Blog Post #68

Reflection on Street Photography and “RTTW”

Reflection on Street Photography

It’s been a funny old week. As you will be aware, if you have read my previous blog posts, after many years of taking photos the photography genre I most identify with is what is commonly termed “Street Photography”. This week though I have started to become bored with it and haven’t been really paying much attention to work appearing on internet forums and social media. I am finding that most of what I am looking at on these fora are either just picture postcard images or not not street photography at all, poor shots guising as street photography and just work that I would call “vanilla” and not a lot of thought put into them. There are also the “it’s a new day I need to post 10 new images, any images, or people will think I have stopped” brigade.

I input the keyword search criteria “2023 and Street” into my Lightroom catalogue the other day and I was surprised by how few street photography images I have taken in 2023. That got me thinking. By concentrating on street photography am I painting myself into a corner when it comes to my photography? Having made the conscious decision at one point to concentrate on this genre may I have missed out on some of the enjoyment of other facets of photography.?

I say it’s a funny old week because whilst these thoughts were milling around my head and I was taking notes for this blog, an email dropped into my inbox on this very subject. A photographer I follow on YouTube, Anthony Morganti sent out his weekly newsletter with the heading “I’m Beginning To Hate My Favourite Type of Photography!”. As a street photographer it sounded like he too was questioning the genre and his passion for it. I found the coincidence weird, but maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised. I think the internet is now overloaded with street photography.

In his email, Morganti talks more about the ethical side of street photography as opposed to the quality of it though. He talks about it under the headings;

• Street photography can be exploitive,

• Street photography may be legal and at the same time unethical

• Street photography reeks of entitlement

• Street photography can be OK though.

So from what I can make out, we are both a bit disillusioned but from different perspectives. From my perspective I maybe just need to concentrate on the type of street photography that works for me. I tend not to like abstract or aesthetically focused work. I know a lot of photographers are very excited at the prospects of attending the Daido Moriyama exhibition in the Photographers Gallery in London. Although heralded as one of the greatest street photographers of all time, it’s not for me. I like some of their work but I personally don’t get the adoration photographers like Moriyama and Saul Leiter get and they both have considerable bands of fanboys (and girls) that adore their work. Everyone to their own and if that’s the photography they like then go for it. I am more of a Chris Killip, Vivien Meyer and Tish Murtha type of street photographer so that is the route I will be following, looking again at their work, and trying to capture more of the type of images that appeal to me.

The Ride To The Wall -2023

Every year for the past 16 years, armed forces veterans and the biker communities descend on The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to remember their fallen comrades and those who no longer ride with them. This year the event took place on Saturday 7th October and it was estimated that over 6,500 bikes had made the journey from all over the country. The reference to The Wall in RTTW is to the memorial wall at the arboretum that contains the names of those who have been killed on active service since WW2.

Before I left I was undecided as to what lens I should use with my Fuji X-T5 as I wanted to fit one and not have to carry a load of gear around. I opted for the Fujinon 55-200mm zoom over my trusted 23mm and I am glad I made that choice.

This was my first time at this amazing show of support for lost comrades and it was a dignified and very moving spectacle. I had been to the NMA a few times in the past but had never seen it like this. I expected to take a few photos on the day to record the event but once there it was obvious to me that the story here was the characters and comradeship so I decided to concentrate on portraits. I have uploaded a selection of these to my website and hopefully you will take a look. They have gone down extremely well on the RTTW Facebook page.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and thank you for reading it. If you want to comment on this blog post please do so below or you can contact me by using the “Contact Me” facility in the website header.

Pete