“I have found that the use of clouds in my photographs has made people less aware of clouds as clouds in the pictures than when I have portrayed trees or houses or wood or any other objects.
“In looking at my photographs of clouds, people seem freer to think about the relationships in the pictures than about the subject-matter for its own sake.
“My photographs are a picture of chaos in the world, and of my relationship to that chaos. My prints show the world’s constant upsetting of man’s equilibrium, and his eternal battle to reestablish it.”*
*Cited: Alfred Stieglitz, Master of Photographs: Aperture.
Sometimes I wonder if life is just a series of links that takes us on journeys of multiple “turned corners” until we suddenly find ourselves in some unimagined place. This week’s photo study is such a journey undertaken to research the genre of street photography.
I found four amazing street photographers (David Geffin, Jasper Tejano, Fan Ho, Dotan Saguy). Each of them inspired me to explore new ways of seeing the life around me through variations of light, shadow, shapes, colors, and tones. I invite you to wander about their online galleries.
“You don’t need to be on ‘a street.’ Street photography is more about capturing candid and often fleeting moments. If you think of street photography in that way, you will always be ‘out on the street,’ looking to make photographs.” ~David Geffin
“Though I admire many street photographers who present their work in black and white, color street photography, to me, presents life with much more realism and dynamism. Especially with my work on silhouettes, the darkness of my subjects will just drown in the different shades of gray. I need color to make my subjects emerge from the frame.” ~Jasper Tejano
“I always had an instinct for light, shadow, lines and form but the second important thing is the subject matter; the character that will create empathy.” ~ Fan Ho (1931-2016)
“For me street photography is above all about people and moments. … it’s just a question of being present with all my senses. The best I can describe myself in that state is as a meditative hunter.” ~Dotan Saguy
I do hope you enjoyed your linked journey through these amazing images. Do you have a street photographer that awes you? If so, please share and tag with #aphotostudy.
Life offers us brief glimpses into the compassionate nature of silent strangers…those who pick up lost mittens, shoes, teddy bears, etc. and place them on benches, fences, swing sets. May you be touched with the blessings of gratitude.
For this week’s photo study, I decided to continue with Ian’s creative composition posts as they seem to be an ideal way to revisit basic elements of composition and explore how to incorporate them into street photography. He begins the second positing with noting the importance of slowing down with intentional “seeing” as a foundation to finding the ideal background and good light and then deciding to or not to press the shutter.
Photography is not what’s important. It’s seeing. The camera, film, even pictures, are not important. ~Algimantas Kezys (cited: H Zehr, The Little Book of Contemplative Photography)
Setting the Stage, Timing the Steps (fishing) Ian writes, “The key concept for this approach is to establish the static elements in your frame first (i.e. background and light), then patiently work to add interesting dynamic elements by moving close and far, exploring various angles, adjusting the camera’s settings, and finally with patience waiting for the person who fits into your story to walk on your stage.
Frame within a Frame Create a frame within the image through the use of doorways, windows, window displays, trees, or any object that creates a frame around your subject.
Leading Lines Drawing the viewer’s eye is an important compositional element especially when lines converge toward each other and draw the eye to the subject. I found that the gaze of both the man and the dog create an implied line as well as invite a story.
JuxtapositionIan describes juxtaposition is where two adjacent objects appear to contrast with each other, as within the image below. The person in the foreground leans to the left opening us to the elderly man in the midground who is leading left. The Starbucks coffee cup in the center adds a social justice element as well as a contrast to both men.
Perspective – create high-angle images by standing on stairs, platforms, balconies or low-angle photos by getting close to the ground and shooting upwards.
ScaleImages where the subject is dwarfed by the environment seems to be a way of introducing feeling into the image and drawing the eye to the person within the frame.
ColorColor intermixed with light, shadows, and silhouettes have the potential to create unique photographs that nudge images away from the photojournalism and documentary genre.
ReflectionsEntire stories can be created through the layers that are created when photographing through glass.
Light and ShadowsUsing your exposure compensation to drop the exposure on the frame (which protects the highlights while creating wonderful deep shadows) will create amazing interactions of shadows, light, and silhouettes.
The Candid Frame Within “Less than Obvious”, Ibarionex encourages us to open ourselves to “seeing” the world’s amazing detail and “being” intentional before we press the shutter.
I hope you find Ian’s educational blog and the Candid Frame to be an invaluable sources of information as well as doorways to a world of creative possibilities. I’m looking forward to seeing your creative work as well as reading your throughs about the use of basic composition elements into street photograph. Let’s tag with #aphotostudy. Until next week…
a meditative journey 
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