Slobodan and Keith,
No question, motion is an entirely different medium. In fact, it’s probably what underlines my attitude to the difference between stills of NY that I have seen, and that video. On my side of the argument, an entire advertising industry that uses motion as much as it can. Of course, it is financially more rewarding, but motion can demonstrate message more thoroughly and convincingly than do single images which, for starters, are inevitably short on context. Actually, in that video, the stills images, to me, feel anything but the peak of the material; they strike me as arbitrary and not particularly interesting; they also look too perfected when compared with the gritty movie.
As with you, Slobodan, I feel too far down the, for me, narrowing track to change direction now. I hold great respect for those photographers who were doing well a couple of decades ago, managed to read the writing on the commercial wall, and dived straight into motion; I found the step into digital disconcerting enough! I think it also demands a sense of plot: you have to have a story to tell. Street photographers love to talk about the ‘story’ behind their photos when, truth be told, there ain’t even a soupçon of such an animal on view in practically any of those pictures.
If you want story, off the top of my head I can come up with two photos, both by Winogrand: the mixed-race couple with the dressed apes; the group of girls, double-backlit, walking happily towards the camera, a disabled young man seated off to the left. It says volumes about his chances in life and in sex. Other than that, my mind feels blank, which admittedly could be my fault. Now, take away the importance, the weight of the human factor on a picture, and Saul Leiter’s colour work in the street does it for me in a massive manner. His black/white, on the other hand, not that much. I prefer his far more intimate b/w interiors. When you discover that some of the people in his street snaps were actually friends and relatives, the value diminishes to zero.
I have to say, he is author of one of the most delightfully sweet colour photographs of Jean Shrimpton that I have ever seen. Bailey has one somewhat similar… I sometimes wonder which came first.
Rob
