STOP KILLING STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Show me an enthusiast and I’ll show you an opinionated person. That’s the nature of an enthusiast. It doesn’t matter what their chosen field of endeavour might be. It doesn’t matter if they are guitar players, bicyclists, coffee lovers, cupcake makers, card-carrying party member or whatever. Enthusiasts will have strong opinions. Photographers, too, are no exception to the rule. However, before you start vigorously swinging your tripods and chasing me on the streets with the intent of doing me grievous bodily harm, let me first say that being opinionated is not necessarily a bad thing. It might be annoying, but it isn’t necessarily bad.

Here, I’ll be talking about a wildly popular genre of photography: street photography. I will try to explain what the experts think it is, why it’s so popular and how street photography might end-up killing itself. This is relevant simply because it will hopefully help us became better (street) photographers.

First let’s look at demographics. Easily sixty per cent of Malaysians live in urban and suburban areas. So, statistically speaking, if you happen to be a photography enthusiast there is a three in five chance you’d be an urban-dweller. As such, what would be the natural environment for your photographic pursuits? Yup, it would be the city streets simply because it will more convenient to you. Thus, it is likely that sixty per cent of photographers will turn out to be street photographers. There is nothing wrong with this. It’s just demographics.

Now let’s look at what the experts think street photography might be. To paraphrase the experts, street photography is any photograph taken in a public place that captures people in candid situations. So far, so good. But that’s only a starting point – a working definition.

Over the years, many have added to this. For example, street photography means never shooting the subject from the back. Street photography isn’t about shooting homeless people. Street photography is about using only natural light. Real street photographers never post-process their images. Real street photographers shoot only in black-and-white. The list goes on blah, blah, blah…

Now here comes the spanner in the works. For every single rule in street photography, there will be one that advocates its diametric opposite. It is OK to shoot the subject’s back if it conveys the desired effect. It’s OK to shoot homeless people if done tastefully. It is OK to shoot in colour because Vivian Maier also occasionally shoots in colours. It is OK not to have people in the photo of it strongly depicts the spirit of the streets. The list goes on. For every rule there is always a counter-rule. The only one remaining common ground seems to be that the photo must be taken in a public place. Then again, we don’t know how long this rule will survive.

The problem here becomes, if we take into consideration all of street photography’s rules and counter-rules, the genre becomes so nebulous that the genre ends up becoming meaningless. In theory, at least, a nude portrait (obviously posed, not candid) shot in a secluded part of the Lake gardens using a barrage of remotely triggered strobes and then extensively photoshopped to include a few Star Wars storm-troopers might just qualify as street photography. Obviously, this is a ridiculous outcome. However, it is still street photography because it has taken into account all the rules and counter-rules.

The ‘No rule is the rule’ maxim might work for Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, but for street photography, a free-for-all, no-holds-barred melee will take it back full circle to plain old photography. The ‘I-will-shoot-whatever-I-want-in any-manner-I-want-as-long-as-it-is-in-a-public-place’ school of thought might be seductive, but it should not legitimately be called street photography. Not too long ago it was simply called photography. This is why the ‘street-photography-is-whatever-I-choose-it-to be’ philosophy will be the genre’s own undoing. This anything-goes mindset will eventually obliterate the genre’s credibility. It will be shame because street photography is such a vibrant and exciting genre.

Where to now? Personally, I think it all boils down to discipline. Yes, the anything-goes approach is seductive. But so are designer drugs, mindless spending and free sex. The way to go is perhaps to choose three or four established rules of street photography and stick to that until we’ve built a substantive body of work that feature those rules. After that, move on to other rules, maybe incorporate a counter rule or two and then build another body of work based on that. By doing this we will establish credibility for the genre, and at the same time turn it into a credible discipline – the art form that street photography deserves to be. Who knows? This might even turn street photography into a paying proposition.

I know, rules suck. However, I think we’ve established that having no rules suck even worse.

If you still want to take a swing at me with your tripod, I can usually be found shooting outside my home in Umbai, Melaka with my trusty Fuji X100.