The Noble Art of Street Photography

Street photography which often involves taking photos of random people in public places can be a bit controversial.

Capturing the ordinary goings on in a street is maybe not popular with some but these are the photos that people will look back on in years to come, not the sunset photos. They are a date stamp on street life. What type of photos do we like to look back on ? Scenes of street life in the 30s, the 60s, fashions of the 80s.

So it's with this I'm mind I post a street photo taken in Glasgow. Not the best but certainly a record of street fashion 2015 style.

An article is copied below.

Street Photography: A Brief Definition

It is a branch of realistic fine-art photography that records unposed scenes in public places (streets, parks, restaurants, stores, museums, libraries, airports; train, bus, and subway stations, etc.)

The primary subject is people, at rest or in motion, alone or with others, going about the every-day activities of life (walking, sitting, standing, waiting, reading, eating, talking, listening, laughing, daydreaming, greeting, parting, working, playing, shopping, viewing art, sightseeing, etc.).

The emphasis is not on the subject’s personal identity, as in portraiture. And unlike photojournalism, there is no news here, rather, the commonplace; although, the line between photojournalism and street photography is often blurry. Many of the best street photographers were photojournalists. Unlike travel photography, that aims to entice the viewer to visit a certain place or to fondly remember it, location is relatively unimportant, though busy cities with interesting architecture are commonly seen in these works.

The primary emphasis is on capturing a fleeting composition, a temporary arrangement of lines, forms, textures, and tones—balanced within a rigid frame. While such photographs often document clothing styles or automobile design, these details are subordinate to the artistic elements; whereas, in strict documentary photography, content is more important than artistry. In street photography, the image can be sharp or blurred and impressionistic. Many images feature strong graphic elements which—considered separately—constitute interesting geometric patterns.