Street Photography

I've been reading a lot about street photography, something I find very energizing and the sort of photography I'm most interested in looking at.  There are different schools of thought on its validity as an art form, its design requirements, its ethical and legal ramifications.  So it's one of the things I'll be studying during this sabbatical time, learning where I stand on all these issues.  (I already know I'm on the side of yes, it is an art form.  The other questions I'm not so sure of yet.)  And while I'm figuring it all out, I'll practice the actual taking of street photographs according to different perspectives.

My first lesson was to take photographs at a street festival this past weekend, following the school of thought that cropping is not an option—the scene should be composed in your camera, not later in your editing process.  A large part of the allure of street photography is that it captures a single moment of human life in all its glory, strangeness, and messiness.

I also decided to assign the added challenge of rendering them all in black and white.  It's good for me to see what works and what doesn't in black and white—it reduces the story to its essence.  A couple of the photos I took were based on the color, so those didn't work at all in black and white.  But the rest took on a classic look and helped me weed out the too-messy ones that didn't tell a clear story.

The majority of these photos aren't particularly good, but I'll share them anyway as a view into the learning process!

(True disclosure:  I did crop the photo of the skater because I wanted to fully express her strength and beauty, without the distraction of the background.)