A Warm Smile

            When photographing people that I meet on the streets and in other public places I confess to a certain unease. When does photographing people from within the well established traditions of the genres encompassing street photography, environmental portraiture, social documentation, and, for that matter, editorial, cross over to voyeurism? This is and has been a genuine concern of mine. I have resolved this conflict, for the moment at least, with a personal understanding that, so long as the dignity of the subjects of the photographs is respected, and the photograph is somehow compelling and evokes human emotion, there is value in the sharing.

            Often it is not possible for me to capture a candid image. The subjects will notice that they are being framed into a photograph and react. In these situations I will, through word or gesture, request their permission to take the photograph. Whenever this happens the image that I wanted to capture initially is lost forever. This is often unfortunate, but, it is not always a bad thing. The resulting photograph is typically closer to an environmental portrait than a street photograph. Nevertheless, it can still be compelling in evoking human emotion. Whether candid or not, I am comfortable with sharing the photograph so long as the dignity of the subject feels to me as if it is being respected. I do admit to having some photographs that, given this requirement, I have no intention of sharing.

            A Warm Smile (click on the photograph title and click on the plus sign in the upper right corner for a large view of the photograph) is not candid in that it is apparent that the subject is aware the he is being photographed. This photograph is from a project that involved photographing the food trucks and trailers that inhabit parking spaces in downtown Portland, Oregon. I may occasionally be wrong about this, but I like to think that, so long as I am respecting the dignity of the subjects that I am photographing in the public places, most of them will react like this subject ... warmly! There have been some exceptions, but, in general, this line of thinking has served me well.

            What do you think? Where do you stand on the concept of photographing people in public places?      

Waiting for Work

               I immediately found this street scene in Wuhan, China, to be compelling, and wanted to make a photograph of it without attracting too much attention to myself in the process, lest a subject of the photograph might object. As a result, I spent quite a bit of time at this intersection before I trained my camera on this particular scene. By the time I made this photograph the men in the scene had lost interest in me. As a result they had returned to their waiting ... Waiting for Work. One man is a bike messenger and another is a messenger on a motorcycle. Most, however, have simple, old fashioned by U. S. standards, bow saws. These saws are used for cutting the bamboo poles that are widely used for scaffolding on construction projects in China. One man is wiping his brow and others have pant legs or shirts rolled up ... a testament to the heat and humidity of the day. Still another man is revealing a bit of personality as he hikes his pants up. With modern China rising all around these men, they are doing what they must to get by from day-to-day ... which, thereby, adds a social documentation element to this street photograph.

               This is another entry in my long term, ongoing, With People project. I'd love to hear your thoughts about photographing people in public places.   

Melon Sellers, Shanghai, 2008

               This is my second blog post on the topic of my With People project.

               During an early morning walk, in an older neighborhood in Shanghai, I passed these two ladies. Using gestures, I asked if I could take a photograph of them. They blushed and seemed flattered, but they indicated with gestures of their own that they did not want their photograph taken. My practice is to always honor such requests. Later that morning, on my way back through the neighborhood, I saw the ladies again. We recognized one another. I again indicated that I would like to take their photograph. This time, they hesitated briefly, then they agreed. They posed for this photograph behind their baskets of melons. The lady on the right held up her hand and asked me to wait before I took the photograph. She then buttoned the top button on her blouse. They were as dignified as they were gracious.

               I place this photograph within the genre of environmental portraiture. Nevertheless, as is often the case when it comes to photographs "with people", the lines between the genres involving the photographing of people get blurred. The people that I encountered in these older neighborhoods mostly were people who were working hard to get by from day-to-day. The baskets full of melons represented the way that these ladies were getting by. Where were they going with them? Perhaps they planned to sell them from where they were. What will they do if they don't sell them? Modern China was just around the corner. Some people were clearly doing well in modern China, but, for many of the people that I encountered in the older neighborhoods ... getting by did not seem to be so easy. Thus, the line was blurred, the photograph is an example of an environmental portrait, however, there is also a element of social documentation present. This is another example of why I have decided to call this long term project of mine With People.

               What are your thoughts about photographing people that you meet on the street? Have you ever done it? Perhaps it has never occurred to you to do such a thing. My interest in this type of photography was influenced by the art of painters like Edward Hopper and photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Willy Ronis.  

Custom Ride, Florence, Italy

               There are 3 genres of photography that I'm drawn to which have one thing in common, specifically, they all involve photographs "with people". One genre is street photography. Recently a treasure trove of compelling street photographs by an unknown and deceased photographer came to light. The photographers name is Vivian Maier. She began photographing in the 1950s and continued into the 1990s. Street photographs tend to be candid. The subjects most often are not aware of the photographer. Other masters of this genre whose work I've admired include Henri Cartier-Bresson and Willy Ronis.

               A second genre that often involves photographing people is social documentary photography. This typically involves photographs from projects which depict social conditions of unempowered people. These projects are often driven by a desire to motivate sociopolitical changes in society that will result in improved conditions for the afflicted subjects of the photographs. The photographs of Dorothea Lange and Jacob Riis provide well known exemplars of social documentary photography.

               A third genre of photography "with people" is environmental portraiture. The subjects of photographs in this genre are people encountered in their natural environment. Often the background of the photograph is intended to communicate something about the essence of the person who is the subject of the photograph. The photograph's subjects are often posed. Phil Borges and Suzi Moore McGregor are contemporary photographers who make compelling environmental portraits. 

               I'm currently turning my attention to a project that I've titled, With People. This title reflects the blurring of the line between the three genres. Some photographs in the project belong clearly to one or another of these genres. For others, however, the particular genre is less clear.

               Upon viewing Custom Ride, Florence, a viewer might conclude that it is an example of a candid scene characteristic of street photography. In reality, however, it is more of an environmental portrait. The man on the bike saw that I wanted a photograph. He performed a U-turn to allow me to make this photograph. His U-turn attracted the attention of the onlookers. The photograph is not candid, which is a characteristic of most street photographs, but it does have a subject and, of course, his dog, in their natural environment, which, of course, is the style of environmental portraiture. There is much more to be said about With People going forward.
  

                  
               The With People project will be revealed gradually in the months and years ahead.

           Your reflections about and/or preferences for these three genres of photography, and about the photographers who were mentioned, are invited here. I'd like to know what you think!

A colleague, who is well known and widely respected in his field for a lifetime of accomplishments, once told me that he experienced a strong emotional response when he was in the presence of Michelangelo's David in Florence, Italy. It was, he said, the closest he had ever been to human created perfection. Alas, perfection is perhaps something that is more approachable than achievable by mortals. 

The pursuit of technical perfection in photography is indeed a worthy endeavor. Some photographers demand near technical perfection in a photograph before they will consider sharing it with others. Most would agree, however, that near technical perfection in a photograph is but one characteristic among many that will ultimately determine whether or not a particular viewer will find the photograph to be somehow compelling. It has been important for me to have a conceptual understanding of what I consider to be technical perfection in a photograph. My conceptual understanding of technical perfection may differ from that of other photographers. Nevertheless, my conceptual understanding gave me a target. Striving to approach this target was important to my development as a photographer. I've come to understand that approaching technical perfection in photography is not an end, rather, it is but a jumping off place. I'll have more to say about this in future blog postings.

Under what conditions do you find that approaching technical perfection in photographs is or is  not important? 

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