Street Scenes 3
- By s1ree1
8th Avenue & 33rd Street
In terms of taking pictures of things, I think we can fairly easily devise a hierarchy for photographic ambitions. When you pick up your camera at home, and look through the viewfinder, you might see your computer keyboard, or maybe some other mundane household object like a lamp. You press the shutter button. “Hey, is this thing on?” Next up might be a selfie or portrait of a significant other or friend. Maybe you point the camera out the window of your apartment or if you live in a house, take it to your backyard.
Flushing, Queens
Street photography is the very next level up from this in terms of ambition. The requirements are essentially go walk down the street from your house to the corner before you press the shutter. So in terms of photographic ambition, between that initial shot of the keyboard or that selfie, and some type of motorized sky tracking astrophotography rig that you haul up a mountain in New Mexico, or building a 1960s set from scratch, lighting it, blocking models and shooting a large format 8×10 negative which you develop by hand and then turn into a aluminum lithograph, pretty much every other type of photography requires more consideration than street shooting. This certainly explains the abundance of street photography, at the very least.
Graham Ave & Metropolitan, Brooklyn
So why would one choose to add to that considerable lump? Let alone, one living in New York City, probably the most over-photographed city in the world? To tell you the truth, I started with a plan to make a film about NYC, and this was a natural byproduct of the plan. You cannot make a film about the city of New York without showing it’s people, so I decided to immerse myself in candid photography and videography. In immersing myself in street photography for the purpose of the film, it somehow took over my life and everything else, including the film itself, had to be carved out to include it. Like many of the twisting paths we take in life, I had no idea I would come this way when I started documenting street art a few years ago, so at this point even though I’m just playing it by ear, I’m not too worried about nailing every note in the scale, or how fast I can play. I’m just enjoying the rhythmic heartbeat of the city, and progressing my craft one day at a time.
Sem Sem Deli, 75 Humboldt Street, Bushwick