Interesting chat. I have heard some critics having a go at the whole ‘Street Photography’ catagory saying social documentary was always good enough and remains so. It certainly is easier to adjudicate.
I have some questions myself regarding definitions of street. Is it still street when shot in a public space such as a bar but not on an actual street? A lot of us shoot street when traveling, does that then make it travel photography or is it in both categories, I would think so.
Lastly what if it’s in an area where people don’t have streets as we would normally define them. I post a picture below to illustrate. To me this is still street but perhaps I think that way because of where I live. Any ideas.
Some definitions according to my own photographic adventure through life, and the lessons learned:
Street: William Klein; Daido Moriyama; stamper, Russ, GrahamBy (where the hell are you?).
Street Art: Saul Leiter; Ernst Haas; Keith Laban; Peter Fiore; Rob C (in my
Glimpsed Parallels galleries).
Streetscape (Cityscape): Ernst Haas; Slobodan.
This little list includes definitive world-names as well as some of our own shooters whose work is probably known to us on this forum.
None of the above is to exclude others, or even those who shoot several genres as a matter of routine. What it does - or attempts to do - is provide a subjective explanation of what different terms signify to
me.
Regarding shooing off the street, as in hotels and bars, if of people who don't know what's going down, I'd call it candid; if they are aware and tacitly consent, then informal portraiture.
I suppose that, from the above; I take street (in general) to suggest as sense of intrusion/danger/possible violence/risk towards the photographer. Street art, on the other hand, signifies more a sense of interest in beauty, of the random art created quite accidently, mostly by man.
