One of the big stories in the photo world last year was when a set of glass negatives purchased for $45 at a garage sale were found to potentially be Ansel Adams photos worth an estimated $200 million. Unfortunately for the finder, the photos were most likely not Ansel’s, and ensuing lawsuits prevented him from making a huge profit from the find. Real estate agent John Maloof, on the other hand, could end up making a fortune from his discovery of previously-unknown nanny and street photographer Vivian Maier. Read more…
Boston news station WBZ-TV stirred up some controversy recently after airing a piece titled “Downtown Crossing ‘Street Photographers’ Crossing The Line?“. Apparently a viewer sent in some video showing a group of six or seven older men who regularly visit a particular crosswalk to photograph pedestrians on the street, saying that they see the men “aggressively hunting down and photographing women and children nearly every day”. The station then decided to air a piece and publish a story from this perspective, questioning the intentions of the photographers and quoting other pedestrians on the sidewalk disturbed by their behavior. Read more…
Magnum street photographer Bruce Gilden shoots his candid portraits on sidewalks by walking right up to strangers and sticking his camera and flash up into their faces, as seen in the “walking NYC streets” video we featured last year. In the behind-the-scenes video above, British Journal of Photography editor Olivier Laurent follows Gilden around as he shoots a project in Derby, England.
If you think the expression on these people’s faces don’t look like ordinary street portraits, it’s because they’re actually looking at themselves in a mirror. Moa Karlberg captured these unique candid portraits of strangers by using a one-way mirror, capturing what it looks like when people look at reflections of themselves. Read more…
Here’s a short and very interesting behind-the-scenes documentary with Scott Schuman, who has made a name for himself in the fashion industry by roaming the streets of big cities, capturing beautiful photographs of fashion, and publishing them to his website The Sartorialist.
The expression “shooting from the hip” might soon become “shooting from the ear” for iPhone photographers. There’s a new app in town called Camera Camouflage that allows you to sneakily photograph while appearing to be engaged in a phone conversation. The app can activate your phones ringtone, allowing you to “take a call”, and then snaps photos whenever you talk (it’s voice activated). On the iPhone 4, the app deactivates the flash by default, helping you avoid potentially embarrassing situations.
For some stealthy street photography, you could simply chat on your phone while strolling down the sidewalk. Taking portraits of people becomes as easy as stopping in front of them, turning your head to look at something to the side, and saying something random.
You can get your hands on Camera Camouflage for $0.99 in the App Store.
Joe Wigfall is a photo enthusiast and street photographer that won WNYC’s Street Shots Challenge back in 2008. This is the same contest that created the behind-the-scenes video featuring Bruce Gilden that became pretty popular on YouTube. As you’ll see, Wigfall’s approach towards street photograph is quite different from Gilden’s get-up-in-your-face approach.
Joe Wigfall can see with his hands. Never lifting his camera to his eye, he shoots hundreds of photos during his lunch hour or walking to the train after work. A true artist, Joe brings a bit of himself into each of his photographs.
This fascinating video shows how Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden does his street photography in New York City. If you’ve ever wondered what kind of person it takes to capture closeup shots of people in a place like NYC, this video may be very interesting to you. He’s the complete opposite of someone who stands on the other side of the street, using a telephoto to “get close”.
