kbg32
neo-romanticist
FYI - I have sent some emails recently to established photography institutions and study centers here in the US to see if they can be of help as to when the term "street photography" became a popular term. I'll post their replies, if and when I get them. It will be interesting to see....
airfrogusmc
Mentor
Yeah I think that might interesting.
Sparrow
Mentor
... I would be more interested in its introduction in the first-world (aside from those chaps selling prints of tourists in resort towns that is)
OP...street photography to me just sums up documentary photography. It can involve people or not. They can be street portraits or candid's. If too much of your street photography is posed then label it street portraits.
Winogrand didn't like being labeled this or that. He just wanted to be called a photographer. But for me it is important to distinguish where my skill set lies.
I'm not a great studio or fashion photog. But I have skills in documentary or street work. I'm happy to be labeled by others and myself so I can work in an area that suits me best.
Winogrand didn't like being labeled this or that. He just wanted to be called a photographer. But for me it is important to distinguish where my skill set lies.
I'm not a great studio or fashion photog. But I have skills in documentary or street work. I'm happy to be labeled by others and myself so I can work in an area that suits me best.
MickH
Well-known
I seem to remember reading that Martin Parr spent some of his early days doing this at a holiday resort somewhere on the south coast, but I can't find the source just now.
MickH
Well-known
South coast my backside!"Parr worked briefly at Butlins in Filey, Yorkshire, as a "walkie" – roving photographer"
Sparrow
Mentor
... walkie ... I think I like that better :nod
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
https://books.google.com/books?id=5...iqAQ#v=onepage&q="street photography"&f=false
The use of the term in this 1902 article shows that it was already in use at that time.
But the term doesn't appear to be in general use until about ten years later - when there's a good deal written about street photography covering pretty much the same things we talk about on this forum today (eg. unobtrusive cameras, watching for decisive moments, what sort of camera has the best viewfinder, etc.).
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Instead of mocking those more knowledgeable than you, how about you try listening to them so that you might learn something?
DougFord
on the good foot
So by the turn of the century there was an established photographic genre referred specifically to as 'street photography'?
Interesting.
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
As was discussed somewhat in another thread, in the 19th century "street photographer" referred generally to portrait photographers who worked on the street, ie. tintypists. The term was used more rarely to refer to photographs taken of streets or buildings/city settings - but not to candid photographs of people on streets.
The earliest "book" concerning street photography was an issue of The Photo Miniature in 1901. It was reprinted as its own volume for over 15 years and widely advertised. It is mostly concerned with the more general cityscape or building photography, but it does also go into some detail about candid photography and taking photos of people on the street, waiting for people to gather in such ways that they add interest to the composition, and how to take photos without attracting attention to oneself. The author notes at the end that there were currently no books dealing with "street photography" available. So basically 1901 would seem to be the start of the term being applied to candid shots of people on streets. Apparently by 1902 this usage was well known enough that authors didn't have to explain what "street photography" was when writing about it. However there is very little written about it until circa 1910 when it seems to start getting a lot more attention. I think it's also fair to guess that the term fell in and out of popularity over the decades.
kbg32
neo-romanticist
What I am speaking of here in this thread is the imagery that we associate with "modern" "street photography". As I said previously, I am sure the term was used here and there, but when did it start to refer to a specific genre of "concerned", "humanistic" imagery as we know it?
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Concerned Photography is a much newer term than street photography, so that's not really a reasonable to way to approach things. Certainly what would constitute Concerned Photography already existed, arguably even pre-dated street photography. But they are not inherently connected. And in any event, the term Concerned Photography didn't appear until decades after the term Street Photography.
What I am talking about, and what everybody seems to see street photography as - is candid photographs taken on the streets. And if you looked at the example I posted from 1902 you can see it's about on the same level as what a lot of amateurs today call street photography. :angel:
kbg32
neo-romanticist
I have no doubt tuna. I am trying to find a definitive source... if one actually exists.
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Well I'm not sure what exactly you're looking for. We can find pretty easily when Concerned Photography started to be used, and we can also find pretty easily when street photography started to be used. But they're not the same things. Not all Concerned Photography is definitively street photography, nor is all street photography Concerned Photography. Certainly there are many examples which are both, but that's no reason to conflate the two. Concerned Photography doesn't even have to be candid by definition. Eugene Smith's photo of Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath? Concerned Photography definitely, maybe even the best example of it in its decade. Was it a candid photo? Not really. Was it street photography? Definitely not.
kbg32
neo-romanticist
Absolutely agree. They are not the same thing. I think this is where a lot of people get confused. According to many definitions I have found, while they are different, there are similarities between the two, and on ocaission, they can and do overlap.
"The term “street photographer” has evolved from a peddler taking photos of strangers on the streets (for a fee) to a flaneur taking “candid photos of everyday life in the streets”.
- Bystander
"The term “street photographer” has evolved from a peddler taking photos of strangers on the streets (for a fee) to a flaneur taking “candid photos of everyday life in the streets”.
- Bystander
airfrogusmc
Mentor
I really do not like label street photography though I am very guilty of using it and using it often. I personally am not a fan of putting photographs into nice neat little piles. I htink the term has been around a very long time though I have no proof of how long except as I said earlier I know it was being used in the early 1980s. I know that for sure. But I am sure it was being used much earlier.
kbg32
neo-romanticist
I'm with you Allen. I particularly don't care for the label. Unfortunately for now, that's all we've got.
airfrogusmc
Mentor
I'm with you Allen. I particularly don't care for the label. Unfortunately for now, that's all we've got.
No argument from me. As I said I use it all the time. Wish I didn't though. LoL...