Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => Street Showcase => Topic started by: RSL on January 23, 2021, 02:22:08 pm

Title: Street
Post by: RSL on January 23, 2021, 02:22:08 pm: Just so people don't get too confused about the genre: this is street photography. Notice that there's no street involved.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 23, 2021, 10:33:19 pm: Truly excellent, Russ!
Good for you for finding such a perfect subject at last.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 24, 2021, 09:23:20 am: Hi Eric. I haven't been able to do street photography since Covid hit. This one's from 2005 in Colorado Springs. I grabbed it more or less at random Makes me wonder whether or not I should do a street collection the way I did the Vietnam collection, to get the point across that street photography really hasn't anything to do with streets.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 24, 2021, 10:19:35 am: I think Russ's Street Collection would be an excellent idea, and instructive.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 24, 2021, 07:39:40 pm: It's a pretty extensive collection, Eric, that goes all the way back to Korea, which I've already posted. On the other hand, I'd hate to dispel the illusions I see on here. No point upsetting people.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 25, 2021, 09:23:43 am: Well, this may be upsetting to some. One thing this shot illustrates is that you don't need an elaborate camera to do street. I shot this in 2000 with a 3.3mpx Casio QV-3000EX. A good street camera has to be quick to frame, focus, and click, and that's about it. As HCB said, "Looking is everything." Being able to frame and get off the shot is what makes street work. Notice that though there's a sidewalk in this picture, there's no street.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 25, 2021, 11:27:33 am: You had good reflexes back then. I hope you still do.
Many (but not all) of your river-side shots allow a much slower planning and shooting.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 26, 2021, 09:57:08 am: Here's a street shot from 1968. Can you believe it? Not only is there no street, we're not even outside. How can you do street photography in a museum? It's a mystery.

And, Eric, I hope I'm still able to catch stuff like this before it disappears -- and I'm talking about expressions and body language disappearing, not the people themselves. Unfortunately, until we have Covid under control I'm not going to have a chance to find out.

And I need to add a point to this post. I just re-read an email I sent back to Magnum after going through their "street photography" course. One of the points Richard Kalvar made in that "course": street photography is more like poetry than like photojournalism because it attacks on the emotional level. Yes. Todd Papageorge made the same point in his book, Core Curriculum. If you're into street photography you know who Todd Papageorge is. The relationship between street photography and poetry is something I've written about before. I've been writing poetry (http://www.russ-lewis.com/Poetry/index.html) most of my life, and the relationship between poetry and street is strong.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: KLaban on January 26, 2021, 12:49:55 pm: Quote from: RSL on January 26, 2021, 09:57:08 am
Here's a street shot from 1968. Can you believe it? Not only is there no street, we're not even outside. How can you do street photography in a museum? It's a mystery...

Russ, this flow of sarcasm really isn't doing you or your beloved 'street' any favours.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 26, 2021, 03:49:11 pm: You're probably right, Keith, but I'm really tired of people posting what they think is street without ever having checked the literature to find out what that unfortunate and misleading genre name really means. It's not that hard to do. There's still plenty of stuff out there by the people who defined the genre: HCB, Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank, just to name three people who can teach them.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: petermfiore on January 27, 2021, 07:58:07 am: Quote from: RSL on January 26, 2021, 03:49:11 pm
You're probably right, Keith, but I'm really tired of people posting what they think is street without ever having checked the literature to find out what that unfortunate and misleading genre name really means. It's not that hard to do. There's still plenty of stuff out there by the people who defined the genre: HCB, Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank, to name three people who can teach them.

In the world today, nothing existed before one's birth. Not always a bad thought. Creatives have been and are always ready to redefine a genre—no need to get upset. It is the DNA of art.

Peter
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 27, 2021, 09:55:28 am: I’m sure you’re right, Peter, but to me, making the meaning of a genre unintelligible by ignoring the past is a vicious kind of vandalism. It reduces our language and makes it difficult, sometimes even impossible, to communicate thoughts. The idea that nothing existed before one’s birth is gaining currency in our Western civilization, and that’s a precursor to catastrophe.

The problem goes way beyond art genres, and it’s no more difficult to learn the meaning of a genre than it is to learn the meaning of a word like “unique.” Yet nowadays you’ll often see the expression: “it was somewhat unique.” Now it’s easy to translate that into “it was somewhat unusual,” but in losing the real meaning of “unique” we’ve lost a concise way to communicate the idea that something is the only one of its kind in creation. If someone had said or written “it was somewhat unique” in my high school English classes, the kid would have been in trouble with the teacher. (Yeah, I’m an old guy.)

At bottom, the problem is laziness: an unwillingness to make the effort involved in teaching or learning. Our civilization is becoming more and more passive as we stretch out in front of the TV with a drink and absorb what we’ve been taught to believe is “entertainment.” In the meantime the lessons of history that we should be learning are passing us by. I’ll go one up on Churchill: The hard lessons of history before your birth that you fail to learn are ones you’ll have to experience in person.

See, Eric. I was right. I'm upsetting people.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 27, 2021, 10:16:00 am: Here's one from 2010. It actually has a street in it.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: KLaban on January 27, 2021, 01:24:23 pm: I believe Russ himself has said he wished he'd never touted the creation of this Showcase. An inclusive Showcase for various genre including 'Portraiture and People', 'Environmental Portraiture', 'Street'... would stop the incessant bickering. It would also provide a natural home on LuLa for images that have remained homeless for far too long, though no doubt there would be those who would object to their favourite genre being diluted by the upstarts.

Here's one, I've no idea what it is and care less.

(https://www.keithlaban.co.uk/Varanasi_Barbershop.jpg)
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 27, 2021, 02:39:09 pm: You're absolutely right, Keith. We could call it something like "The Poetry of Life," and it could embrace a range of genres, including street photography. It would end the arguments. There's little associated with human life that wouldn't fit within a descriptor like that.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 28, 2021, 09:37:02 am: One of my favorites. I've posted it before. It's one of those shots where you don't set up a tripod and wait for the scene to develop. It's just there in front of you. You have maybe as much as three seconds to frame, focus, and shoot. If you wait, it's gone. It's about people: their expressions and attitudes and the surrounding environment. That's what street photography is all about. It's what cameras really were invented for.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 28, 2021, 02:02:07 pm: Nice, of course.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 29, 2021, 08:37:27 am: Thanks, Eric. Here's another scene that existed for somewhere around three seconds. I'd probably call it "The Alternative" You miss a massive number of these, but the hits are worth the effort.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 29, 2021, 11:36:57 am: Good timing.
It's good that you didn't sneeze while putting the camera to your eye.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 30, 2021, 10:15:58 am: Another one I've posted before: "Waiting for Mom." Another one of my favorites.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 30, 2021, 10:34:48 am: That one is VERY expressive! Great catch.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on January 31, 2021, 01:27:11 pm: The street at night
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 31, 2021, 05:13:28 pm: And that one small figure really makes the image. Great catch.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 01, 2021, 11:08:31 am: Alone
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 01, 2021, 11:22:46 am: Or you could call it "Manspreading."

It is magnificent!
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 02, 2021, 11:16:48 am: Another one of my favorites. From the late sixties.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 02, 2021, 02:30:46 pm: Another winner.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 03, 2021, 03:03:01 pm: The Western Shop. A grab in the night.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 04, 2021, 09:51:04 am: The Smile
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 04, 2021, 06:14:38 pm: Again, you had the camera ready to shoot at the perfect instant.

(I could never have done that with my old Speed Graphic. ;) )
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 05, 2021, 08:59:32 am: If you're going to do street, Eric, you need to do it with a small, preferably black camera. I used to love my Leica M4. Now my favorite is the Pen-F. You wrap the strap around your wrist and keep the camera in your hand. I learned to do that by trial and error. Later on, I saw a couple pictures of HCB with the same arrangement. Until virtually instant focusing came along I used to keep the focus set at about 15 feet, and aperture at f/8. That gave me enough DOF that I rarely had to change focus. You simply don't have time to screw around and shift gears if you're gonna grab something like the little girl or this. . . It's there and then it's gone. Usually you miss it, but when you catch it the catch makes up for all the misses.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 05, 2021, 12:08:18 pm: I just love "Up There." It invites the viewer to imagine (guess) just what is up there.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 06, 2021, 07:58:49 am: Right, Eric. Ambiguity.

I've posted this one before, but it deserves to be with my other street shots. This was in the days before San Fran was taken over by the homeless.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 07, 2021, 10:14:36 am: Tavern
Title: Re: Street
Post by: degrub on February 07, 2021, 11:17:08 am: poignant.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 07, 2021, 05:45:24 pm: Waiting for opening hour?
Good one.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: rabanito on February 08, 2021, 02:11:47 pm: Great collection that.
Thank you Russ!
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 08, 2021, 03:21:02 pm: Thanks, Rab. There's a lot more to come.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 09, 2021, 08:03:22 am: Alcatraz
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 10, 2021, 03:18:31 pm: Another one of my all-time favorites: "San Francisco Street Vendor," in the late sixties.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: degrub on February 10, 2021, 10:08:24 pm: So many ways to interpret that one... i can see why it is a favorite.
Shot down by the ferry docks ?
I cannot for the life of me figure out what she/he is holding.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 11, 2021, 10:17:22 am: Hi Frank, I don't remember exactly what part of town that was. We had come out of a bar where amateurs came to sing, and started walking down the street. That's a magazine in her hand. She was selling them. There are more in a bag that's out of sight on her right side. This, of course, was at the height of the hippy revolution in SF.

Here's one from Colorado Springs in the early 2000's. "Parade."
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Martin Kristiansen on February 11, 2021, 01:05:23 pm: Quote from: RSL on February 10, 2021, 03:18:31 pm
Another one of my all-time favorites: "San Francisco Street Vendor," in the late sixties.

Really like that image.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 12, 2021, 11:38:05 am: Museum Patrons
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 13, 2021, 09:36:07 am: Christmas 1968. An oldie but a goodie. A copy of this framed 16 x 20 hangs in my bathroom. I know I've posted it on LuLa before -- probably more than once. But it belongs with this series.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 13, 2021, 10:33:27 am: Yes.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 14, 2021, 12:00:45 pm: Flea market lady. In the late sixties this lady always was selling in local flea markets.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Michael West on February 14, 2021, 02:52:57 pm: famous local couple...a boy and his dog..

(https://i.ibb.co/6ZV9BSg/inseperable-9128.jpg)
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 15, 2021, 07:46:53 am: To hell with it! I'll post my street photography on PhotoPXL from now on.
Title: Re: Street
Post by: Frans Waterlander on February 15, 2021, 11:56:45 am: Quote from: RSL on February 15, 2021, 07:46:53 am
To hell with it! I'll post my street photography on PhotoPXL from now on.
Why is that, Russ?
Title: Re: Street
Post by: RSL on February 16, 2021, 08:33:05 am: Check the post with the monkey (or maybe it's a dog), Frans. Under its loosest definition I guess this is street photography, but you've gotta get pretty loose to believe it. I guess I should have titled this thread "My Street Photography."