Camera Populil

1. The elements of street photography

7 November, 2025, Florida.

Street photography is as old as the portable camera, for obvious reasons.  It wasn’t long after Oskar Barnack developed the world’s first 35mm portable camera that people were using it, and others like it, to shoot anything and everything they could find on the streets where they lived.  With most street photography taking place in more urban areas (with some exceptions) it was a natural development for these types of photography to feature the people that lived in those cities, differentiating if from “city landscapes” or “architectural” photography.  The people are what makes street photography so great, but without the background, or the city or dwellings in which they live, it’s just portraiture.  Excellent street photography should typically include the people and the places.  A close-up of someone’s hand, holding a stability stirrup on the subway.  A non-licensed street vendor, eyes wide, looking for bicycle and horseback police.  A store owner taking a rest of the stoop of his building during a busy day.  These are the elements that make street photography so memorable.  That is not to say that a close up of some spray painted graffiti has no place in the genre, but it can’t serve as a majority of it.  Not really.

A business man in a Brioni suit, reading a newspaper in a low income part of town.

Dichotomy.

A woman wearing a wedding gown, running to catch the subway before it pulls away.  She’s holding up the train of her dress so she’s not slowed down.

These are things nobody sees everyday, but the city (any city) will give you these gifts every day, if you’re looking for them.

A twisted bicycle that had been heavily damaged by a taxi cab, raised up and hanging from a stop sign.

A brand new ice cream cone, ice cream first on the ground, right near a manhole cover.

If you look, you’ll see an odd or peculiar scene every day.  It may seem normal as you’re passing by, but if you being looking at life in still images through your camera, you’ll notice everyday things that would seem abnormal when frozen in time.  Taking photos of things that are deeply grounded in the era you’re shooting in also make great photographs.  Think of how interesting that photo will be in 10 or 20 years.  Think of the photography of Robert Frank, in “The Americans.”  Those photos couldn’t possibly be taken today.  So much has changed in the world, it would cost millions to stage such a thing.  Those are the photos the street photographer aims for.  Even a shot of a rotary telephone, taken in the late 1980s seems foreign and strange today.  Wardrobe.  Hairstyles.  Business types.  You can still find a barber shop, but in another 20 years, a photo you took of a Blockbuster Video storefront will be very strange to witness for a younger viewer.  Or a record store.  We view photos of things like the space-age “automat” with an almost wonderous disbelief. 

I recommend thinking in these terms when you’re shooting. 

Ground your subject in the time period.  Or don’t.

Steal images that will look interesting tomorrow.  Or years from now.  Or both.  Or either.

Just be certain your subject, be it person or place, is interesting.