Can you see through the Street?
Two photographers exploring windows and reflections in different ways as a focus for their Street photography
Natalia Jaeger
I continue to be intrigued by the playful and unexpected array of shapes, colors and shadows created by the natural juxtaposition of mirrored images. The city, with its wide variety of surfaces, is an environment conducive for this type of observation.
For the most part, the visual correlation emerging between the captured reflection and the subjects of my photographs is orchestrated by chance, not me. That is, I don’t seek a particular type of window or glass surface, nor do I take any steps in planning the shot. This ephemeral quality is precisely what draws me to Street photography. A surprise within every image.
Most of my Street portraits are of people behind windows. A distancing tactic which renders me almost invisible and thus helps me in capturing the ever so slight instance of a moment of self-reflection or — with a bit of luck — reverie.
Natalia is from Venezuela, and currently resides in London. In addition to her photography, she is also a filmmaker interested in documenting people’s stories. She has a degree in multimedia from Arizona State University. A large portion of her creative research has involved interdisciplinary collaborations with composers, choreographers, playwrights and sound artists. Follow more of her Street work on instagram.
Jill Corson
I started making photographs that incorporate the help of store windows in 1998. I’m fascinated by the ability of glass to capture the inside of a space and the street simultaneously. I’m also drawn to and fascinated by color. I have made work for this series in New York, London, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, and New Orleans. I made five of these images in New York. The sixth, Retro Mission, I made in the Mission District of San Francisco.
I have just a few rules for this series. I am never in the frame. I shoot with color transparency film. I exhibit the photographs full frame.
I set off without expectation. I don’t have a plan, other than a vague route I may follow. I’m on an expedition of seeing. Who knows what I’ll find on a given day? My goal is to capture the merger of what’s going on inside a space and what’s happening on the street. Serendipity plays an important role in my ability to see and record something beautiful and fleeting in the bat of an eye. My prints depict what I saw. They’re not montages of images that I made later at the computer using Photoshop.
I really love Hunt for the Right Shoe. There was a big sale at Sigerson Morrison in Soho. Women were hoarding piles of shoes in corners so that they could try them on. It was nuts. I made about seven frames. That’s the best one. This work continues to speak to both consumerism and the complexity of life in urban centers. Also, it simply celebrates the glory of color.
Jill Corson lives in the mid-Hudson Valley outside of New York City. She works as Director of Graduate Student Advising at Parsons School of Design. She walks New York’s streets looking for interesting intersections of the inside and outside, punctuated by color. Her tool, which feels like an extension of her hand, is a Nikon FM2 camera loaded with transparency film.
Women in Street
social media collaborative for female street photographers
