Street Photography

[Andrew]

As I spend more time walking or cycling around with my camera - I find myself looking at scenes in urban areas and wondering what constitutes street photography as opposed to just plain documentary photography?

I find the lines seem to be blurring quite a lot nowadays, heck you can even throw in city and architecture and urban exploration just to confuse matters 

[Beaux Reflets]

I personally think Street Photography is about documenting "signs of the times" - Street fashion that records what it was / is like during a particular generation.

This would include, Object Art, Dress codes, and Social Behaviour; whether shots are taken in urban areas or beach hut communes, indoor or outdoor the category is very broad.

[Reinardina]

People in public spaces. But not always, as sometimes you see something where there are no people, but that would fit, in my opinion, in the street photography category. In general I think, people should not be posing, but then again, if you get a group of teenagers, pulling faces for the camera, that would fit.

Not sure whether I personally see a difference between documentary and street photography.

I am trying to get the hang of it; trying to find a 'story,' in a picture, rather than just 'people in the street.' Very often get it wrong and just shoot people.

I do like the idea of documenting things like fashion, behaviour and atmosphere. A lot of old (urban and countryside) photographs, seem 'just people in a street/farmyard,' but for me they are interesting because of the clothes, the vehicles/machinery, attitude etc. A glimpse into the past. And I think, even 'boring' photos taken today, may have the same appeal in twenty/thirty years time.

Do I sound confused? Well, I am!

Here's one of mine. There are more in my 'People' gallery, and in my 'Street and candids' set on Flickr.

[oggalily]

Wouldn't documentary photography be aimed at capturing newsworthy events?  Or is that reportage?  To me a good street photo needs to convey a backstory, as Reinardina suggests, but this could be open to interpretation by the viewer; moreso than a documentary photo that would accompany a news story.

[Reinardina]

Documentary? Reportage? I don't know, but this one I took yesterday.

[Beaux Reflets]

Documentary? Reportage? I don't know, but this one I took yesterday.

Council worker keels over when he realises his Green machine isn't really blushing!

[Oldboy]

Street photography is going out and taking a photo of what you see or photos on the hoof so to speak. Documentary is where you decide beforehand what is the subject/theme of the series of photos you will be taking. Reportage is a photo of an event to show what is going on. So,for example, Reinardina's photo of the street cleaning machine could be Documentary if she went out to take photos of different street cleaning machines. It would be Reportage if it shows the event like cleaning up the rubbish after a busy Saturday night. As she walked by she spotted the chap kneeling in front of the machine, so this picture is street photography as it's taken on the hoof. 

[Reinardina]

To me, this is street photography, but as it documents the break down of a machine, and the man trying to fix it (I have photos of this too), it is probably documentary/reportage as well.

And talking about blushing, I see the photo is quite red. Had to edit on my steam powered Vista laptop, as I now have a loan laptop from JL without photo software. Didn't spot the colour till after I uploaded it.

[Beaux Reflets]

To me, this is street photography, but as it documents the break down of a machine, and the man trying to fix it (I have photos of this too), it is probably documentary/reportage as well.

And talking about blushing, I see the photo is quite red. Had to edit on my steam powered Vista laptop, as I now have a loan laptop from JL without photo software. Didn't spot the colour till after I uploaded it.

I love the Hue, it helps to emphasise the odd coloured 'GreenMachine'   

[Reinardina]

To me, this is street photography, but as it documents the break down of a machine, and the man trying to fix it (I have photos of this too), it is probably documentary/reportage as well.

And talking about blushing, I see the photo is quite red. Had to edit on my steam powered Vista laptop, as I now have a loan laptop from JL without photo software. Didn't spot the colour till after I uploaded it.

I love the Hue, it helps to emphasise the odd coloured 'GreenMachine'   

It is so odd, it makes the concrete blush!

[Beaux Reflets]

To me, this is street photography, but as it documents the break down of a machine, and the man trying to fix it (I have photos of this too), it is probably documentary/reportage as well.

And talking about blushing, I see the photo is quite red. Had to edit on my steam powered Vista laptop, as I now have a loan laptop from JL without photo software. Didn't spot the colour till after I uploaded it.

I love the Hue, it helps to emphasise the odd coloured 'GreenMachine'   

It is so odd, it makes the concrete blush!

Almost BubbleGum pink  I hate the stuff especially when stuck to my shoes  which is perhaps another reason the picture works for me