Every click we make, whether on the road or elsewhere, reflects our inner reality. This reality is shaped by our readings, schools, teachers, experiences, and the temperament we have been blessed or afflicted with. It isn't possible—or it is extremely boring—to discuss an art form we declare as a favorite by viewing it from a distance, as if it were about someone else or a mere theoretical recitation. That explains why this article begins by denouncing any imposed orthodoxy of thought in photographic art, especially in street photography. Of course, this does not mean accepting chaotic expression or excessive indulgence in the absence of technique, akin to some kind of photographic "primitivism." It does not mean rejecting the great masters and classical photographic rules, just as a return to classical literature preserves our verbal balance and quality. Instead, it means a free-flowing use of photographic knowledge and experience.
A flexible mentality while photographing on the street will align with our inner truth. After all, street photography, more than any other photographic genre, embodies the ideal or universal archetype of freedom. It is this sense of freedom in street photography that allows the use of different media, the exploration of various urban or animated elements, experimentation, and the fusion of several arts. Venturing a bold observation, I could say that street photography now enables a beneficial abolition of photography genres. Although it might be tempting to present this holistic approach as a modern, new perspective, that would be completely untrue. In fact, this archetypal freedom of photographic thought and action is inherent in the words and approaches of all the great, classic street photographers. As each of us has our own path in street photography, let me quote some words from my personal heroes:
“I have been told that some of my photographs maybe indicate that I am a painter.” [Saul Leiter]
Though Leiter is recognized primarily for his photography, he called painting his first love. He maintained a lifelong habit of painting daily and produced thousands of colorful works on paper, the majority of them abstract, using water-based paints. Among his primary influences were Japanese woodblock artists and French Impressionists such as Bonnard and Vuillard.
Leiter often felt like painting. "Painted Nudes" collects 70 of the several hundred works Leiter made between the '70s and 1990 by applying gouache, watercolors, and casein to his black-and-white nude photographic portraits of women friends and models.
Saul Leiter, Painted Nude Courtesy of the Saul Leiter Foundation and Sylph Editions
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Saul Leiter, Untitled, early 1950s–1961
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“If you are open to the surprises of your own mind and the medium that you are working in, you can evolve in unexpected ways.” [Joel Meyerowitz]
Meyerowitz’s "Cape Light," originally published in 1978, depicts the coast and small towns of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Taken with Meyerowitz’s vintage 8 x 10 Deardorff view camera, the photographs meditate on the color, light, and scale of the landscape. In contrast to the chaotic scenes of his famous street photography, "Cape Light" features serene, luminous landscapes that present color as a sensorial, evocative experience.
Joel Meyerowitz, Red Interior, Provincetown, 1977
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Joel Meyerowitz, 35 mm color street photography
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“I'll see a photograph of a character and try to copy them on to my face. I think I am really observant, and thinking how a person is put together, seeing them on the street and noticing subtle things about them that make them who they are”. [Cindy Sherman]
Consisting of 70 black-and-white photographs, "Untitled Film Stills" began after Sherman moved to New York City in 1977 at the age of 23. Inspired by 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, film noir, B movies, and European art-house films, Sherman created images suggestive of the production stills used by movie studios to publicize their films. The images, reminiscent of certain character types and genres, initiated conversations about gender roles, feminism, and representation, always remaining intentionally ambiguous and open to interpretation.
“Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still 21. 1978. Gelatin silver print. 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 (19.1 x 24.1 cm) The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel. One of the most often reproduced images of the series, this photograph is shot near 26 Broadway, originally the Standard Oil Building, in the Financial District (left).”
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New York in the 1980s was a harsh city with a dynamic arts scene. Cindy Sherman moved there in the summer of 1977, after graduating from art school in Buffalo, and the city came to impact her work. She soon became part of a circle of artists, musicians, and filmmakers who set the tone in the art scene. Important venues included the artist-run Artists Space, where Cindy Sherman worked for some time, and The Kitchen, a center for video and performance art. This series of films introduces us to a few prominent characters in the 1980s New York art and music scene, several of whom have a direct link to Sherman and her work.
Some of the features are products from a time when artists and curators were experimenting with new ways of presenting art for TV. Curator: Lena Essling.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled 93, 1981. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York
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Following this path in street photography means having the freedom to use different lenses and body poses, choosing between color or black and white, or alternating between them. It means letting yourself be influenced by other arts while taking pictures as you walk around your city or another city. It involves perceiving and reacting as a street photographer both indoors and outdoors, not only in an urban environment but also at the beach. It encourages attempting to merge with other types of photography that might have previously seemed "forbidden." So, let me introduce you to my street ways and invite you to do the same with yours. My helpers are my heroes again.
- Why exclusively 35mm? I love 50 mm too.
''I liked different lenses for different times. I'm fond of the telephoto lens, as well as the normal 50mm lens. At one point, I had a 150mm lens and was very fond of it. I liked what it did. I experimented a lot. Sometimes I worked with a lens I had when I might have preferred another. I think Picasso once said he wanted to use green in a painting, but since he didn't have it, he used red. Perfection is not something I admire. A touch of confusion is a desirable ingredient.''
Saul Leiter, font: https://www.progressive-street.com/tipsandtecniques/2018/5/20/there-is-no-perfect-focal-length-for-street-photography
- I am colorful but my ¼ is bianco_nero
“If I do color, I have to think about the light, how people are dressed, the background, all kinds of things. In black and white, you go more directly to the subjects.” — Harry Gruyaert
Harry Gruyaert, Saskia Marieke, 1986 - 2008 Copyright Harry Gruyaert / Magnum Photos:
Harry Gruyaert - Belgium, Brussels, 1970-80
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Photography seminar for parents and children in Greece at iFocus Gallery.
Instructors:
Evdoxia Fasoula/Dora Lavazou
Attracted by the slightly or strongly strange side of reality, by its transformative possibilities.
Vivian Maier, undated,
In love with the ephemeral and timeless of the street, which allows us to retrieve the subconscious paths and personal truths, bringing them, as Carl Jung would explain, to the level of consciousness.
''For me, photography is the act of creating something from the fluid reality that’s constantly unfolding around us. It’s about being. For me, it’s the enlivening of my consciousness. First of all, I think the most important quality is the surprise of recognizing something that has manifested itself now, out of the chaos of the street. Suddenly there’s a sense—never certainty, but a sense—that elements are gathering together in front of me that might produce something interesting. It’s not that it happens and I raise the camera; I often see things up the street coming towards me that excite my mind’s potential. I think of it as “reading the text of the street.”
Joel Meyerowitz :
@Evdoxia Fasoula, Moments Collective Annual International Photography Exhibition 2024
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In Frame, Moments Collective Author, Evdoxia Fasoula.
For over twenty years, Evdoxia Fasoula has been involved in imaging as a forensic photographer (forensic graphologist), having studied in Italy at the University of Urbino. Seeking the justice of a beneficial distraction, she has systematically pursued a conversation with artistic photography over the last five years. She has attended photography courses at the Athenian photography groups and schools, "Diadromes" and iFocus. She has participated in group photography exhibitions in Greece and abroad, while her photos have been selected and reposted by international photography digital magazines and important hubs. She has written a book on scientific photo-optical multimedia, as well as the bilingual photographic-graphological album "Urban Graphemes," a journey through graffiti and street art. She is an official member of the Greek photographic platform @moments_collective_, curator of the international Instagram photography group @kalopsia_collective, and a member of the Italian photographic association Alpido @associazionealpido. She usually photographs on the street and in the context of reflective music, seeking out rifts in time, quirks, and small distortions of reality.
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The Moments Collective Team 2024
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