Martin Parr

 

Martin Parr is a British photographer that is known of his photographic projects that are some pictorial representations of various critical  aspects of modern life on the suburban life of England. I like Martin Parr as his characters and subjects portrays themselves in his pictures and creates a wonderful relationship of his characters  with the surrounding environment and the way they portray themselves onto environment. Martin Parr's photographs are often humorous, his images doesn't fail to kindly show a rare emotion from his subjects by leaving them in an ambiguous emotional reaction.    

Martin Parr's tip in street photography is simply not getting people to smile as this will photograph their natural state and won't feel forced. Martin Parr's street photography have strong statements about the society and always has a certain viewpoint or critique. Most of his pictures are funny, interesting or depressing but makes good statements to society. 

Famous Quotes from Marin Parr
“I looked around at what my colleagues were doing, and asked myself, ‘What relationship has it with what’s going on?’ I found there was a great distortion of contemporary life.Photographers were interested only in certain things. A visually interesting place, people who were either very rich or very poor, and nostalgia.”

“I go straight in very close to people and I do that because it’s the only way you can get the picture. You go right up to them. Even now, I don’t find it easy. I don’t announce it. I pretend to be focusing elsewhere. If you take someone’s photograph it is very difficult not to look at them just after. But it’s the one thing that gives the game away. I don’t try and hide what I’m doing – that would be folly.”

Walker Evans

Here the image to me draws my eyes to the three women in middle of picture due to the beam of light reflection on window to the ground making little shadows cutting of the beam of light into streaks of shadows from women's legs.  

This image above I feel that Walker is making the viewers feel what's happening in the image such as is that car about to knock over the small guy and make us think does the guy feel like an outcast towards his height. The composition in image is good how hes not focusing on one subject he wants the viewers to wander into the image to spot other themes e.g. business men keeping themselves to themselves not looking at other things around them just focusing on what they are heading. 

Walker Evans is most famous for photographing the great depression with the FSA meaning Farm Security Administration, his work of Subway riders in New York City and his street photos and urban landscapes all around America. I think Walker draws viewers to street photography by showing how honest and real it is but can be seen as quite cruel and brutal at the same time. 

Street photography is difficult in terms of the approach  like having the guts to photograph strangers and thinking to yourself is it right to photograph this person. Doing street photography I find it quite a task to shoot on the streets as I need to do many things at once. It is hard to communicate with subjects especially with my confidence and hard to compose, frame, time the shot and have the right settings.

Walker Evans work instinctively whiles he working on a project, simply by focusing on a certain  neighborhood, city or whatever catches your eye. The benefit of working this way is that it gives us freedom and prevents us from stuck and restricted. Walker Evans makes his images have a sense of purpose as in people to question the images he snapped "why everyday make us have deep thought and consideration of our everyday life and what is peoples mission and what they want to achieve through their work" .

WALKER EVANS SENSE OF PURPOSE

The chief thing I’ve noticed is a solidifying of purpose and conviction and I’ve gained security about what I’m doing. But also part of me says:beware of this, don’t accept acclaim; be careful about being established. There’s this problem. How do you get around the Establishment when something is establishing you? You’re established when you’re in these big museums. I find that quite a challenge. That’s why I’m going to do something with all these things, you find something else, establish that. Part of me doesn’t want this to be established. It shouldn’t be because it tames it. I think I’m doing something that is not acceptable. To find acceptance is quite a thing. 

Jesse Marlow Melbourne

Looking at the images above have helped me gain more ideas on ways to develop the use of shadows from shadows of subjects or just a way of showing my presence. In a way I could use subjects shadows into a graffiti use like bansky maybe, this could make bold scenes as an illustration form mixed with the real. 

His way of composing a shot is that some scenes he'll work by shooting variations of  angles, whereas some it'll be a single shot. He will often see things from a car when he's travelling somewhere and make notes of locations and lighting situations and return a later date when the light is brighter or when there is people around.

Jesse has found inspiration through architecture, design and the Australian painter on Jeffrey Smart and Howard Arkley. 

Jesse's biggest inspirational idea came when he found himself with a broken arm which lead him having a sling and not being able to take photos for a couple of weeks and started seeing people with similar situations in the streets. Him seeing people continually doing daily routines despite their injury inspired him into a quick idea developing into a project "The Wounded".

  

Polly Braden

So far my photographs are leading to this walking past architecture style and the use of lines, shadows, and patterns that makes her work look bold and eye catching. The architecture in her images helps bring out unusual shapes around subjects to make her photographs more to seek and interesting to look out for in her images.

I have tried to incorporate lines, natural light around me, patterns from pavements etc and reflections of people on shopping malls as I feel that these techniques make image look arty.

Polly has become well known for her documentary photography by exploring the relationships between everyday life, work, leisure and economics. Poll draws her inspiration  for her photographic projects from art, films, articles in papers, news reports, business men and women, she is mainly interested in people she likes to find out about their lives, their work and their families. Polly wants her photographs  that have many parts to them, photos that lead her viewers eye from one part of the picture to another.  

Helen Levitt

Helen was a New York contemporary photographer who was known throughout her long career has inspired and amazed generations of photographer, students, curators by her quiet, poetic images made on the streets of the city. Throughout her photographer career she has reflected her photographs in a poetic vision, humor to portray her subjects on men, women and children living it out on the streets and among the public housing of New York.

Helen realised  from conversations with Henri Cartier Bresson that photography could be an art form in itself and did not always have to be about social justice.

In 1936 she had found an medium for her unconscious obsession by shooting images on children playing in the streets of New York to bring out the children's performative games and the untutored artistry of their drawings found on stoops and sidewalks.

Some of her photographs I find depressing especially the one where there are young people and a mother in house looking through or out of window seeing as if they are imprisoned and jealous on how other young people are out on streets free to live their life which makes the younglings in window eager to get out of household.      

History of street photography

Henri Riviere- Un couple restaurant dans un batiment public 1885-1895

Photograph that Henri has took looks as if he focused on the women's dress showing her movement in a way her dress creases to her path of walking and just about got enough room to place her umbrella into shot he may have want to do this to show what weather he was shooting. The colouring in the photograph 

Paul Strand- wall street, New York 1915

This image is interesting as everyone is following the same path all neatly and quite narrow not scattered like a crowd making the pathway an important walk by. The shadows created from cleverly thinking where the light is shining and position himself and camera vertically towards the silhouette people and luckily the lighting he was taken place creating shadows behind people looking like they are getting the viewers eyes on those shadows. 

Alfred Stieglitz- A snapshot Paris 1911

Looks like this image is shot in a rainy day as the grounds are all patchy and showing shiny splodges underneath subjects showing wetness. It's good how the photographer hasn't cropped anything out as it gives image a wider outlook which gives more scenes to look out for. 

    

Bandit’s Roost, New York, 1888, by Jacob A. Riis 

This image looks like the photographer planned his shot as everyone is staring at him even the people inside their houses looking out and putting an expression on face ' what the heck is going on here?'

Bruce Davidson

                              1950s gangs of Brooklyn

The 1950s gangs of Brooklyn photo I quite like as two teenagers are oblivious that a photographer is taking a shot of them as they look busy daydreaming or just staring at something intriguing around them unless photographer asked if he could take a picture of them and just act normally just pretend you haven't met me. The picture questions me why on earth did he want to take this shot what was his attention, was something happening and he wanted to focus on their expressions of the scene they are seeing which looks to me one teen is like "yeah this happens all the time nothing special, middle one looking like she is in a daydream but think her expression is saying "really! you had to be an idiot", the girl on the end slightly cropped looks like shes seen enough and just looking away hoping to see something interesting put her off what she has just seen.

This image has a lot of colour blends as guy with gun weirdly has clothing matching with train door colours and makes you think on what the photographer has felt taking this picture at that moment of action. The graffiti in this image set in a train is blending with gun guy as his coat has some symbols going on which maybe important to him.  

Harry's window shopping stall showing a repetition of passing one by one and some cars reflection overlapping on top of other and slight squint glimpse of person crossing road which is hard to take eyes off as you wonder is he going to get knocked over but nope he isn't and that's the fascination of this image. The buildings has got good colouring created from window collecting a range of reflections form other windows making building a block of different lightness and details of patterns. 

Garry Winogrand's produces work that documents and photojournalist traditions. His work is influenced by Robert Frank's The Americans and bought a wide angle lens on a handheld camera to shoot close distance. This helped him to join more of his subjects and gave his images an unfamiliar, composition involvedness.   He enjoys taking shots due to seeing how things would look as photographs. He believes that the camera can be described as the illusion of a literal description of how a camera can snap a piece of time and space. The different classes, beliefs and races shoving on the street. He snaps these moments by having tilted viewpoints, their grainy closeness, frantic crowds and their temporally isolated strangers that matches the Vietnam years that provides a defining portrait of a society caught unaware.   

"For months I followed strangers on the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them with their knowledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them" Sophie Calle 

Bruno Quinquet

Bruno is a Japanese photographer who did an project called obsession of a salary-man Otaku which is based on shooting salary men to show viewers the experiences of their real office workers life. He did this project for three years in Tokyo's public places, he had two basic rules in mind, the first one is that the salary-man had to be unidentified that will make his project so appealing. He wants to be able to snatch details of his subjects bodies like pieces of evidence that creates a bigger picture that turns on an mysterious individual to a universal character. The images of his unidentified salary-man can be recognize themselves but Bruno would like to represent them with an important point of empathy.  

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri is a french street photographer who treats his camera like a sketchbook as he strongly believes that photography is an immediate reaction like drawing is a statement on how artists observe the subject etc. Henri likes to treat is camera like a sketchbook also to spot the awareness and the naturalness to master the instant moment in a photograph which helps him to question the persons view on something where us photographers will be photographing the decisive moments while subject is looking at something mysteriously and lost in thought which is interesting as it makes me question on their expressions.

Henri's advice to photographers is to apply geometry to images because if you look at the composition of his images he experiments in vertical, horizontal,and diagonal lines, curves, shadows, triangles, circles, and squares to his advantage. He also paid a great deal of attention to frames by looking through his view finder with full concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity and a sense of geometry. Street photographers can's only see the world as it is, we need to look for shapes and geometry that happen naturally. The images we take need to Open up our mind and break the environment into different formal elements. Look for lines that could include beams of light on ground, that may lead to subjects or squares that may frame the image. Making images poetic with your images by capturing a theme and story on what you are passing.

When photographers are out shooting and see fascinating scenes, it is important to wait for the right person to walk by to complete image.

Jakub Ostrowski

Elaine Vallet

Pictures above are showing a mixture of styles that I can explore within street photography such as focusing on window with rain drops where it gives a blurred effect on people  to make the viewers squint their eyes to look what image is portraying and look for hidden detail. Elaine tries to show the world the human reality through reflections on windows, to me the way he takes pictures of window reflections looks like a rubix cube needing to be fit into place like a moment puzzle looking all in a illusion.

Lee Friedlander

These pictures from Lee looks as if his images are made from street moments that he experiences collaged into one which shows us whats around the street or town formed into an image from just focusing his camera onto window reflecting whats passing by behind him created like a canvas and making the mannequins look like they're real people. I would like to use the idea of showing my presence in my pictures by showing my shadow on ground or just place in a great position like bang in the middle showing that women has a stalker which gives like a intense creepy feeling towards image.

Anthony luke's

Photographer Luke lives to communicate visually  to show a picture is really worth a thousand words thatcan be used effectively to share his ideas in a visual media manner. His style he works on is how elements are arranged in a two dimensional frame to tell a story of a photograph.  I love how the photographer hasluckily come across a condensed bus stop glass window making the image look like a wash down paintingand the misty weather has smudged parts of cars passing by and a top part of person. Luke seems verylucky to capture unusual patterns merged with a subject creating a new designed top on mannequin. 

Jakub Ostrowski

Jakub Ostrowski is showing everyday street life situations where people bumping into people or meeting up an sit down in cafe starting to have conversations that can lead to having a  deep emotional connection. The pictures are interesting as you can view how people approaches people differently like hand gestures, expressions. 

Thoughts to street photography

Being given the street photography brief I got the feel of understanding of this concept from starting to research the word street photography in Google images and just click image that caught my eye and just study it and the artist, to see where their inspirations are from, what their thoughts and idea from taking that shot or just find out how they come across an interest in street photography. Looking into artists helps me have a bigger outlook on street photography like styles of shooting e.g. angle, focus, and they may have put their background into their images such as subjects they spot in their surroundings may just cause a major flashback on rough, happy, sad memories in life and may want to show that in a way to communicate or their personalty.

The attractiveness of this brief is the unexpected of the shots when taking a journey through the streets, beach, park or whatever the public place you are capturing on what is happening, in everyday situations that may not come across again as moods and action etc changes so photographers cannot plan or retake, it is important for us to have good timing to position and setting up camera and get used to the feel that is coming to you and snap the action that is taking in place before the moment is gone.

Now that I have taken my own street photography images from Hartlepool and Durham and clicked the button for photograph on what I consider the answer of this brief, I feel that I am noticing things of interest that I didn't stop, think, mesmerize before.

By going to Durham I have passed through objects like lost used balloons, litter, ripped out magazines such as advertisements and newspaper articles but regret of not taking photos of these simple subjects that could tell a story. However being in Durham has given me a bigger step from Hartlepool, hopefully making me feel more comfortable around people but only a little, I just need to get out of the house and have no fear on taking unknown action shots that could be a big interest to me but me being a wuss is missing out on objects that can be apparent and can show the viewers the reality and outspoken moments of our environment. Durham having a quite bigger range of people in the town I have walked across such as small details of people as the way they dress have become another interest of mine and made me think on what is beneath of it all, are they trying to be different, wanting express themselves and show the world to not be afraid on showing who you are, its a small world to please people and blend just start your own trend, world will be boring if everyone dresses the same.



 

Street Photography Research
TAKING PICTURES

When I have been given street photography brief, to be honest I was nervous about this one as I've never shot images where there's crowds of people involved and used to thinking of ideas and plan my shots. when I first gone out with the film camera I started off being terrified as am not used to having the attention by people when shooting or just carrying a camera as they give you the eyes of questioning 'what is she shooting, oh my is she shooting pictures of me I better just look away am not here" I feel like when am shooting street images am making people uncomfortable as I would be if it was the other way around. To make myself comfortable and not a big step I Started my film shots around Hartlepool  town luckily it was not too busy so I was feeling safe just playing around camera settings and see what inspires me and see if I feel a direction to an interest, so far am a big fan of reflections from shopping mall windows, puddles and mirrors, specially when you find different qualities of windows from broken, colour contrasts, darkness, and text blending in with yourself relection with camera to face or just holding it while a few people walking by making distorted look of their figures on window due to their own movement and light hitting on window.

I had also experimented my composition like sitting on ground focusing on car light with a old decayed building straight ahead. Hopefully I'll experiment more in angles like shooting from bridges and look down so I can get a different view of the society and show viewers how small we actually look in this world. Doing different angles helped me get further shots on reflections so I shot at the side of mirror where I get doubles of people coming towards me and cars passing so i'll get texts and reflection on car frame and faces from passenger windows and see what I get in distortion with all these subjects.