Street PhotographyWesley Tang/ SM2221/ 2004.11.02

Multiple Identities of Street Photographer

A Chronology of Street Photography

Key Features of Street Photography

Eugene Atget and His Disappearing Paris

Concluding Remarks about Street Photography

Possible Integrations with Street Photography

Multiple Identities of Street Photographer

As a Walker As an Observer As an Archivist As a Philosopher As a Critic As a Historian

Street Photography:Street Photographer

Multiple Identities of Street Photographer

As an Ethnographer Who participates, observes and researches Who is interested in social issues, esp. that in urban environment

As an Author Who responds to and makes sense of spatial issues Who constructs narratives Who appeals more to Flânerie (Walter Benjamin)

than to Dérive (the Situationists)

Street Photography:Street Photographer

Major Highlights

1839 Invention of Photography (William Henry Fox Talbot)

1850s Larger cameras and glass plate negatives

Sharpness, Depth of Field & Resolution

1877 John Thomson, Street Life in London

The first collection of social documentary photographs published Arranged Custom & Staged Reality: Crisis of Photographic Realism

1888 First Kodak box cameras came onto the market

Late ‘20s Documentary Project (Farm Security Administration)

1930s Invention of 35mm Camera (Leica) Compact Size & High Speed

Walker Evans: American Photographs 1938-1941

Humphrey Spender: Mass Observation documentary project in England

Street Photography:A Chronology of Street Photography

Major Highlights

1950s Henri Cartier-Bresson (individual photojournalist): Photo-journalism

Visual Poetry of the ‘Real’ World Accidental Photography:

RandomnessPhotography as Sketching“What counts are the little differences”: Portray of Everyday

LifeJuxtapositions of RealitiesGraphical Composition & Expression

Street Photography:A Chronology of Street Photography

Street Photographer as Ethnographer AND Author

A combination of Critical and Creative Intervention

The Aesthetics of Streets Fluid-liked organic nature of Space Flows Constant unexpectedness

Curiosity & Discovery Chance & Encounter

Walter Benjamin: “Moving through this traffic [in the city] involves the individual in a series of shocks and collisions.” (1)

Imbalance, Disorder & Out of Control

Street Photography:Key Features of Street Photography

(1) Walter Benjamin, “On Some Motifs in Baudelaire,” in Illuminations, p.175.

The Aesthetics of Streets

Street as a Theatrical Stage Spatial Drama Magical Moments

Street as a Political Space Heterotopias (Michel Foucault)

Simultaneous multi-layers Fragments & Disharmony

Spatial Organizations as Power Relations

Street Photography:Key Features of Street Photography

Action-based spatial interpretation

Walking (Influences from both Flânerie and Dérive) wandering getting lost constantly looking for dramatic/ contradictory elements in

the streets (but not something ‘great’ and ‘grand’) footsteps as concrete actions which transform the space of

the streets street-informed tour as detourment distractions (change of perspective and city experience)…

Street Photography:Key Features of Street Photography

Action-based Spatial Interpretation

A different sense of rhythm E.g. ‘Dandy’ in 19th Century Paris

Set their pace by walking with turtles in the arcades Trivial daily settings Live actions/ postures

not mimetic have rules and criteria but very much undetermined)

Focus on Differences

Street Photography:Key Features of Street Photography

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

Attended the State Acting Academy after moving to Paris at the age of 21 His Theater performance was not successful

Gave up acting and started painting Lived in a street where many bohemian artists gathered As a painter, his career was not impressive, too

Began taking pictures in 1879

Photographed Paris for 30 years

Woke up early in the morning, walked around and took pictures

Produced around 8000 photos More than 1500 photos are reproduced in books published after his

death

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

“Documents pour Artistes”

Supply of artistic models As raw materials and models for painters, sculptors and stage

designers Paintings of natural landscapes were preferred as they are in

colour The exactness and accuracy of photos are advantageous:

Architectural photos Atget sold his Architectural photos:

To architects as models To tourists as souvenirs To authorities for their archives

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

Atget’s Tool

A wooden camera(which was becoming ‘old-fashioned’ as more compact cameras were invented)

A massive tripod Glass plate negatives:

Gelatin ‘Dry’ plates 7 x 9.5 inches (a bit smaller than an A4 paper) Heavy but Fragile Shorter Exposure Time

The weight of his equipment set: ~ 45 lbs Refused Man Ray’s offer to use a Rolleiflex Walking in the streets of Paris on foot

& traveling out to the suburbs by train

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

Atget’s Tools and His Photographic Images: Images were reversed and upside-down on the screen:

Composition was difficult(esp. in Atget’s favourite vanishing-point style)

Glass plates were expensive: Repeated snapping of the same motifs were unlikely

Shorten (Long) exposure Time Blurred images of fast-moving objects

(e.g. the ‘ghostly’ traces of passers-by) Strong contrast, hard shadows perspective convergence

depth of field detailed view of spatial configurations

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

Atget’s Tools and His Photographic Images: Ignored the Eiffel Tower and other monumental buildings

erected in Paris Disappearing Urban Landscapes

Empty parks Abandoned palace gardens Squatters Old hotels Window Displays Door knockers Old fountains Wood Stairways etc.

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Eguene Atget (1857-1927):

Atget’s Tools and His Photographic Images:

Systematic and Thematic approach to document Paris, esp. the ‘old’ Paris which was disappearing Twenty Arrondissements:

Street by street By area By guidebooks In season Social class and professions of people etc.

An archive of a city that changes;and his photographs change and create the city, too

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Eugene Atget and His ‘Disappearing’ Paris

Street Photography:Concluding Remarks about Street Photography

Street Photography is Not about a perfect reproduction of reality (Realism) City as a source of discovery and invention

A great concern with urban environment, esp. its changes and critical transitions organic nature of spatial arrangements

Walking in the city as a means (an act) of discovery and invention

Street Photography as both a tools and a methodology Juxtaposition of realities – images within an (flattened

photographic) image Fragments of Everyday Life and Commonplace Mysteries Spatial Contractions as narrative and story plot

Street Photography:Concluding Remarks about Street Photography

Street Photography is a performative art form which: Challenges the understanding of Culture

through the critique of the (concrete) Spatial forms of (abstract) Culture

Frees visual images from the formulation of discursive practices

Produces Everyday Life situations for the dynamic circulation and re-generation of new meanings

Street Photography:Possible Integrations with Street Photography

Action Research - participation, interview and even collaboration with subject?

Performative Street Photography? Marriage and dialogue with other existing

media? Electronic Surveillance Devices? Sound-based Street Photography? Digital Street Photography - but not in the

form of digital touch-ups? Anything Else?