6 Street Photographers
I chose this Philip-Lorca Dicorcia photograph, Naples, because of the interesting techniques he uses in shooting these everyday urban settings. His seemingly normal urban scenes have a somewhat surreal quality to them produced by the use of lighting. In this series of street photographs Dicorcia actually has a great deal of control over the setting as he sets up various external light sources, which produce this surreal feeling. Dicorcia also has hired professional actors to pose in photos, which grants him even further control over the final product.
The second street photograph I chose is from Bruce Davidson’s subway series. Davidson is one of the most influential and best known documentary photographers. I choose this powerful photograph because it is a very extreme example of an terrifying scene on the public transit system in New York City. I’ve found it quite difficult and awkward just to capture images of strangers in mundane situations, I can’t imagine the courage it took for Davidson to capture this violent scene. The man with the gun is clearly pissed off, so whats to stop him from attacking the guy who is pointing a camera in his face documenting him committing a violent armed crime? However he managed to find himself in this situation and stand his ground to capture this energetic photo is a mystery to me. This is an incredible shot and similar to many of his photos it leaves yearning to know what has caused this moment and what will happen next.
Markus Hartel has a unique talent for capturing everyday nuances, reflections of real life. I chose this photo because of the beautiful use of implied line through the veiwing direction of the kids playing in the street. The most prominent figure on the bicycle appears to be looking at the child dashing through the open water. Next, the figure who quite sunken into the shadows standing behind the fire hydrant also seems to be looking at the child running through the water. The eye focus on the central child running through the water creates a very interesting layering effect within the photo. The figures seem to be separated into three different plains
I chose this Steven Write photo because its amazing ability to capture symmetrical spontaneous movement in different within different plains. The photo captures three people moving in the same direction all carrying umbrellas over their heads. This photo is an example of the technique of framing an ideal photo setting and then waiting for the subjects to appear and align in an interesting manner.
Garry Winogrand
Walker Evans
