The Street Photographer

To be a street photographer it is essential to walk, to wander. It's not walking for the sake of exercise, but for the enjoyment of walking itself. It helps you think and  observe your surroundings, therefore helping you see things that you would otherwise miss in day to day life. 

Figure 1: Strada Stretta ('Original Source')

A word that describes this perfectly is the French word, "Flâneur", which roughly translates to "stroller", someone who walks around merely observing the world like a stalker from a distance capturing moments of real people doing there normal everyday things. 

Figure 2: Balconies ('Original Source')

The street photographer is sometimes compared to a stalker, which could have both positive as well as negative connotations. One of the positive aspects of this is the philosophical aspect of the observer that immortalises the lives of the urban people in their photographs, giving a sense of how people live in a certain city in a certain period. The negative is the invasion of people's lives through taking their image sometimes without their knowledge. 

Figure 3: Traffic ('Original Source')

People who suggest that street photography is invasion of privacy seem to forget that the law states that in public spaces being photographed is perfectly legal with exceptions when it involves minors (unless consent is given). Susan Sontag in her book titled, "On Photography says, how the chinese seem to be repulsed by the idea of being photographed without their knowledge, because they say that it shows them in a way that they wouldn't want to be represented, they feel insulted that they couldn't pose. This however goes against what a street photographer wants to capture. A Flâneur is more interested in the realistic side of the world rather than the fake smiles and the poses that come with announcing the taking of a photograph. 

Figure 4: Typography ('Original Source')

Reference

Sontag, S., 1979. On Photography. London: Penguin