would love to feature some of your work. Just tag us or use the hashtag #purduephotoclub, and we will take your submission into consideration. You can join our Facebook group where you can ask questions or share some of your photos as well.

Once again, thank you and see you next week!