Monday 24 March 2008

Discussions... the perfect street photographer

Hugo Leglise today wrote:

For me, there's only one interesting point in that argument (tele vs. wide-angle): the paradox that most street photographers want their subjects to be candid and unaware of their presence, while also being as close as possible. Which ends up either in some kind of mystical invisibility cloak, either in plain dissimulation tactics. Add a dose of boyish smile or macho-man ruggedness for the after-taste.

So I guess the perfect street photographer is a mix of Houdini and Harry Potter, with a Robert Redford smile and Hannibal Lecter's looks.


What flavour of photographer are you? I certainly pull the smile in the worst situations, and the bit of confusing smalltalk can perhaps take place.

There goes Henri Cartier-Bresson in action:

4 comments:

Dennis McGuire said...

My god! (Or as HCB might say, mon dieux!) I just heard about this video on an NPR broadcast here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1318621
I wondered if I'd ever see it. Susan Stamberg, the interviewer talks about that little jump that he does, like a ballet dancer. Do you know where I might see the rest of the film? Also, it seems like you'd be the perfect person to ask. I posted a photo on my own blog, that I like, for reasons that I've listed in the post, but I'm not really sure if the picture works in it's entirety. It breaks some rules. If you have time, please have a look: http://lightonsurface.blogspot.com/2008/03/oakland-chinatown.html I'd be curious to know what you think. Thanks.
- Dennis

J. Karanka said...

Hi Dennis. I think you can find it in the third programme of the short BBC series The Genius of Photography. You should be able to find torrents everywhere, but I've not seen it anywhere. I remember that after watching the programme I met up with Maciej Dakowicz and it was like...

- Did you see Cartier-Bresson shooting?
- Yes, it's like if he's dancing.
- Yes, wow. He does that cute thing with his leg, he's having so much fun...

I'll check your blog now.

Steven Wilkinson said...

@dennis: This might get you started.

Steven Wilkinson said...

This one comes in handy:

Deliberate Grace

But I'm really holding out for that magic HCB jacket/scarf combo.