"Everybody Street" Response

   Why do some photographers go to the street, while others go to the studio? What is so alluring about the street and what it has to offer to artists? Studying the great street photographers that are featured in Cheryl Dunn's documentary Everybody Street, one can see that the allure of the street is certainly not in the street itself, but the people, scenarios, and energy that the street exclusively fosters. As a street photographer, one must be welcome to the chaos and ambiguity of the street and channel it into a fleeting moment of clarity. These moments are ones that cannot be recreated in the studio.

   While I believe that street photography, when done right, is perhaps the purest artistic representation of the human condition, the idea of participating in it myself is scary to me. The idea of negative confrontation scares me, and this is a guarantee when photographing strangers without their permission. Watching the documentary, you see the likes of Jeff Mermelstein and Clayton Patterson unapologetically getting right into the face of strangers on the street (sometimes to the dismay of their subjects). Although the hustle and bustle of New York City may help them get away with it, the courage of these artists makes them prime candidates for great street photographers. The sneakiness granted to them by their smaller cameras helps, so it might be worth investing into another smaller camera myself. Furthermore, street photography might be the exception to the idea that anyone can take great photographs regardless of equipment and location. Many argue that circumstance should be no deterrent in making great images, but street photography seems to be reliant on having access to larger urban areas with which to pull from. I don't believe it is coincidence that the greatest street photographers are based in New York City.

   The photographers in Everybody Street, the majority of which still shoot on film, also look at the emergence of digital photography in varying ways. While most would agree that digital photography has truly pushed photography into a democratic and universal medium, whether or not this is a good thing depends on who you ask. Personally, I share Joel Meyerowitz optimism in the idea that genius is to be discovered in the democratization of image taking. In a world where most people are somewhat of an exhibitionist through social media, a group of people are bound to be allured by the idea of the image that they are bombarded with in their everyday lives. In that group, a select few will flip this idea on its head and create beautiful photographs that become an extension of themselves and a product of the culture around them.