February 2012
13 posts
Sev, what is your favourite lens for Street: 35mm or 50mm? I mean on your M-body of course... Thanks man, Maurizio
I’ve been shooting a 35mm summicron 2nd generation from 2006 to 2010 and a 35mm summilux pre-asph from 2010 to 2011 and since late october 2011 till now with a 35mm f2.0 Hexar AF lens.
I can’t say which one was my favourite.. the summilux was flairing too much imo, the old cron was amazing, bokeh and tone wise and the hexar is quite similar to the cron but actually the best lens when it comes to tricky lighting situations.
I’ve shot a 35mm summicron asph. this lens was the sharpest and contrast was perfect.. although I missed some imperfections… I like lenses that have their own look, just like the Rolleiflex 2.8F Planar.
50mm is way too tight for the way i shoot. sometimes i wish i had a 28mm actually… but 35 is the perfect all-rounder.
I'll wager a question here since you use or have used this film - in your opinion, what is a good alternative to Plus-X? (Since, per the Kodak website, it's being discontinued).
well.. i would say the closest would be a tri-x. i use more trix since plus-x was discontinued.
for 100iso situations, i started shooting a lot of fuji acros 100 and i love it. compared to plusx it is more fine grained but contrast wise just as good it think. it has a more modern, clean look though.
if you like the classic look, try fp4 by ilford. it is less contrasty but depending on the light source, it can have the same look as a plusx almost. especially on 6x6 i like shooting fp4s.
A Critique on Street Photography
After years of practicing Street photography and following the development of the genre and its photographers, I’ve started to think more theoretically about the topic and what it means to me.
In the last seven years of photographing, I’ve went trough many different stages and lately I’ve become more aware of what I was doing and also more critical about it.
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As a street photographer you will usually have a higher awareness of your public surroundings than the average pedestrian. When you are holding your camera, ready to expose, you will experience intense momentary connections with people around you and your mind will process possible frames before the crucial moment is gone.
I would be lying if I claimed to be personally interested in most of the people I photograph in the public. My aim is to inconspicuously document moments and scenarios of the human condition to record and analyze it.
Street photographs include people like a play includes characters. It is the certain combination of elements, the short moment a street photographer decides to capture in a frame as a crop of reality, thus creating a new reality in a photograph. It is like using a flashlight in the dark. You only make things visible you point at and everything around vanishes.
Following Susan Sontag’s assessment, Street photography is a hunt for moments and your weapon is a camera. What we do is using human beings as characters in our chosen settings to entertain whoever looks at the pictures we take.
Street photography now might sound like a rude and unethical thing to do and I won’t solely disagree. Instead this should be a reminder of the responsibility a street photographer carries. Without awareness, sensitivity and self-critique a photographer risks defacing their subjects. While I try to avoid this, others consciously intend to do exactly that.
Street photographer Bruce Gilden uses a wide angle lens and a flash when taking close ups of strangers. His photos reflect a sense of distraction, uneasiness and even shock which reflect the way he approaches his subjects. Lately, this approach gained more and more popularity, due to Gilden appearing in several ‘Street’ documentaries about his work and I find this quite alarming.
Street photography tells stories about everyday life. When a photographer takes too much influence, he himself becomes the protagonist of his frame and captures the reaction to his appearance only.
So the question is: is there a right or wrong attempt at street photography?
A photographer’s work is a mirror to their view on the world. And that might be enough of an answer.
