100SP-24_rl.indd 2 24.02.17 16:36 100 GREAT STREET PHOTOGRAPHS David Gibson

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100SP-24_rl.indd 3 24.02.17 16:36 © 2017 Prestel Verlag, Munich · Editorial direction: Lincoln Dexter London · New York, a member of Copy-editing: Malcolm Imrie Verlagsgruppe Random House Design and layout: Hoop Design GmbH, Neumarkter Straße 28, Production management: Friederike 81673 Munich Schirge Separations: Reproline Mediateam, © for the texts, David Gibson, 2017 Munich © for the works reproduced is held Printing and binding: DZS Grafik, by the individual photographers, their d.o.o., Ljubljana heirs or assigns, with the exception Paper: Profisilk of the following images: p. 31, © Alex Webb/; p. 35, © /Magnum Photos; p. 61, © Harry Gruyaert/ Magnum Photos; p.91, © Nikos Verlagsgruppe Random House FSC® Economopoulos/Magnum Photos; N001967 and p. 137, © /Magnum Photos ISBN 978-3-7913-8313-2

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Front cover: detail of photograph by Marcin Ryczek, see pp. 161 Frontispiece: detail of photograph by Dan Szpara, Shinjuku, , July 2016, see p. 181 Back cover: detail of photograph by Shin Noguchi, see pp. 170–71

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100SP-24_rl.indd 4 24.02.17 16:36 6|7 58|59 110|111 162|163 INTRODUCTION Gustavo MINAS Richard SANDLER 8|9 60|61 112|113 164|165 Jacek SZUST Harry GRUYAERT Roberto DERI Ryosuke TAKAMURA 10|11 62|63 114|115 166|167 Ilya SHTUTSA Igor MUKHIN Ronen BERKA Richard HERNANDEZ 12|13 64|65 116|117 168|169 Paul RUSSELL Jack SIMON Sam FERRIS Rammy NARULA 14|15 66|67 118|119 170|171 Alain LABOILE Jad JADSADA Siegfried HANSEN Shin NOGUCHI 16|17 68|69 120|121 172|173 Florence OLIVER Jan DITCH Stefano MIRABELLA Zoltán VANCSÓ 18|19 70|71 122|123 174|175 Sarolta GYOKER Jason ESKENAZI Stylianos PAPARDELAS Roj BAG-AO 20|21 72|73 124|125 176|177 Aaron ALEXANDER Jo WALLACE Swapnil JEDHE Cesar DE MELO 22|23 74 |75 126|127 178|179 Taras BYCHKO Joe AGUIRRE Tao L I U Michael PENN 24|25 76|77 128|129 180|181 Graciela MAGNONI Justin VOGEL Tatsuo SUZUKI Dan SZPARA 26|27 78|79 130|131 182|183 Txema RODRIGUEZ Ksenia TSYKUNOVA Tavepong PRATOOMWONG Aaron OFFORD 28|29 80|81 132|133 184|185 Aaron BERGER Julie HRUDOVA Tiago SANTANA Eric Leo KOGAN 30|31 82|83 134|135 186|187 Alex WEBB Lesley Ann ERCOLANO Todd GROSS Danielle HOUGHTON 32|33 84|85 136|137 188|189 Al DURER Trent PARKE Lukas VASILIKOS 34|35 86|87 138|139 190|191 Martin PARR Miikka PIRINEN Violet KASHI Hamid GHAZI 36|37 88|89 140|141 192|193 Charalampos KYDONAKIS Nakarin TEERAPENUN Yota YO S H I DA Mark Alor POWELL 38|39 90|91 142|143 194|195 Ilan Ben YEHUDA Nikos ECONOMOPOULOS Chema HERNÁNDEZ Gwen COYNE 40|41 92|93 144|145 196|197 Maria PLOTNIKOVA Nils JORGENSEN David SOLOMONS Peter DE KROM 42|43 94|95 146|147 198|199 Oscar LEVCOVICH Dzesika DEVIC Michelle Rice CHAN 44|45 96|97 148|149 200|201 Chu VIÊT HÀ Pau BUSCATÓ Eric MENCHER Stephen McLAREN 46|47 98|99 150|151 202|203 Dimitris MAKRYGIANNAKIS Paweł PIOTROWSKI Gabi Ben AVRAHAM Joseph Michael LOPEZ 48|49 100|101 152|153 204|205 Claudio EDINGER Peter GERRITSEN George KELLY Peter TURNLEY 50|51 102|103 154|155 206|207 Dougie WALLACE Peter KOOL Giorgos KASAPIDIS 52|53 104|105 156|157 Eamonn DOYLE Reuven HALEVI Gueorgui PINKHASSOV 54|55 106|107 158|159 Elena MAYOROVA Ricardo LEUNG Lee ATWELL 56|57 108|109 160|161 Emil GATAULLIN Justin SAINSBURY Marcin RYCZEK

100SP-24_rl.indd 5 24.02.17 16:36 INTRODUCTION agenda and fill up a book with smart- applies to the difficulty of defining unless you ask them bluntly, leaving phone pictures, but would we look itself, because it most people to assume the image is The premise of this book is a at the results any differently? overlaps with documentary and fine- completely natural. celebration of the very best street I would argue that whatever camera art photography, its closest cousins. photographs emerging from the so- is used, whether digital, film or People sometimes get heated about Whenever I meet photographers, called Internet generation. camera phone, has very little definitions. But at the outset, let me without knowing what their relevance when considering the offer my own well-worn description photographs are like, I always drop I chose every one of the photographs 100 photographs here. that I still believe is about right: into the conversation something because in some way they inspired like, ‘So who are your heroes in me but also because they stimulated Photography has always been The term ‘street photography’ can photography?’ thoughts that I wanted to set down. about sharing but that has now be applied to any photographs taken Some of the choices were already been accelerated by technology in a public space, with or without Therefore I asked each contributor planted in my mind but I went and, specifically, social media. With the inclusion of people, which are this question: ‘Please name three determinedly looking for more. street photography a great deal of entirely natural, and not set up. photographers, past or present, who Consequently the vast majority of mediocrity is shared online, but so have inspired you. Absolutely anyone the photographs are from the last too is the genre’s rich history which It might be wise to leave it at that, you like.’ five years. includes its very best photographs. although you could build a longer Essentially this is shared education interpretation around the word One photographer declined to Yet, during this fascinating process, and the growing consequence – ‘street’ itself. Street suggests answer, and another found it I felt the need to deviate slightly hopefully – is that more and more ‘street-wise’, to which you could add impossible to do so, but the rest from the work of the Internet people are visually literate with a list of adjectives, such as edgy, listed three and a few gave four. generation, as, quite simply, the street photography. surreal, poignant, etc. Basically, The top five ‘inspirations’ were as street photography community street photography is real, it is follows: encompasses more than one Ultimately, I fervently believe that the ordinary life made extraordinary by generation. I wanted to offer some words of Henri Cartier-Bresson still a great variety of photographers. 1. Henri Cartier-Bresson balance, some context of what came ring true: 2. before – as a result, among the many If you try to add more, it gets 3. Alex Webb images taken in the last five years, ‘Photography has not changed since complicated and probably 4. there are a few older photographs its origin except in its technical pretentious. But there is one issue 5. Martin Parr including a handful taken in the aspects, which for me are not I should tentatively mention here – 1990s, and one from as far back important.’ interference, that is to say, over- Other names that came up several as 1981. manipulation of a photograph and times were: William Eggleston, My subtle agenda then, even with sometimes outright cheating. Trent Parke, Daido - Moriyama, Josef I have been taking street photographs the changes that have taken place Koudelka and Sebastião Salgado. for about thirty years, so my time thanks to new technologies, is that it To use the word ‘cheating’ can sound straddles both the analogue and is still the best in street photography harsh, but I dislike photographers I think the results of this ‘survey’ are digital worlds of photography. In that matters. who take short cuts. I view it quite revealing, and the choices the theory I should have my finger on the as joyless because it shows a photographers made were honest pulse of street photography but I am But I think (or at least I hope) that I’ve fundamental lack of respect for the ones because there was no hidden very wary of trying to sum up or offer picked up on a building momentum spirit of street photography, and agenda of people trying to promote any kind of prediction for its future. in the street photography world. It is it also reveals a lack of genuine themselves or their friends, which All that has ever mattered to me is: quite possible that there is a marked talent. Another point is that those is a common distortion with online Does a photograph pull me in, does acceleration; more people identify who ‘cheat’ usually get found out. polls. it inspire me? with street photography, and there Yes, I might be naive on that count are more online groups, collectives, but there are many experienced The age of the photographer was What is certain is that the digital festivals and competitions. And this photographers who have a sixth not taken into consideration, but age has transformed street expansion can be found in more and sense for what does not appear to only a handful, as it turned out, were photography, not only in the way more different places around the be entirely natural. under the age of 30. I did consider that photos are taken, but above world. No longer does the majority of gender, race and location; I tried all in how they are consumed and the interesting work come just from In putting this book together, I have a little to balance things out, but shared online. Technology has New York, Tokyo, London and , felt agitated on a few occasions, again it always came back to the seemingly brought photography arguably the traditional strongholds when I sense that the moment has photographs themselves. to everyone. At the forefront are of the genre. Now the energy come to question a photographer camera phones and all this ultimately resides as much in Bangkok, Manila, more closely. It is difficult when There was another, relatively minor, means more photographers and yet Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, or you find a great photograph only point when I tried to balance the more photographs. But does this São Paulo. to discover that it was a double- selection. I really wanted more represent a creative revolution for exposure, and disappointing to vertical photographs, to alter the photography? Only about ten of the These cities are easy names to hear a photographer who casually pace of the book, but I could not photographs here are taken with a mention, as if they are exact truths says, ‘Oh, it was a job, I set it up’. find many. I hesitate to raise this mobile phone camera; it could easily and nowhere overlooked. Besides, My main concern, though, is that question, and admittedly Instagram have been more, but arguably it does might all the photographs reside in some photographers do not admit is mostly square, but I wonder not matter. You could push such an one country, the Internet? The same that they have manipulated a photo, whether constantly presenting

100SP-24_rl.indd 6 24.02.17 16:36 photographs online has made it more something in common, something absurd and unfair to expect others thing. Some photographers who natural to take horizontal shots? vital: they have intelligence, depth to equal him. Yet his particular engage in experimentation forget and humanity. Yes, that sounds a commitment sometimes helped me that most of the advances in the Of course the term ‘great’ – little grand, but it’s worth highlighting as a yardstick with difficult choices. realm of aesthetics have already disregarding whether the photo is a photographer like Sebastião There was one photographer, for been done. What changes is the vertical or horizontal – is contentious. Salgado who is clearly not a street instance, whose photo, to me, time and place, as the song Todo Photographs themselves need time photographer but is an inspiration bordered on greatness. I couldn’t cambia by the Argentinian Mercedes to marinate, and putting 100 together to many. One of the photographers quite make up my mind, so I asked Sosa says: “We change, our world in a book might with time show that here, Graciela Magnoni, tells a him to tell me the story of the changes”. ‘ a few lack something, while others charming story of meeting Salgado photograph…as I did with everyone. might grow. I can only liken this to when she was just 17: All he could muster was, ‘I took this Saura’s quote is from a beautiful an exhibition where the curator’s photograph when I was 24’. This book of photographs portraying words cannot necessarily influence ‘Sebastião Salgado was a huge left me thinking, ‘Come on, give me village life in Spain during the 1950s. people’s instincts. I personally think influence. I grew up in Brazil till the more, show me you care or have I don’t entirely agree with his view, that this collection would make a age of 13, so obviously I felt culturally some understanding of what you’re and yet I’m troubled by it; he speaks great exhibition, but then I’m biased. attracted to his work. When I was doing…of what you’re trying to say.’ with wisdom. All I know is that the 17 years old, he was already a rising world does change, but it’s often a And yes, a few of the images do not star in Paris. I remember one day I accept that this might sound case of who you choose to listen show a ‘street’ at all. One or two, for I grabbed the phone and gave him harsh, even arrogant, and besides to. And maybe this book hinges example, present a forest scene, or a a call. I had never met him before. shouldn’t the photo speak for the on Saura’s assertion. Nearly all the snowscape. Some are also abstract, He answered the phone and was photographer? What else can he or photographs here are quite possibly with blur or movement, but to my quite gracious. I told him I would she add? Well, some photographers part-reinventions, part-homages. mind they all come within the street like to meet him and talk about can get away with this, with their They borrow from the past, in other photography ethos. photography. He called me to his silence, because they have built words, but all the photographers house; his wife Lélia was there too. up a reputation, and there is plenty are trying to forge ahead and make I had some hesitations over the He was lovely, intense, telling me of commentary on their work sense of their present. A few of cover image. After all, it is true you all about his trips and passion for from others. But with emerging them might eventually ‘go down in judge a book by its cover. And I photography. His living room dining photographers it’s another matter. photographic history’, and some are thought whatever might be inside, table was packed with negatives. The photographer may need to already famous, but I hope this book at least the cover should scream Going to his house and seeing all the explain, to convince, to offer more. helps all of them in some small way ‘street’. But then, why not put out negatives, cameras, and his strong by putting them on the page. a slightly ambivalent message? The passion for photography and the I readily concede that a few of the cover gently asks a question; the stories he could tell through it was a photographers in this book might For me looking at photographs in answer might be inside. huge motivation for me to become be considered ‘one-hit-wonders’ a book is a pleasure; it is by far the a documentary/press photographer. and accordingly the premise of a best way to appreciate them. Most There might be a debate around That day he gave me the best and ‘Great Street Photograph’ becomes of the photographs in this book have ‘presentation’, for example, most useful piece of advice. He a little shaky if it cannot be backed not been published before, which is Instagram with its ‘sugar-coating’ said that the most important thing up by a few more decent images particularly pleasing. I like to think apps, but talent will always out, to improve my photography and from the same photographer. But that they have been ‘rescued’ from surely. If there is an antenna for be meaningful was to study, not equally with some photographers, the computer screen, and given manipulation, or cheating, the photography, but history, economics, in our exchanges, I sensed some the kind of permanence that they same applies to apps. Apps alone or any other subject I enjoyed. He depth…they had something to deserve. are not enough but on Instagram also recommended I look at lots of say. Subsequently it might seem it’s like wading through all the good photographs. He explained incongruous to include seasoned David Gibson imagery on Flickr – the gems that the most important requirement photographers like Alex Webb or are still there. For example, Jeff to become a good photographer Nikos Economopoulos alongside Mermelstein, well known for his is to have something to say and a few relative beginners, some street photographs in 1990s New that without a strong education with ‘just’ mobile-phone cameras, York, is on Instagram, using a mobile this would be difficult. He insisted but the key point here is potential. phone. The photographs are original, that technique and mastery of the Sometimes you just have to go with and Instagram seems the perfect camera is not enough. He also a hunch. platform for him. insisted on the fact that to know what you want to say is not so easy To finish this introduction, I would But not everyone uses Flickr or and that many, many photographers like to quote the Spanish film director Instagram or Tumblr or Facebook. stopped improving because they and photographer, Carlos Saura: Some photographers might have had nothing to say. As a 17-year-old, nothing more than their own I found this extremely inspiring.’ ‘Long ago I came to the conclusion website. But they still get picked that in photography, as in so many up by others – that’s the street Salgado is a rare bird, with all his other things, everything had already photography community for you, great photographs, his sense been done shortly after it was they gather up the strays. of purpose and his desire to invented and we only run in circles The best photographers all have communicate, and it would be in order to come back to the same

100SP-24_rl.indd 7 24.02.17 16:36 1 Jacek Szust finds people funny, Szust’s floating man teases the not in a cruel way but because he eye, but there are other smaller Jacek SZUST delights in catching them at odd considerations. If you squint you b.1976, Wrocław, Poland moments. His photographs are might just see a cluster of whites sympathetic, and one of his themes that could be joined up like a Photograph Wrocław, May 2012 is people in a tangle with modern- constellation in a night sky: the bright day life. This sometimes means white of his shirt cuffs just visible on www.jszust.com with objects or their own clothes. both hands, his white handkerchief, www.instagram.com/jszust_ A large red ball is a man’s head; a boy which link with the white markings obliterated by his blue coat becomes on the road. Might the whites stand Inspiration Martin Parr, Alex Webb, a coat with legs. Or a woman reads out more, if the photograph were Matt Stuart. a paperback on a tram; the book black and white? Certainly, it works seems to overwhelm her. as a vertical photograph; if it was horizontal messy distractions left and The man here is not concerned or right would be revealed. in a tangle – but he has no legs, so it’s another illusion. It’s a double- Szust shot just two frames, both take photograph; you have to from a slightly higher vantage point, look carefully. Some of the best and he describes the bit of magic photographs work like this. that day:

A well-dressed man carrying an ‘I remember as if it was yesterday. expensive-looking suitcase floats I saw the magic. The first frame, I above the ground like a hovercraft. was unhappy because the foot was What is he doing, where he is going? visible. I tried to catch him again, I He looks like a man who would was running after him but the result normally get a taxi. We can only wasn’t so spectacular.’ speculate. Szust is one of a number of very This is a sight gag and it’s not entirely active street photographers in clean; there is just a glimpse of his Poland and he cites in particular the back foot under the suitcase. This is photographers in the Magnum Photo a minor imperfection but it makes Agency and the Polish-only collective the photograph believable and this is Un-posed as major influences. On important with street photography. his website it says that ‘most of Street photographers seek the his photographs are attempts to unreal but tied to the real world. In comprehend the chaos in public other words, life on the street is spaces’ with an ‘empathy and joy surreal enough, it does not need of every situation’ that might ‘turn setting up or post-manipulation. a simple journey around town into Besides it would be hard to something almost magical’. His preconceive a shot like this. floating man is a simple journey made magical.

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100SP-24_rl.indd 8 24.02.17 16:36 100SP-24_rl.indd 9 24.02.17 16:36 2 This is a perspective-bending ‘It was taken in Kiev Pechersk Lavra photograph where a seemingly giant in Kiev. These two policemen and Ilya SHTUTSA woman is about to carefully cover the priest appeared interesting, and b. 1972, St. Petersburg, a priest and two policemen with they were talking without paying any her shawl. The woman could be a attention to me. Then there came Photograph Kiev, July 2012 matador. Or a waiter – she has that the woman who began to put on her peculiar stance of someone laying shawl before entering the church. www.flickr.com/photos/krysolove a table. And by chance this picture came out www.observecollective.com of all this.’ Then there are the three men. The Inspiration Matt Stuart, Sergey conversation between them appears Shtutsa, who is a member of the Maximishin, Gueorgui Pinkhassov friendly, there are faint smiles in Observe collective, neatly sums up Harry Gruyaert. the sunshine. The priest is making a his story: point with his hands, the one visible policeman listens intently. This does ‘I was born in 1972 in the Far East not seem like a day for crime, just of Russia. I was about twelve for friendly banter. But we still come when I got my first camera. It was back to the woman; she is not part of the simplest thing, a Smena 8M. the conversation but she has ambled I believe that probably each Soviet into the scene and provided a lucky child had such a toy. I was taking a moment for the photographer. lot of pictures of all that surrounded me, but when I was 18 my interest Ilya Shtutsa is consistently ‘lucky’. in photography faded away. It took You need only look at the opening me 20 more years to resurrect it. It page on his Flickr account to catch happened almost accidentally, when his keen sense of composition. I got a cellphone with a very small Nothing too skewed, and he’s always camera inside. Mobile photography happy to break up the perspective. captured my mind, and then I found In fact that could be his trademark: an article in a photo magazine about people or things blocking the view Matt Stuart, and David but actually making the view. Solomons that made me realize what cameras are for. After this it was There is a problem in trying to just a matter of time before I bought describe Shtutsa’s work because as my first DSLR and began shooting soon as you think you’ve unravelled street.’ the approach, another image come along to suggest other slight shifts in style. However, Shtutsa does like a lower perspective; you imagine he bends his knees a lot to get ‘his view’’ which means the bottom half of people to partly fill up the frame, but with the main action a little further away. The woman laying out her shawl is a good example. Shtutsa’s take is less flamboyant:

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100SP-24_rl.indd 10 24.02.17 16:36 100SP-24_rl.indd 11 24.02.17 16:36 3 This Paul Russell photograph ‘Like most of my photos, this one catches a typical contemporary was taken on a daytrip from my Paul RUSSELL London street scene, and indeed one home in Weymouth. It’s quite an b.1966, Weymouth, United Kingdom common in many other cities in the unusual photograph for me, in that world similarly caught in perpetual when I’m wandering around taking Photograph London, 2015 ‘building site’ mode. Yet for the pictures I try not to retrace my keen-eyed or nostalgic it carries at its steps, as I find that boring. But on www.paulrussell.info heart – dead centre – a subtle echo this London visit I made a point of www.in-public.com of a classic Henri Cartier-Bresson going back through this junction in photo from Paris in 1932, Derrière la Soho a few times as it looked quite Inspiration Tony Ray-Jones, Gare Saint-Lazare, otherwise known promising, with human traffic from Robert Frank, Mark Powell in English as ‘the man jumping a several directions being forced puddle’. together, and the feeling of an area in transition. I never hang around in The man in the middle is a whole one area to take shots, as this feels story on his own. Cartier-Bresson’s like “cheating” to me. The second photograph has a poster in the or third time I passed through the background showing a leaping area, the besuited man caught my acrobat; this businessman in eye, as he was walking on top of a sunglasses, tightly clutching a long piece of red and white painted briefcase – and using his mobile timber while other pedestrians phone – strides nonchalantly off the were choosing the more obvious tightrope-like piece of wood. This pavement areas. It seemed like a is business and performance. And small, jaunty act of rebellion on his decisively his front foot is forever off part. The young woman then walked the ground, exactly like Bresson’s very quickly in front of the shot I man jumping the puddle. had intended to take, and the plan changed – I waited a fraction longer But Russell’s intricate photograph and managed to get both her and also has a left and a right, giving the beam walker in shot, with the more stories. The hard-hatted construction worker acting as the construction worker quietly leans stationary anchor on the left. The back to read something on a sheet of beam walker became beam jumper. paper; while the woman walking out One zone-focused shot with the of the picture perfectly completes FujiFilm X100, and mercifully with a the balance. Like the businessman, very fast shutter speed that froze the she happily goes about her day, woman close to me.’ but while listening to music, the soundtrack to the scene that we will never hear.

Russell, who has been a member of iN-PUBLiC since 2010, is known for a very particular take on Englishness. It would be easy to call him a hybrid of Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones, but his own body of work is distinctive enough to influence others. The key is a precise intelligence – he is very good with words – but also his wry humour. He recalls how he took the photograph:

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100SP-24_rl.indd 12 24.02.17 16:36 100SP-24_rl.indd 13 24.02.17 16:36 4 As soon as you start His pictures touch the theatre and considering Alan Laboile, some imagination of children everywhere. Alain LABOILE adjustment is required. Ask him to His children play exactly the same b.1968, Bordeaux, France name the photographers who have way as the street kids photographed inspired him and the question flies by Helen Levitt in New York during Photograph Arbis, France, 2011 over his head; it is not relevant. the 1940s. Ultimately, they recall His photographic life has evolved the intimate family photographs of www.laboile.com completely cut off from the Larry Towell and Emmet Gowin but mainland, as he partly explains: particularly Sally Mann’s Immediate Inspiration none. Family (1992). This is inescapable, ‘It is frequently said, as an but attempting to neatly fit Laboile absolute truth,that photographers probably remains unfair. We must were forever inspired by other accept his stance:‘I rarely purchase photographers. I disagree. When photography books. I stay away I started in photography, almost from trends and from photographic accidentally, I was completely influences.’ ignorant about technique or photographic culture. My passion Laboile’s photographs are for entomology led me to macro independent. The example here photography and then I turned my catches the joy of childhood, the lens to my growing family. When I bright tones celebrate black and started to share my family album white photography. The arch of on social networks, people told me water thrown by the boy frames the that my work reminded them of Sally child behind, the balance and shape Mann. I didn’t know who she was.’ are extraordinary. And the mood is intensified by the blur, the impact We are therefore shipwrecked would be less if it were perfectly with our assumption of a family focused. home brimming with photography books. However, Laboile has his But one question burns: How own book, At the Edge of the World, would he fare on the streets with (2015), with an introduction by the his camera? photographer Jock Sturges, who sums it up perfectly: ‘This work ‘I like big cities, because I know that feeds my eyes and soul like nothing I don’t have to live in them. I enjoyed I have ever seen.’ São Paulo, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, but I brought only Laboile acknowledges his mentor: a few images back. I have many ‘As for you, Jock Sturges, you are photographic ideas or projects, all the one who awakened me to the consigned to a notebook. The daily photographic life and brought me documentation of my family life confidence and a future…’ is a full-time job, but I don’t miss inspiration for the future. Laboile lives in rural France; his photography has grown with his ‘I travel a lot with my work exhibited family that is his wife but mainly his worldwide, However I keep living six children. Strictly speaking he is the same life with my family, in the not a street photographer, because deep countryside, isolated from the no streets fill the background, but photographic world. We used to say the spirit of street photography is that we’re living at the edge of the there, without question. Laboile world. I like making photographs, mentions the term, ‘Family Street but that doesn’t make me a lover of Photography’, which connects with photography.’ the family of street photography.

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100SP-24_rl.indd 14 24.02.17 16:36 100SP-24_rl.indd 15 24.02.17 16:36 5 Florence Oliver, who uses the In her simple (left unedited) English name Mabel Morison on Instagram, she tells us more, and it all makes Florence OLIVER uses her iPhone 6 mainly to take perfect sense: b.1962, Saint-Nazaire, Brittany, delicate photographs by the sea France in south-west France. There’s not ‘I am a painter and amateur a lot of variation, and she could be photographer. I live in France, in Photograph Biarritz, France, summer compared to a painter setting up Marseille. I’m doing photo for 2015 her easel each day to paint from the pleasure since two years, and with a same spot, where the only thing that smartphone is much spontaneous, www.instagram.com/mabelmorrison changes might be the light. fun, and always in your pocket!

Inspiration Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, The one constant is her use of glass, ‘This photo was taken during the Viviane Sassen as a filter or to reflect back, and often summer of 2015 in Biarritz, in the to do both at the same time. The south-west of France. I utilise iPhone images are consistently beautiful 6 and sometimes Snapseed app to and she frequently uses her own correct contrasts and colours. This reflection. Indeed, though layered photo is a reflecting story and a kind and anonymous, she is the subject. of selfie. It was taken facing the sea. The sea, sky, beach, parasols, and Choreography games and reflections other people are bit-part players, all from the windows of the pool and interchangeable for different scenes. beach. The overall feeling is one of lazy summer days, fading sunshine with ‘My photos are in the form of time left to amble and maybe have a collages or overlays but I never dip in the sea. manipulate the image. Looking, mirrors, games, reflections, optical They also evoke the past, in a illusions. I like to be between dream-like way; they look a little abstract and reality, between photo like old autochromes by Jaques and painting.’ Henri Lartigue, who recorded privileged lives in similar settings in Finally, just look at her points the 1920s and 1930s. With some of inspiration; they make good photographers, there are maybe sense, too. Saul Leiter, who was a handful of images that press also a gifted painter, would love forward, or just one that stands Oliver’s photos. That really is the out, but with Oliver it’s one long, point, because a smart-phone langourous walk through fine photographer like Oliver is equally, if images. Every one is a pleasure. not more so, immersed in the world But for now this particular photo of art. represents all of her images.

It looks like a watercolour with all its muted colours, and you genuinely expect to see a signature in the bottom right-hand corner. The boardwalk reflection is an expensive fur coat, and Oliver’s slightly profiled head includes a painterly swimmer sitting, resting before going back to swim. Its sheer elegance, where photography – and maybe iPhone photography in particular – meets fine art.

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100SP-24_rl.indd 16 24.02.17 16:36 100SP-24_rl.indd 17 24.02.17 16:36 6 This image might initially Gyoker was born in ‘Communist seem an unusual choice for a Hungary’; her father was an architect Sarolta GYOKER street photograph, because no and an avid photographer. When b. Hungary. Lives: Ottawa, Canada street is visible. But consider Josef she came to Canada she studied Koudelka’s black dog in the snow, philosophy and eventually did an MA Photograph Ottawa, January 2015 an iconic image and the cover for in Art History. Working as a Curatorial his book, Exiles, which is frequently Assistant at the National Gallery of www.facebook.com/sarolta cited by street photographers Canada, she also enrolled in a private as hugely influential. Snow both school to learn graphic design, which Inspiration Masao Yamamoto, Bruce disguises and enhances everything, is another abiding passion. All this Davidson, Alexander Rodchenko whether on grass or street. has gone into her photography, as she concludes: Sarolta Gyoker (known as Sasa) is acutely aware of this, as she ‘Photography has always been a explains: latent passion before becoming a strong one some eight or so years ‘I am very much drawn to the ago. It allows me to enter a (semi-) aesthetic of winter, i.e., two graphic meditative state, be it on the street elements that the snow helps to or in a forest.’ reveal, be it animals, humans, the curvature of branches, or any odd Gyoker has won a few photographic objects. I find the whiteness of the prizes and produced a Blurb book snow is a perfect background to called Of Trees and Birds and Snow observe these in winter. I tend to and Silence. Her silent photographs take solitary walks with my camera deserve hearing a little more. at lunchtime. The day when this shot was taken, I did not expect to find too many living creatures in the streets, given the freezing cold. And then, just when I happened to turn back at the end of my walk, I was happy to notice a dog-walker herding quite a few marvellously disobedient dogs back to his car. Given the sun that day, they also cast a lovely shadow on the snow.’

This is a stunning photograph, in shape and mood: a variety of dogs in a pristine white landscape. You can’t hear photographs, but this one has the muffled crunch of snow. And bright, bright light! You keep looking at the dog on the near left, wishing to see just a little more of its head. But it doesn’t matter, the composition is close to perfect. Like birds flying in formation in the sky, but reversed. Indeed birds in the sky are one of Gyoker’s subjects.

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100SP-24_rl.indd 20 24.02.17 16:36 7 Some photographers take ‘As for why it works – if it works at photographs that please them and all – it’s clearly the flare. And what’s Aaron ALEXANDER leave others to unravel any meaning, the appeal of flare? Is it the religious b.1979, Oregon, United States. but it is interesting to single out one or spiritual association with slanted Lives: Taiwan image from a photographer and then light? For a while I wasn’t too crazy push him or her to tell its story and about the image for that reason. I’ve Photograph Taipei, Taiwan, November describe what they then feel about seen hundreds (thousands) of shots 2011 it. Aaron Alexander, an American with similarly “inspired” light. Like living in Taiwan, has a clear-eyed silhouettes, cross-walk stripes, or www.flickr.com/photos/ perspective on his photography and gratuitously geometric compositions, anteatertheater much else. His words need little it just becomes familiar. Then the embellishment: dog began to work on me. The eye Inspiration Nils Jorgensen, Jeff contact seems compelling (despite Mermelstein, Garry Winogrand. ‘I was going for a late-day stroll what I think about not being able to with my wife. When I chanced upon tolerate it).The fact that the guy is the old guy sleeping on the bench, in the twilight of his life also seems I didn’t think much of it at first. significant. It wouldn’t be the same Public snoozing is common here, had he been younger. Maybe it and I’ve taken lots of similar shots evokes a feeling of transition or before. There’s not much challenge passing (i.e., death), particularly in shooting a passive, vulnerable, with the late evening light. I imagine unconscious subject. Yet something that as we age, we get tired more about the dog seemed to add that easily. Perhaps napping becomes ever elusive little extra something, something of a pastime. One could so why not? It’s always better to try think of it as a gentle easing into and to fail, than never try at all, etc. death. And then one day you lie Since the sun was setting, the light down for a nap from which you never hit the lens to create what seemed wake up. If you’re lucky, you will have like some rather atrocious flare. It had someone to see you through, took one shot to see just how “bad” even if that someone is just a dog.’ it was, so I used my hand as a shade for every shot after that (maybe ten). What else to say? The man in the As it turned out, that first shot waiting room for heaven sleeps was the only one that worked. The on bench number six; politely, he rest were just of a guy sleeping on has taken his shoes off and the a bench. dog points with one leg, which complements the slanting light, everything is balance and harmony.

Alexander does little social media, except Flickr, where he goes by the name of Aaron Aardvark, AntEater Theater. He says it’s partly a gag but it keeps him humble. He prefers to ‘fly under the radar’ adding that ‘so much Internet culture seems to be about vanity and self-promotion.’ It’s almost a pity to disturb him – like the man sleeping – but he is absolutely right.

100SP-24_rl.indd 21 24.02.17 16:36 8 The first point to make about The details, then, are mundane, but this photograph is that Taras Bychko the man from another time remains Taras BYCHKO was a little resistant to it being fixed, gazing in the street below. The b.1987, Lviv, Ukraine chosen to represent his work; present – as we know it and expect he believes that he has better it to be – is completely absent. The Photograph Lviv, June 2014 photographs, and he may be right. dark clothes offer no modern outline, Bychko pointedly pushed one but the hat might place him in Los www.flickr.com/photos/tarasbychko colour photograph: a looking-down Angeles, or Vienna in the 1940s. www.instagram.com/tas0ma perspective of a clear hand print on The power and telephone lines, long www.instagram.com/380collective a snow-covered ledge, while on the gone in some parts of the world, street below a man walks past with add an old-time feel and the man’s Inspiration Saul Leiter, Josef a red umbrella. There are shapes walking stick might give a clue to his Koudelka, Daido - Moriyama, and rust colours, it’s clever, and it older age, too. Perhaps the photo Trent Parke will no doubt garner praise in the is a film still, from The Third Man street photography community. But or a Hitchcock thriller. The bird on arguably, although it has mystery, it the wire, a crow probably, sets the lacks soul, character or depth; it is tension for the story. not a photograph to linger upon, to truly fire the imagination. So is Bychko caught between the past and the present, between The photograph chosen here has colour and black and white? His all those attributes, and it also has Instagram account suggests he a timeless quality – that gives it its is undecided; there is a mixture, depth – made possible by the black and perhaps no choice is required and white tones. It seems slightly just yet. Bychko has been taking incongruous to note that Bychko took street photographs for little more this with a modern Fuji X20 camera, than three years and considers and then converted it into mono. His himself self-taught from looking at account of taking the photograph is photography books. However, he matter of fact: has a folio where you keep looking; it’s consistently interesting and ‘I remember that I was doing every now and then, a picture hits… something at home, and casually you stop to take in the composition, looked out through the window. My light or colour. Roland Barthes in attention was caught by this man his famous book, Camera Lucida who looked from another time. He (1980), used the word ‘punctum’ for was moving quickly and I ran for the something like this: that which pricks camera. But when I came back he the mind’s eye. So far, this might be had gone away. But I quickly went to the photograph by Bychko with the the other side of my home and made most fiction. this picture. I made this photo from my fourth-floor flat.’

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