There’s an expression I receive in response to telling people I do street photography. Their heads nod and while they try to say with their faces, “oh, I see”, what their expressions really betray is “eh, what?”.
I’m used to the involuntary expressions of bewilderment. When I tell someone I’m a photographer, they most naturally assume I shoot weddings. I don’t blame them. Outside of the more informed photography circles the genre of street photography doesn’t get much attention or appreciation. I can almost sense that people are sometimes spooked by someone who goes around taking pictures of absolute strangers on the street. So what exactly is it, and more importantly, why would anyone enjoy it?
Wikipedia to the Rescue
Street photography, also sometimes called candid photography, is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.
Dissecting this definition delivers some insights into what street photography is, what it isn’t and why it has value.
What it is/isn’t:
Street photography is a wholly candid brand of photography practiced within public places. The word candid is something of a lynch-pin in the definition. Whereas with event photography, portraiture, fashion and…
