History of Street Photography 2

Garry Winogrand

Winogrand (1928-1984) known for his portrayal of American life in the early 1960s. At the time of his death in 1984, he left more than 2,500 undeveloped rolls of film. 6,500 rolls of that had been developed but not contact/printed and 300 apparently untouched, unedited contact sheets (lots and lots of film) I find this really odd, I wouldn’t have been able to keep undeveloped film. I’m a curious person so when I shoot just one roll of film I’m eager to develop it, even in the developing stage I’m always trying to peek at my film. It’s really odd, I mean wouldn’t you as a photographer want to see how your shoot went and how your photographs look? 

He photographed, he said, 'to see what the world would look like in photographs'.

I find Winogrands work very sophisticated, his subjects are always dressed nicely, the composition is always perfect as well as the contrast. I read that he was fond of visual puns which you can see in some of his work (who doesn’t like a pun here and there?).

You can tell just by the amount of film taken, that Winogrand was passionate about photography. In some ways he reminds me of Bruce Gilden, the way he's up close to his subjects and surrounds himself with what’s going on around him, he’s in the action and not just standing on the side lines. 

I enjoy looking at Winogrands images (especially his visual puns). Although I find him a little odd he does produce good images. 

 Bruce Gilden

Gilden (1946) who is a well-known Street Photographer and is mesmerized by the unique energy of the streets often calling them his 'second home'.

What sets Gilden apart from other photographers is his ability to see and capture the essence of a character, a place or a moment something learned by years of walking the street with his eyes wide open.

Gildens way of working is very..... Well it's interesting, I don’t think he believes in personal space. He’s very forward, a strong believer of his rights and isn't afraid to get in the action. I don’t think I could do what he does, I’d be too nervous and probably too scared to even get that close to my subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIWW6vwrvM

 

As you can see Gilden uses flash, I think that has a big impact on the facial features of his subjects, I don’t think he would archive them if he didn’t use one. It adds to the element of surprise.

Gilden has published many books on his work like after the off which explores Ireland and its passion for horseracing, Haiti resulting Gilden to return to the country nineteen times, when arriving there he said ‘where have I been?’ . The country must have attracted Gilden, The work he produced for this book is quite different to his previous work not a great deal different he still uses the flash but he doesn’t concentrate on one subject more of small groups. They look more aggressive as well, where as his work in New York the subjects are just surprised.     

  .

Gilden is without a doubt a great photographer, although his approach to his subjects is quite forward and invades there 'bubble' of personal space. But i think if he didn’t have the courage to do this he wouldn’t have been able to capture the perfect scenes or the surprised expressions. You can capture a great street scene on the side lines but as you can see with Gildens work the closer you are the more you feel like you’re there, like you’re the one standing in front of the subject. Through looking at Gildens work I’ve come to understand Street Photography more in a way, he’s shown me that (although it’s scary) it’s probably better to get in the action, to make my photos have that street feel to it. I’m definitely excited to work more with the Street Photography genre of photography and experiment more with it. I think it’s a great way to help with confidence and also people.

Lee Friedlander

Friedlander (1934) is an American photographer who photographed the American social landscape in 1948. Friedlander has captured many humours images and worked with shadows and reflections among the chaos of city life, he is also recognized for a group of self-portraits he began in the 1960s.

Friedlander has a passion for jazz as well as photography and says that after photography, jazz is his second largest passion in life.

Friedlander also did a series of images called America by Car where he basically went to find America in his rental car. But instead of getting out of his car he instead used the side view mirror, rear view mirror, the windshield, and the side windows as picture frames to capture his images. Like Umbo Friedlander is a creative photographer, he uses a very different style of photography that is unique and also appealing to the eye.