6 the review THE TIMES Saturday March 12 2011 THE TIMES Saturday March 12 2011 the review 7 Likeamuch-loved artordrama or English teacher, butonaglobal scale,David Bowie helped to make culturaland intellectual photography ‘‘aspirationacceptablefor my generation Robert Crampton on David Bowie, Books, pa”ge 10 Photographersfromthe Format International PhotographyFestivalpicktheir favourite image W

FredericLezmiBucharest,2008(fromtheseriesBeyondBorders) MartinKollarFromtheseriesEuropeanParliament PollyBradenAppoldStreet,fromtheseriesSquareMile “WhatIloveaboutthispictureisthe light,thecolourandofcoursethe reflectioncreatingthisspecialtransparency between “ThepicturesIusuallytakeareanattempttocapturethe spaceinwhich realityisinconflictwithdesiresanddreams, “About330,000peoplecome intothe Citytoworkeachday;only10,000peoplelivethere.Ihavebeenphotographingin theinandthe outside.Infact,Ihadalreadypassedby thisladysittingintheshopwindowwhen Irealisedwhatagreatimage wherethecomedy andtragedyofeverydaylifemeetandintertwine.Iamwillingtokeepthisspaceopento various theSquareMileforthe pastfiveyears. Ihopethe photosgiveasenseofwhat itmightbeliketobeinthisplaceforthe first itwouldbeanddecidedthat Ihadtowalkback. Igotoutmycamera,madetherightsettingsandpassedbythe shopwindow interpretationsandtosearchforabalancebetweenthe explicitandimplicit, betweenwhat isandwhatideallyshouldbe. time.Toanewcomerthe Citylooksimpenetrable, likeanoiledmachinewithahiddenlogic.Cityfolkmaylookefficient,but again.Itookasingleshot andcontinued.ItwasonlyafterthatIsawthat shewassellingcoffins.” Therealmofdailyrituals, gesturesandbehaviours, whichgivethe worldorderandstability,isoneIfind fascinating.All it’sanillusion.Lookagainandmanyofthemseemoutoftheirelement, asif caughtbetweenoneair-conditioned sanctuary thesethingsgive thetimelessworldcertaindramaturgy.Abeginningandanend.” andthe next.Thesearenotemployees‘onmessage’;intheirgesturesthereisdoubtandindecision.Othersarenotdressed forthe officeat all.PerhapstheyareresidentsoftheCity,fromthe nearbyhousingestates.”

BrianGriffinRushHour,LondonBridge,1974 AmySteinFireman’sParade,PortJervis,NY,2004 RaghuRaiWomanCartPusher, Delhi,1974,fromtheseriesInvocationtoIndia “Forthis imageIpaidaLondontaxi driverfiveshillingstodriveoverLondonBridgeslowlyfromnorthtosouth duringthe “EveryyearIattendtheFireman’sParadeinthesmalltownofPortJervis, NewYork.Whilethe localfirebrigadesparade “Raresight,wherethewifewashelpingherhusbandtopushthe loadedcartsothat hecoulddeliver thegoods.Ikept rushhour.Ihadbeenoutofartcollegeforonly18 months,soitfilledme withconfidence uponseeingtheendresult,forI throughthestreets,the townspeoplecomeoutto watchandsocialise.Theseboysarewaiting forthe firementopassby. chasingandclicking,notsatisfiedtillIsawthisbuildingmergingwiththeboxes theywerepushing.Infact,thiswasthe Ilovehowsmallandsweettheyare, whiletrying toappeartough,withtheirguns.ThewhiteT-shirtandsandalsoftheboy knewat lastthatIcouldmakeit asaphotographer.Itwasat thistimethatIdiscoveredGermanExpressionism,andI’msure inthe frontareespeciallynicedetails forme.” lastframeofthe36 exposures.Icouldn’thavegoneonbut,asluckwouldhaveit,everythingmergedandconnectedto IoweadebttoFritzLang’sfilmMetropolis.” createawholesomeexperience.” (Top)DaliaKhamissyMissing,2010 “ImmAhmed holdstheportraitofhersonAhmed alSharkawi,whowas kidnappedin1986,asshe liesinoneofthe bedsinsidetheprotesttentofthe ‘Great streetphotography constitutesanewway of seeing’ parentsofthe missingindowntownBeirut.Anestimated17,000people remainofficiallymissinginLebanonsincethe Lebanesecivilwarof1975to 1990andthe yearsthatfollowed;theywereabductedorkilledatthehandsof differentLebanesemilitias,Palestinianfactions,SyriaandIsraelandtheirallies. plates,allowingphotographers to carry mosthaveembraceddigital. The internet Street Photography,acommunityon public,was overturned. That doesn’t discovered, people began “unearthingref- So what makes agreat street photo- Theparentsofthe missinghavebeeninastruggle fordecades,tryingtoknow Street photographycan be tracedbacktoCartier-Bresson. Now them with them as they walked.Among has allowed photographers to bypass Flickr.With more than 40,000 members, nec-essarily mean that subjects here or erences”,Clements says, “tocontextualise graph? Griffin, with an air of finality, Theviewfrom moreaboutthe fateoftheirloved ones.” these photographers wasHenri Cartier- traditional gatekeepers such as publishers it’s oneof thesite’sbiggestgroups. elsewhereareamenable,though.Inaforth- her and makesense of the enormityofthe answers: “It’swhenit constitutesanew way mobilephones, digitalcameras andphoto-sharingwebsitesare Bresson, godfather of the genre, who andgallerists. “There are virulent debates that go on comingfilm about the renowned NewYork discovery:who she’sasgood as, who she’s ofseeing.”ForTurpin,thatisexemplifiedin thestreets ... credited the Leica35mm rangefinder with “Ten years agonobody talked about there about the nuancesofCartier- Times street fashion photographer Bill better than.”This in turnstokedinterest in Meyerowitz’s1967 photograph The Fallen (Above)NickTurpinStreetScene,Artemare,2010 affordinghim “the velvet hand and the street photography,” Turpin says. “Itreally Bresson versus [Robert] Frank or [Bruce] Cunningham, there’sascene in which he contemporariesofhers such as the New Man,ofasuited Parisian on the ground at a contributingtoanexplosionofthe genre, says Hermione Hoby hawk’seye”. He spoke about “the simul- wasn’tasubject.Bystanderwasallaboutthe GildenversusMeyerowitz,”Clementssays. snaps twogirls walkingdown the street. YorkerHelenLevitt,whoalsodiedin2009. Métroentrance, seemingly having afit. “It FormatInternational “ThisimagewastakeninasmallvillageinsoutheastFranceandcomesfrom taneous recognition, in afraction of a past, the Sixtiesand the Seventies, and I “It’saverylivelygenre.” He’s at least15ftaway, but they spot him. Turpin calls street photography “sortof lookslikethislittletragedyispartofamuch PhotographyFestival mycurrentproject, TheFrench.IamexploringmodernFranceasastreet invested in what we’veleftbehind and tography simply means anyphototaken second, of the significance of an event”, a thought:‘Whyisn’tthere anybodyworking Howarthsays: “We’re seeingwork from “Don’t f***ingtakeapicture of me!” one Chaplinesque —it’stragic and humorous wider,citywideevent,” he says. “All the VenuesacrossDerby,untilApril 3. photographer,arrivinginnewvillages,townsandcities.Iamparticularly wherewe’reheading,buttherearesomany outside,butformost,thetermcomeswitha notion that subsequently seizedstreet likethis now?’Andofcoursethere was.” parts of the world that were not repre- shouts. “I’ll break that camera over your at the same time, justlikeour experiences traffic has stopped. The other thing Ilove 01332290606; formatfestival.com fondofthisimageofthe youngboy withthe flag,becauseithassuch little quotidian delights that Ithink are setofvalues—ofcandour,spontaneityand photographers in 1970sNew York. They Having tracked them down, he set up sented before. We associatestreet photo- head!”theotherscreams. in life”.But he also thinks that “the pictures about it is there’sprobably 25 or 30 people worthpausingand lookingat. I’m trying to the hope of capturing something extra- included Meyerowitz, who,appropriately iN-PUBLiC, awebsitededicated to anet- graphy with the really busy sidewalk of a Cunningham is positively meek com- we takeonOxford Street are as important in that picture but none of them is goingto LondonStreetPhotography beautifulechoesofthepastandreferencesFrance’shistoryofrevolution. get afingerhold on these moments. Being ordinarywithintheordinary. enough, met his fellow street photographer work of street photographers, including first-world countrybut then what does it paredwith manystreet photographers. as picturesmadeinTahrir Square. They’re help that guy.They’re fascinated by him Photographsfrom1860 tothepresentday. Thevigourandpassionwithwhichthisyoungboywaswavingthe flag able to grab yourarmsreally widearound a “Itreallyishavingamoment,” saysGrace GarryWinograndonthestreet.“Thetwoof Powell, across the world. “By showinga looklikeincountrieswhere there aren’t Bruce Gilden’s portraits are, forexample, all different sides of the same coin. I andconcerned,butthey’realsorevulsedby Museumof London,London EC2,until remindedmeofLibertyLeadingthePeoplebyDelacroix.Thefamilyhad bunch of things and tryand hold them and Pattison, head of programmingfor the usworkedtogether,” Meyerowitzexplained galleryofall of them in asingle place, it really streets, where people don’tchitchat taken in his unsuspectingsubjects’faces actually think street photographers are this failure of health. They lookunreal September4.020-70019844; www.museumoflondon.org.uk justfound thefadedflag,datingfromtheSecond WorldWarintheirattic, organisethem, that’s excitingtome.” London Street Photography Festival, lastweek. “Wediscoveredthe language of reinforcedthis definition of street photo- and gossip,orwhere there are no women and it’s this intrusiveness that makes the servingan important socialpurpose.” these picturesbut they all are real. It’s We walkonforamoment,thenhestops. whichwilltakeplaceinJuly.“It’s beenthere street photography together and began to graphy,” Turpin says. “Now it has really onthestreets?” imagessoarresting. Meyerowitzrecently Forsome, though, it’s simply amatterof intoxicatingreally.” alongwiththe armytunic heiswearing.” “This guy sittinghere is nice,”hesays, since the beginningofphotography but it’s lookatthoseleaderstoeducateus.” becomeabig thing.” Some of those questions maybe pleasure. “I can’tdoanything else,”Robert- Clementsechoesthat sentiment: “When LondonStreet noddingtowards aman in ared T-shirtsit- never had the recognition it deservesand By 1994 Meyerowitzwas ready to do Thatwasconfirmedwiththepublication answeredbyRawiya, which officially son says. “It’sdeep within my heart, my youtakeastill moment from everyday life, PhotographyFestival tingonafire hydrant. “And youknow he’s the momentum has justbeen building. It’s some educatingofhis own: he co-wrote lastyear of StreetPhotographyNow,a launchedatFormat festival. Itsname ‘When youtakea brain; Ican’t stop doingit. It’s justawayfor it transforms the everyday;you reflecton ExhibitionsacrossLondonvenues,plusthe probably not goingtogoanywhere, so you kindof explodingnow.” Bystander: AHistoryofStreetPhotography Bystander forthe 21stcentury. To its pub- means “she who tells the story” in Arabic. me to see the world. There’snoconscious your placeinthe world with anew mind. firstStreetPhotographyAwards,July7-17. canwait and see if something else comes. If Louise Clements, the artistic directorof with Colin Westerbeck. Clements calls the lisher’s shock, the firstprint runsoldout in As the founding member,Beirut-born still moment from effortatstyle;it’s justthewayIseethings.” The philosophy of street photography is 08452602460; G somebodycameroundthis cornerwearing Format,aninternational festival in Derby bookthe genre’sbible. Nick Turpin has his three weeks. Sophie Howarth, who co- Dalia Khamissy,explains: “Wewanted to That candour and directness are ahuge almostZen-like; becomingpartofthe londonstreetphotographyfestival.org the same redashim ...”Then, likesome that this year is dedicated to street photo- career to thank forit: he wasworkingasa wrotethe bookwith the photographer tell the storiesofthe regions where we live everyday life, it partofthe medium’s appeal. “Youhave this crowdandobservingit withanew perspec- us Powell wasastreet photographer before small miracle, awoman rounds the corner graphy and is showcasingthe work of photojournalistwhenhe sawareview copy Stephen McLaren, says: “Now everyone is in our way. We want to break the stereo- rectangle and ashutterbutton, and those tive.It’syou in the moment transposing BillCunninghamNewYork heevenknewit.AsakidgrowingupinNew inaredcapeandonthesecondthatthetwo newcomers such as Rawiya, an all-women on the picture desk. “I ‘borrowed’ it,” he aphotographer there’sanincreased typesthatthereareontheregion.” transforms the are the twotools youmakestreet photo- andcomposingwithlife.” Documentaryaboutthestreet York he usedto“walk all overthe placeand figuresbecome parallel, Powell’s shutter collective of Middle Easternphoto- says, “and read it from covertocover.Iwas appetitefor this kind of work. It taps into At the moment sheisconcentratingon graphs with,”Turpin says. “Nolighting, no Back in the midst of Manhattan life, photographerBillCunninghamopens bringhome trash—youknow,acrushed snaps. I’m speechless but he simply says: graphers, and veterans such as the British justsoinspiredbythis work. It mademe theobserverinall ofus.” the aftermath of warinLebanon, which everyday.It’sZen-like’ styling, no models, no filters: nothingto Powell is comingtothe end of his walk intheUSnextweek. hubcapthat lookedlikeahat that Ithought “The city’ssogenerous. Youhaveasense of photographerBrianGriffinandtheAmeri- realise this wasprobably the hardestkind She, too, enthusesabout the encourage- includes work on the thousands of people suggested that this method is becoming hidebehind, youcan do it or youcan’t, when the street throws up one of those zeitgeistfilms.com/ wascool...all kindsof stuff”. what youwant and youhavesome cans Joel Meyerowitzand Orville Robert- of photography there was. Ileft The mentthat online forums offer. “Thekind of who were victims of enforceddisappear- more difficult. “Backinthe Sixtiesand there’snobullshit. And Ithink in the “quotidiandelights”thathetalkedabout.A billcunninghamnewyork Powell, now 36, still walks all over the patience,andit comes.” son, says: “Nearly everybody has acamera Independent newspaper,where Ihad astaff supportthat people are giving each other ance. Such work canbedangerous. The Seventies,”the 73-year-oldsaid, “people conceptual artworld there’sagreat deal of veryshortmanin an immaculatesuitturns placebut instead of collectinginteresting We walk through SoHoand then north on their mobile phone now —that’s really job, so Icould pursuestreet photography.A online has really blown me away,” shesays. Iranian photographer Mehraneh Atashi, didn’t payattention to photographers. We ...”hepausesmeaningfully,“...talk.” acorner,hurryingtowardsuswithanenor- HoppéPortraits:Society,Studio&Street rubbishhemakes pictures. The twothings, intoWashington Square Park, where a enabledustotap intothat empathyfor lotof peopletold meIwasstupid.” “Now there is real peer-ledcoaching, and arecipient of Format’s Paul Hill EXPO- were invisible and so there wasakind of Turpin also cites “the whole Photoshop mous transparent ringbinder restingopen NationalPortraitGallery, LondonWC2, itemerges,arealmostoneandthesamepro- manis exuberantly playing Here Comesthe streetgeneratedimages.” Street photography certainly doesn’t professionals and amateurs are rubbing SURE Award, wasdetainedfor her images soft, sweet spot in the world that youcould thing, where everythingismanipulated on his palms, empty.He’sgazingdown at it untilMay30 cess. He explains that when he wasateen- Sun on an upright piano amongthe That empathyhas been boostedbythe pay. “It’sbeen incrediblyrelevant —partof shouldersinwaysthey didn’tbefore.” of Tehran lastyear.It’sapainful paradox occupy. Nowwhen youraise your camera likecrazy—Ithink people are reacting disconsolately as he walks, so absorbedin ager “the camera became away to carry pigeons. It’s adelightfulsight and Iturnto advent of relatively cheap digital cameras, the documentarytradition,”Turpin says, Robertson,aJamaican-bornNewYorker that we’re able to lookather revealing, everyone’seyesdarttoyou.” againstthat”. whatever thought he’shavingthat he Thisis Whitechapel even more back from the street without Powellexpectantly. and the waythat photo-sharingsites such “but youdon’t really hangitonyour wall.” who has been takingdynamic black-and- poignant imagesbut sheisunable to talk The current popularityfor street photo- Buttheproliferationofstreetimagesalso doesn’tevennotice Powell scrabble to cap- IanBerry’sEastLondonphotographs, having to carryithome and my mum get “It’spretty great,” he admits. “This isn’t as Flickr allow people around the world to As aresult,it’snot drivenbygalleriesand whitestreet photographs formore than 30 about them forfear of being imprisoned graphy has stirredinterest in Meyerowitz’s raisesthequestionofquality. Everyonecan ture it. He missesand the man is gone. takenin 1972.Whitechapel Gallery, mad at me”.Hesmiles. It’s averybright day the picture, though. The picture is when publishand discuss their images. Techno- print salesinthe waythat mostother years,isdelightedbythisdevelopment.“It’s again. work and that of others who began photo- be astreet photographer but,accordingto Powell smilesand shrugs. “Those little LondonE2,untilSeptember 4. in NewYork and, as we navigate the lunch- he’spushingthat thing along the sidewalk logy, then,hasaffordedthemediumforthis photography is. Now, though, there is a amazingintermsof my street photography Britishphotographers have had their graphingdecades before Flickr and the Griffin, fewcan be good street photo- momentsof beatitude.Ilovethem.” 020-75227888;whitechapelgallery.org hour throngrushingalong the pavements amidsomeothermoment—that’s thekind renaissance but it wasalso technologythat proliferation of virtual walls to hangiton beingseenbypeoplewhoneverwouldhave own, albeit far less dramatic,battleswith rest.Therehavebeenfreshdiscoveries,too, graphers. “There are more imagesoftech- FormatInternationalPhotography of Broadway,hetalks about the pleasure of ofthingwhereyoumighttakeanote.” began it: the genre waseffectively bornin and plentyofestablishedand respected had the chance to see me. There’savery, authorities. Last year they triumphed such as the work of Vivian Maier,ananny nical competence than we’veeverexperi- FestivalRightHereRightNow:Exposures VivianMaier his work. His fingers rest on the camera More and more people are, likePowell, Paris in the early 1930s when the firstLeica photographers who have only published very active communityofstreet photo- whenSection44oftheTerrorismAct,anti- who leftbehind about 100,000 unseen enced before,buttobesuperiorto thegreat fromthePublicRealmrunsuntilApril3 Aselectionofher workisat snapshot The renowned NewYork Times street photographer Bill Cunningham aroundhisneckall thewhile. seizingcameras and “takingnotes”onthe rangefindersbecameavailable.Thesewere their work online. Although some photo- graphersandthat’s beenarealrevelation.” terrorism legislation that allows police to negativesofChicagostreet imageswhen masters of the past? We might find one or invenuesacrossDerby andbeyond; vivianmaier.blogspot.com out on the streeets of the Big Apple, this time in someone else’s viewfinder “We’re all justcruisingby, completely streets around them. Forsome, street pho- the firsttosupportrolls of film rather than graphers, includingPowell, shoot in film, ThemostinfluentialoftheseisHardcore stop andquestion people photographingin shediedin2009. When her pictureswere twointhenext50years,maybe.” formatfestival.com