> > > On 22/3/08, Godfrey DiGiorgi, discombobulated, unleashed: > > > >> From a visit and walk in San Francisco ... > >> > >>http://homepage.mac.com/godders/44-wviews.jpg > >>Over Lunch - This Cafe Life 2008 > >>Olympus E-1 + Summilux-D 25mm f/1.4 ASPH > >>ISO 400 @ f/5.6 @ 1/200 sec > >> > >>Comments and critique always appreciated. > > > > > > I rather like that one. > > Ok, it's time for me to be educated. > Most of the street photography that is posted, I just don't > get. Some of us are seeing wonderful > images, I'm seeing crap. > Since many of the people who like and shoot this sort of work > are people who's knowledge I have > a lot of respect for, I have to presume that my education is lacking. > So, what is it that makes a street grabshot good? What are > the necessary elements to make it > succesful? > > I thank you in advance for your time and patience in > explaining this to me. >
The Hungarians, who are all aliens, invented street photography and looked for 'little moments'. It is the instantaneous recognition, to paraphrase HCB, of the shapes, light, composition and event in a way that reveals something interesting about the way the world is. Discussions about it usually sound pretentious and arty-farty, but I will take the risk and compare it with poetry. At its best it distills a huge amount of meaning into a small form which resonates and operates on several levels simultaneously. Not all street photography is good, however. The problem is that most of it is crap, but has become surrounded by a lot of Pseuds' Corner-ish nonsense. Often it draws extreme reactions, from 'the Emperor has no clothes on' (usually true) to 'the Emperor's every fart smells like Chanel No. 5' (never true - a fart always smells like Chanel number twos). There are a lot of good things about Godfrey's picture, but in the end I don't think it quite works because of the man coming in from the right. I do like the visual echo between the big globe thing and the logo on the menus outside. I also like the empty space and the empty chairs, and the rhythm of the menu cards against each other and their reflections. The woman on the left seems to be aware of the camera and that for me also distracts somewhat; had she seemed unaware then the 3 different expressions of the main people would have been a considerable boost, each in their own world. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
