Street portraiture
He urges students in his workshops to think graphically. Los Angeles-based photographer Ibarionex Perello says what he admires about street photographers is their artistry: They take disparate elements and bring them “together in the composition and the frame, building a relationship ” that creates “a really interesting photograph.” There’s a common misconception that street photographers are simply capturing what’s in front of their cameras-that their images are taken rather than made. “I love this idea of presenting a figure that comes with an open-ended narrative.” © Melissa Breyer Methods Melissa Breyer plays with light and shadow, texture and mood. “The city is just so chaotic and crazy and noisy to zero in on single quiet moments feels almost like a necessity for me.” She also likes to find ways to isolate people on the street.
“I love this idea of presenting a figure that comes with an open-ended narrative,” she says. Melissa Breyer, who is based in New York, says her photos are a continuation of her painting, which is focused on portraiture.
And this longing for something-I haven’t even figured out what it is.” New York-based photographer and director An Rong Xu says all his work is driven by “the idea of love and passion.” “My work deals with this sense that I’m always chasing after something, this sense of loneliness and trying to understand my place in this world. I felt a part of something and that was a big motivator,” she says. “I got into great relationships when I was alone. She published images on Tumblr, and connected with other street photographers. Groskopf says she started making street photographs to get out of the house during a year when she felt lost and discouraged. New York-based photographer Joseph Michael Lopez was inspired by Danny Lyons’ book Knave of Hearts, in which he describes “how he grew into a photographer.” From Lyons’ book, Lopez figured out that he needed “to work on knowing who I am, and the only way I was going to figure that out is by throwing myself out in the world.” She also says “hunting” for images is “a very good stress reliever.” While Bacani views her work as a historical record, she says, “I just do it because I love to do it and it’s something that makes me really happy.” You just need a camera and good shoes.” She had a full-time job, and street photography let her hone her skills in her spare time. The root of it is the walking and going out.”īacani says she got into street photography “because it was free. “It doesn’t have to be on the street, it doesn’t have to be peopled, it doesn’t have to be funny, but it can be those things as well. “At the root of it is being somebody who is walking in the world with a camera and using the camera to bring something back from that experience,” says New York-based photographer Gus Powell, who is a member of iN-PUBLiC, a street photography collective. And they also share a dedication to making pictures. Despite the arguments, street photographers all experience similar challenges in creating their work and parlaying it into commissions, exhibitions, print sales and book publications. There are nearly as many opinions about street photography as there are photographers claiming the street as a subject, in other words.
Her use of flash, for instance, and her interactions with subjects has led “these guys of street photography decide I’m not a true street photographer.” Los-Angeles based photographer Michelle Groskopf says the street photography community can be conservative and is “an unadulterated boys club” that tries to exclude photographers based on their styles or even their gender. It’s up to you what you really want to photograph, it’s how you see the world.” But before long, she said “fuck the rules.” What appealed to her about street photography was that it’s “very freeing. At first she thought parameters might be good for her as an emerging photographer. When Hong Kong-based photographer Xyza Cruz Bacani started making street photographs, she read about the subject on social media and saw a lot of arguments about rules, and about the definition of the genre.