street photography wesley tang/ sm2221/ 2004.11.02
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Street Photography Wesley 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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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?