[Leica] Street Photography: a meme created on the internet

[Lluis Ripoll]

I absolutely agree Mark, most of the things I see in facebook are pure rubbish, sometimes I have to do a certain effort when I want ask them why they have post such things.... I agree about your concept of photojournalism as well that many of the images we see has no content, IMO an image shall communicate/share with the viewer something (emotion, geometry, instant, irony…) but most of the work I see is photography on the streets, as you say, why they don¡t shoot the trees instead than some people walking?. Even HCB has not created the famous word “The Decisive Moment” and he don’t liked talk about it. We life in the World of the “Marketing” …, not real photographers.

Cheers
Lluis



El 02/05/2015, a les 19.06, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> va escriure:

> At the bottom you can click on this
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_street_photographers
> List of street photographers.
> Id like to suggest that on this list of a hundred or so names 99 of them had
> never ever heard the term "street photography" in their life.
> I don't think there is a difference between candid photography and/or
> documentary photographer and this so called "street photography". Which
> doesn't need an urban environment or even people according to this BS
> article. And certainly not streets. I guess you can do street photography of
> trees... As long as you don't pose the squirrels.
> I think street photographers are photojournalist wanabee' s who can't find a
> job or who have never had one in photography.  But they want to feel
> important anyway. Hence the cool sounding title. "I am not just walking
> around the block with a roll of tri x I am doing STREET PHOTOGRAPHY".
> A few tats and a piercing and a beret and an olive army surplus bag to put
> your camera in and you're a street photographer dreaming about the good old
> tri x days.
> Its time to start cutting out the BS. Photography is fun and meaningful
> enough we don't need to just make stuff up and pretend we all belive in it.
> 
> 
> On 5/2/15 12:46 PM, "Mark Rabiner" <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote:
> 
>> I was just looking at the Wiki on "Street Photography."
>> At the top of it is a box with words in it which says:
>> "This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve
>> this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may
>> be challenged and removed. (December 2013)"
>> We see these a lot on Wiki it would seem to be a basic BS alert.
>> In other words caution; what you are about to read was made up off the top of
>> the head of the person writing it. It's meme making.
>> I started shooting Tri X in 1965 and doing and reading everything I could get
>> my hands on on photography and I'm trying to remember the first time I ever
>> heard the term "Street Photography." as it was sure as heck not in the 60's or
>> 70's. And I'm not sure about the 80's or 90's either and my memory is pretty
>> good but I cant remember when I started thinking that.
>> The internet has gotten photo enthusiasts and photographers talking on a level
>> we could not imagine in the Shutterbug 80's. I think the internet hit in the
>> mid 90's. Was that when AOL bit it and we didn't have to pay by the minute any
>> more?
>> I think in the history of "Street Photography" most of the "Street
>> Photographers if you told them they were doing "Street Photography." would
>> look at you like you were nuts they had never heard the term.
>> I think the term came out in the late 90's with chat lists on the internet but
>> I'm looking for other peoples recollection on it. As mine is clouded with
>> decades of me being me.
>> 
>> I'd heard of Atget as being the Bach or Shakespeare or Einstein or Freud of
>> photographers in other words.... The Man. But just the other day I'd heard of
>> him as "the father of street photographers" and as he shot mainly lifeless
>> facades of buildings as I mainly do I found that both invigorating and
>> unnerving.
>> He is mentioned as such in the Wiki thing on so called street photography.
>> I think it may be about the time we draw back the certain on this so called
>> street photography thing (meme) and find out what's really going on. Is it for
>> real or not? Because I think its a classic case of people making up stuff as
>> they go along and calling it history or reality. I'd call it meme making.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_photography
>> I think we need to get in touch with what scientists call their "Baloney
>> Detection kit". An idea I think put together by Carl Sagan.
>> 
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_photography
>> http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Mark William Rabiner
> Photographer
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
> 
> 
> 
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