Thursday, February 14, 2013

Examples Of Famous Street Photographers

By Paula Barron


In the 1930s Kodak invented the 35mm film format, which gave rise to smaller cameras, that allowed people to shoot from the hip and take many photographs without having to change film. This revolution gave rise to the street photographer and arguably the first and most successful was Henri Carier Bresson. Cartier Bresson chased the decisive moment and spawn further famous street photographers, such as Garry Winogrand, William Klein, Robert Frank, Joel Mayrowitz and William Eggleston.

Prior to the invention of 35mm rollfilm, cameras were huge and unwieldy. They were usually 4x5 plate and press cameras, and it was difficult to capture moments without blurring subjects. However, the Now York photographer known a Wegee The Famous managed to use a Speed Graphic 4x5 press camera to amazing effect. Weegee is famous for capturing crime scenes in New York City as they happened, he owned a police radio and had a gift for always being at the right moment at the right time. As a photo-journalist he became legend.

Due to this new smaller format and smaller cameras, many young photographers began to to use the street as a source of inspiration. The images they produced were hip, challenging and sometimes very dark and disturbing. Henri Carier Bresson could be considered the first to really utilize this new format, and is now considered to me the godfather of street photography.

Robert Frank produced a seminal photo-book titled "The Americans". He took a road trip across America to document and photograph the country and its culture. The finished work was less than favorable portraits of US culture. Symbolism is carefully woven into his photographs, such as crosses and American flags, and the book tells a story about juke-boxes, cigars, Diners, Gas Stations and Americana. The book did not do well, as Frank was Swiss and many considered his view of America insulting. But the book has since become one of the most important photo-books ever produced.

One of the most important street photographers during the 1960s was William Klein. This New York City based photographers had a highly energetic and anarchic style, that reveals a darker side of New York City. Garry Winogrand was also very important; he was also New York based and is famous for his many photographs of the Central Park and Bronx zoos, where he took disturbing images.

The majority of street photographers up until the 1960s shot in black and white, as this was considered more artistic. However; photographers in the 1970s began to experiment with color, this was initially frowned upon by the artistic community of the time.

Joel Mayrowitz and William Eggleston used color in street photography, Joel Mayrowitz believed in presenting the world in as much detail as possible and so wanted to shoot in color. He also turned to large format 8x10 inch cameras in order to capture as much detail as possible.

The photographer William Eggleston took color images of the American South. His subjects would normally be considered boring and mundane, but he shot in such as way that he made them look beautiful and artistic. He is considered to be one of the most important famous street photographers of all time.




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