Rambling With Resnick

Rambling With Resnick

Resnick's Guide to Street Photography

It really should be called "sidewalk" photography, since most photos in the genre are made on or near a sidewalk. I've been a street photographer since 1977, when I took an intense two-week workshop with Garry Winogrand. Most of the tens of thousands of images I've made in "street" photography mode have been taken on concrete, not asphalt. Street photography, by my definition, would be photos taken from cars.

During my tenure running B&W World, many people have asked me how they could become a successful street photographer. Since "successful street photographer" is an oxymoron (financially, that is), I assume they have already explored the ethical issues (is it rude to take pictures of a total stranger? Or, even more ominous, are you stealing their soul?) and simply want to know about street (sidewalk) shooting strategies and other nuts and bolts issues. Far be it for me to deny them this vital info.

Here are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for a bucolic life as a street photographer:

1. Walk around a city street aimlessly, pointing at people 3-4 feet away and making clicking sounds. They may look at you funny or say "why are you pointing at me?" or make rude remarks. Smile back, look over their shoulder, as if you were pointing at something else, or just ignore them. When this seems so natural you don't notice it any more and you're not aware of their reactions, you are ready to replace that pointing finger with a camera.

2. Go to the bank. Withdraw $50. In singles. Walk down a street and toss the money away, one dollar at a time. When this doesn't bother you, you are ready buy, use and process large quantities of film.

3. Stand on a sidewalk during lunch hour, smiling at everyone but watching them very closely. When this doesn't bother you, you are ready to spend your lunch hours taking pictures (after all, lunch hour is when the most sidewalk action is happening).

4. Quit your job in the suburbs and get one downtown. After all, who takes good street photos in suburbia?

5. Cut out a picture of a Leica M-series camera. Put it someplace obvious. Drool at it daily for a few months. Then get financing and buy one.

6. Take all the food out of your freezer. Replace it with Tri-X or HP-5 Plus. Take out ten rolls a day, and use them all. (Eat the food before it rots.)

7. Write down three practical reasons to be a street photographer. When you don't get past reason #1, give it up and just go shoot. This may not prepare you for anything, but at least it will help you realize that creativity is irrational.

8. Buy The Decisive Moment, by Henri Cartier-Bresson (if you can find it--good luck), The Americans by Robert Frank, Figments from the Real World by Garry Winogrand and Personal Exposures by Elliott Erwitt. Look at the photos until the binding breaks. Get 'em re-bound. Keep looking.

9. When asked what you would consider the perfect getaway, say "a week alone in a darkroom" and mean it.

10. Constantly ask yourself, "what the heck would what I'm looking at look like framed, still, two-dimensional, in black and white"? If the search for an answer gets your heart pumping, makes your throat dry and you become kind of gooey inside, it's love. Don't fight it. Take out that Leica M that you're still paying off and start shooting.

The readers respond!

Praise!

When I read the blurb "At last! Resnick's long-awaited definitive guide to street photography", I jumped with joy. Of all the photographic genres, this is definately the one that grabs my attention the most. I was really looking forward to reading an insightful article that could provide me with some guidelines, point out some of the major pitfalls, and perhaps offer some advice for the novice. Instead I find this supposedly comical nonsense, which is of absolutely no use whatsoever, with the possible exception of the book recommendations (which is not advice, only referral).

Now, please do your readers a service and publish what you initially advertised : the straight version.

Mason Responds: I'm sorry my guide to street photography didn't meet your expectations, but if you've ever studied with a real street photographer, you'd know that it's almost impossible to get a straight answer from them about what they do.

I was just following a well-established tradition of obfuscation.

Seriously, the only way to learn street photography, IMHO, is to follow a master street photographer like Elliott Erwitt or Lee Friedlander and watch them shoot to learn their technique firsthand. Look at a lot of good work, and shoot constantly. That's the straight version. Can't make much of an article out of that (although I'm sure some critics who don't take pictures could find a way).

About the author: Mason Resnick is the editor and publisher of Black & White World and believes the most useful camera accessory is film and the best way to learn photography is to use it. He can be emailed at bwworld@mindspring.com.