Street photography

Street photography reflects the interaction of humans with their environment in a routine context. The possibilities to practice this type of photography can be anywhere, it is not necessary to look for specific “scenarios” for it, although it is true that we could easily fall into a stagnation if it were our own environment, that is why it is important to exercise observation to be aware and find the impressive within the routine. Many times we believe that in a different city it would be easier to find the photograph, but it is more important to find it wherever we are, experiment with other points of view, play with shadows, patterns, colors, reflections, there is always something new to try to find that photograph of impact.

The main problem when practicing street photography is often not knowing how to recognize what is street photography. We must remember that its main ingredient is spontaneity and naturalness, a framing that is undoubtedly careful and planned but with an action that is not in our control.

The history of street photography goes hand in hand with the history of photography itself since that experiment by Niépce From the window of his studio he was unconsciously taking a photograph of the street. In the early years of the twentieth century, street photography was being done, the great French photographers portrayed the passage of time and the routine of Paris at the beginning of centuries; equipped with large plate cameras that did not allow much walking, in addition to; due to the sensitivity of the plates, they demanded long exposure times which resulted in large empty streets and beautiful desolate gardens.

The evolution of photographic equipment, film, sensitivities and equipment size have made life easier for street photographers. Our first great friend was undoubtedly the first Leica, a camera introduced in 1923 that was small, versatile and used 135 film. And yes, believe it or not, what we liked most about it was its size and low cost. Another great advance was to leave aside the magnesium powder to use flash lamps, which made the equipment even more portable and safe.

Until the beginning of the 1930s, people had been working on black and white supports, but in this decade everything changed. The appearance of Kodachrome in 1935 and Agfacolor in 1936 brought the possibility of capturing color, undoubtedly a new creative tool.

In New York since the 30's began the boom of street photography, turning this city into the epicenter of the movement and of photography itself. Great characters developed, studied or exhibited in this city, where multiculturalism undoubtedly contributed to the development of photography and the diversity of ways of seeing.

Nowadays it is common to see street photographers in the big cities and cultural capitals of the world. The movement, the large influx of tourists, the busy people, the lights and chaos undoubtedly make these places the favorite spots for street photography, but if we learn to observe any corner is worthy of being photographed, learning to find the unrepeatable in the midst of our daily routine. Now we also have tools that facilitate our activity, with compact, lightweight, technologically advanced equipment, that if the great masters had had at their disposal, surely we would have more to see of them.