POST 10: Into a street photographer's mind

Remember back in high school where everybody had their own opinions on something but nobody ever got the courage to shout it out. Everybody was hiding their feelings until one precise moment, when a person asks the right question. Suddenly one's opinion could start a controversy, an argument, a debate about the specific topic. One must ask to know another one's perspective.

To be able to know more information about street photographers and why they practice this art, Interviewers ask very intelligent and specific questions. Romulo Avendano, a Venezuelan street photographer, was interviewed by someone who uses the username "Will" on the website www.photoswarm.com.

Here is a few questions Romulo was asked followed by his answers.:



1.Much of your work is street photography, what drove you in this direction?

"I’m driven by the adrenaline that I feel whilst I’m in the street looking through my lens. I find I can get past language barriers, ignore fears and overlook concerns just to get the image I’m looking for."



This is what most street photographers call their motivation, the feeling of taking a picture with their equipment at risk. Not to mention themselves.  They also think about the reaction of their subject (if they are human).



2.Have you ever offended anybody or found yourself in a sticky situation because of street photography?

"One thing I learned early on in my studies is to be very careful with my camera. It’s very easy to unintentionally cause a negative reaction in the people you’re hoping to photograph and I understand that not everyone wants to be photographed – and nor do photographers have a license to invade their space!" 

Like Romulo, he experiences problems with the public especially regarding one's privacy. The knowledge that one may intimidate another with all the equipment that a photographer's holding may cause a violent reaction, or a great moment has passed. Though most photographers worry about what their subject may do if they take a picture of some random person on the street.


Despite the problems that street photography have, It would be easy and fun. But then it wouldn't be called street photography. The information on this post may serve as a guide or may be an inspiration to others that everybody encounters problems with what they love to do. Of course Romulo is a well known photographer, but his human subjects are not professionals when it comes to candid photographs.

And so we can say that learning from another person is best.





The interview of Romulo Avendano by Will is located here : http://www.photoswarm.com/blog/interview-street-photographer-romulo-avendano/


Romulo Avendano's work: http://www.romulex.com/images/india

All images used are from Romulo Avendano

POST 9 : Privacy ? We are never alone.

Normally, posts from this blog would contain a random story or a paragraph that is not very related to the main topic. This post is special, the topic to be discussed here is an issue that most people does not realize. It may seem to be unimportant or it may not be an issue when it is summarized into a few words but when it is talked about, it becomes a global problem.

PRIVACY is what this post shall talk about. As said, it will not be as controversial as other issues so let us proceed. Massimo Calabresi wrote an article about privacy and why is this a huge problem for the people.

" On Jan. 23, the court said the FBI violated the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure when it used global-positioning-system signals to track a suspected drug dealer for four weeks without a valid warrant, even though the cops monitored only where the suspect went on public streets. Thanks to that decision, for the first time in American history there is now a legal right to privacy in public."

This merely represented how unprivate our lives are. Is one never really at a private place ? A further (and may be unnecessary ) knowledge about privacy issues is the surveillance cameras inside ladies' dressing rooms. Emphasizing on LADIES because most targets of privacy criminals are women. Just google the words "surveillance" and "Dressing rooms" has tons of results that they exist. Even in public restrooms.



"In a pending case from Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether the police have the right to search, without a warrant, historical data from cell-phone companies showing the movements of phones' owners."

 Massimo Calabresi posted his article on the 12th of march, 2012 and probably the pending case as shown above probably happened a few years before Massimo could write the article. What if some phones are actually being tracked right this moment ? That's a major violation of someone's privacy. Nobody would ever feel safe anymore.


Although everything seems to sound negative because of the hidden cameras in suspicious places and unwanted searches of one's location. But what if the government is doing this for the sake of everybody's safety? This act may have saved thousands of lives and we would not know any of it because it is also done privately so criminals would not have a clue either.

It is like Newton's 3rd law of motion, "For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction". Relating this to what the government is doing, They probably do such acts to chase drug dealers or terrorists but then some people abuse this kind of power and use it for themselves. It may be scary, but it may have saved your life once.





All quotations are from Massimo calabresi's article : Privacy in public

POST 8 : Problems with street photography

uncyclopedia.wikia.com

People often say, "The past is the past" or "Forget the past" but they don't realize how many things the past can teach for a better future or a more relaxed present. As a photographer, the past is the ultimate guide in getting a great photo. A scene repeats itself , a bird or an insect will always pass by a certain area in intervals. The past is an important tool for the future.

Garry Winogrand [ boerner.net]

The same aspect goes for determining problems with photography, particularly street photography. The world was once walked by a great man named Garry Winogrand, who is well known in taking street photographs. Without him, street photographers today wouldn't notice how offensive or misused.

The article written by Sean O'hagan which is entitled " Why street photography is facing a moment of truth" . The article sort of compared the street photography in the 60's until the 70's and street photography in the modern times . The article considered surveillance as a type of street photography as it captures the moments happening on the streets or alleys and giving people less privacy. BUT from the past blog posts, mentioned there are some rights that says that this surveillance is not suppose to be an issue. It states that a photographer may photograph anything at anytime as long as it is public including people.

"Today, photography – and street photography in particular – is a contested sphere in which all our collective anxieties converge: terrorism, paedophilia, intrusion, surveillance. We insist on the right to privacy and, simultaneously, snap anything and everyone we see and everything we do – in public and in private – on mobile phones and digital cameras." - Sean O'hagan , Why street photography is facing a moment of truth

globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com

In the article, there is a scene mentioned where the Home office minister responded to a query from a photographer. The minister thoroughly explained how these surveillance works and also that it is not the people that they are watching but instead they are looking over the local officers and such. Here is a part from the response from The Home office minister:

"It is for the Chief Constable to ensure that officers and police community support officers are acting appropriately with regards to photography in public places, and any queries regarding this should be addressed to the Chief Constable"


The article has a lot of information about these kind of facts. It gives the reader both positive and negative influences regarding street photography. If you want to read more about Sean Hagan's article, here is The Link

by Gary Winogrand

When talking about problems with street photography, It is not only the act of taking pictures of the public for a living but it is also related to the government installing CCTV cameras all over the place. Both examples may cause disturbance and uncomfortable reactions because the public knows that there is someone watching them and that would not be acceptable at some point. These things are not really the problem, but sometimes it is how the public react to this kind of practice. As a few may say, "It is only a problem when somebody makes a problem out of it".