Street Photography: Documenting the Human Condition

A new video from Chris Weeks about street photography and rangefinders. He is a photographer from Los Angeles who shoots street for his personal work. Cool guy. One of the first photographers to get the new Leica M9.
He enlists the help of street-photographers Severin Koller, Frank Jackson and Mario Anzuoni for this video.

Sorry can't embed the video here but here are the links:

Part 1:
http://www.vimeo.com/6497905

Part 2:
http://www.vimeo.com/6502390

Part 3:
http://www.vimeo.com/6504591

I think appreciating street photography is sort of like listening to live jazz... no one enjoys themselves more than the artist themself. Most audience members couldn't care less about either art form, but those "in the know" appreciate the subtleties and the subtext.

I hate listening to people like Weeks, like street photography is some transcending art form that puts the photographer in a state of nirvana if done correctly... and only if you have the right equipment.

The jazz analogy is very interesting and probably true in many cases. I think that 'street' has diverged from the beautiful image, which can be appreciated by anyone. Especially since the 1960-70's. Also, time has changed how many photographs are perceived when viewed. A photograph that may have been a tongue-in-cheek joke 30 years ago, may not be understood today. Robert Frank's photographs are not as viewed in the same manner today as they were when published just prior to the Civil Rights movement.

There is also a lot of bad street photography out there (actually bad photography in general), I think. There is little editing now. Out of the hundred-thousands, perhaps millions, of frames that Henri Cartier-Bresson took in his lifetime, how many were actually published and/or displayed to the public? Perhaps 300? 400? Today, people just dump everything onto flickr, internet forums or blogs whether its good, mediocre or bad... I'm guilty of it as anybody else. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, I feel that it affects how we interpret and evaluate photography. Unfortunately, I think the standards have been set to a much lower point now than they ever were as an affect of quantity over quality.

This is actually a really tame Weeks we see in the video. It seems like he's trying to keep himself from exploding. He's extremely opinionated and has a mouth of a sailor, but he is a good guy - I find him actually quite respectful and approachable in person, he obviously works hard, does great work, loves his daughter and he is passionate about photography. If I were to give my honest opinion about gear, it would probably be close to what he was saying. There's little doubt in my mind that by giving Weeks one of the first M9's, Leica knew that he would do something like this. A good marketing move on their part, I think. There are already new people posting on Rangefinderforum.com that have discovered rangefinders through this video! And I really don't mind this considering that photography banter is usually directed the other way around - against film, against anything other than a dSLR and against Leica. At least these videos presents another option. I've encountered many new photographers that were led to believe that digital and and a DSLR is the ONLY option for serious photography when nothing is further from the truth. I myself started out on that road. The first 'serious' camera that I purchased was an entry-level Canon dSLR, which I absolutely hated. I'm sure that it served very well for many people but not me. If I wasn't reintroduced to film and to the rangefinder shortly after my Canon was stolen, I would have given up on photography completely.

Henri Cartier-Bresson always talked about shooting as a transcending experience too and he also was the foremost promotors of the Leica. I can't really imagine Leica even surviving if it wasn't for the legacy left by the photographers that used their equipment. There has been very good street photographers that used other cameras - Daido Moriyama is one of my favourites and he's well known for using Ricoh GR series cameras, which are point-and-shoots with a fixed 28mm lens. The Rolleiflex TLR was also an effective camera for street photography - Robert Doisneau, Fan Ho, etc. I wouldn't be surprised that most street photography is being done with dSLR's these days or with point-and-shoot digitals. However, the fact is, when it comes to street photography, rangefinders are almost universally considered the most suitable type of camera for this genre and the Leica just happens to be at the top of the heap when it comes to rangefinders. For other types of photography, like wildlife photography, a SLR will be more suitable. For landscapes, perhaps a 4x5 field camera... and so on.

I feel that it is true that the camera affects they way one shoots. I see this with myself. Personally, I find that I do take different photographs when I'm using my SLR than I do when I'm using my rangefinder. I've especially noticed this recently now that I have been using my Pentax Spotmatic SLR and Rolleiflex TLR more than usual. The type of viewfinder dictates the way I see and therefore the way I shoot. I agree with Weeks when he said that the viewfinder on a Leica is like a window. That's what it basically is. The scene looks exactly the way it does in real life through human eyes only demagnified a little bit and with lines indicating the edges of the frame. When the viewfinder gives a view through a lens (as in an SLR, TLR, or a view camera), it doesn't look like a real-life scene as viewed with the eye but how it looks through a lens - with limited depth-of-field, magnified or widened, with the distortion, though the filters, etc. In the end, I found that the view through the viewfinder does affect the decisions about how I frame, how I use DOF, where I position myself, and when I press the shutter.

thank you! i actually saw this documentary on another site, and was taken back by "this is the greatest documentary on photography comments." i denfinitely partly agree with the both of you. yes, it is refreshing to see a different perspective on photography. but honestly, it thought the video was very pretentious.

serously, what would cartier-bresson think of the video? ok, how about winogrand? just show me the photograph. yes, they both used leicas because it was their preference. but we know them for the photography they took. their great eye.

i think both of your comments hit it on the nail. i enjoy the fact that there is something new to watch. but....i thought it was a little pretentious....even I say this and I own and M6! its about the photograph. period.