Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I hadn't wanted to get into this, but these two posts brought a flood of images to mind. I have on my wall a print that my friend and Leica M photographer Melchior DiGiacomo took in 1980 in Jersey City, NJ. There are several little scenes going on inside this image of kids, families, friends, lovers cooling off in the spray of a fire hydrant. None of the people knew Mel was making the image, but each was probably too caught up in their own little movies to care. It has been published, printed as a postcard, hung in galleries, and I hope seen by many. I've not asked Mel but I doubt he knew any of the people or asked them to sign releases. The cars are dated but the people are universal. We have all seen images made in similar ways, to similar effect. It is street photograpy. It is documenting and interpreting the human condition. It is fine art. Bill Welch At 10:02 PM 9/20/99 -0400, you wrote: > >Jim Brick wrote: >> >> But those of you that "sneak" photographs of other people, or photograph >> other people's children at a playground... what is it that you do with >> these photographs? You cannot publish them, you would neither want to hang >> them on your wall, nor have a slide show. Or would you? >> >Martin wrote: >There is a style of photography that is called `street photography'. I >don't know its correct historical background, but I imagine that it stemmed >out of the earlier styles of photojournalism and photodocumentation which >aimed at capturing some aspect of life at a given point in time. > >... > > >It is not about spying on people, it is about fascination with human >diversity and with documenting the world of today around us.