Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/22

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Subject: Re: [Leica] "Quick" DOF calculation
From: Martin Howard <howard.390@osu.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 20:19:54 -0400

Bmceowen@aol.com jotted down the following:

> I looked at this site. I'm actually surprised you're calling it "street
> photography." Even the section titled "street" doesn't seem to fit the genre
> -- or at least my stereotypical view of the genre. There are hardly any
> tilted horizons of anynomous people streaming by the camera or photos of
> people's backs. In fact, a lot of what's here seemed to be multiple photos of
> the same person -- which implies permission and actually working the
> situation -- far from typical "street" photography.
>

Well, the conclusion I draw from that is that perhaps you need to rethink
what you consider street photography.  As it is, it almost appears as though
you equate "street photography" with "tilted horizon" and "shot from
behind".  A rather narrow definition, in my view.

My personal interpretation of street photography is that is shows life in
public places and is unstaged.  I would not exclude portraits of people in
their working or leisure environments who are fully aware of the
photographer.  I see no reason why pictures without tilted frames couldn't
be street photography, just like I see no reason why vertical panoramics
can't be considered panoramic photography, or why landscapes taken with a
tilted frame shouldn't be considered landscape photography.

M.

- -- 
Martin Howard                     |
Visiting Scholar, CSEL, OSU       |     It is essentially contestable.
email: howard.390@osu.edu         |
www: http://mvhoward.i.am/        +---------------------------------------