I am very happy to announce the issue 47 of the magazine for street photographers

It is a monograph dedicated to Eli Dijkers, presenting 4 projects.

You can’t miss the extraordinary quality of this issue in orde to have a fantastic and inspiring book.

Get this issue and all the ones you prefer here:

Street Photographer Notebook

 

 

2 e-books contemporaneamente del collettivo la.strada.

2 e-books at the same time from the street photogaphy collettive la.strada.

They are free to download. You can it on this page:

la strada

 

 

FLICKR IS ASKING NOW 50 $ TO USERS. FOR THIS REASON I DECIDED TO RE-OPEN THE EMBASSY GROUP OF THE EDITORIAL PROJECT

As you know THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER NOTEBOOK is the only street photography magazine in the world paying the photographers featured. A project launched in 2014 and soon arriving to 50 issues published.

The project counts already with a official page and now I decided to reopen the group. The news is now that is open to any street photographer and the main focus is to build a worldwide community and supporting the editorial project.

You are all invited to join.

If you want to get further info about the magazine, how to submit or buying the issues, please visit:

Street Photographer Notebook

Since this picture was appreciated by a certain Paolo Pellegrin, I decided to analyze the composition for this blog.

I made this photograph in Oaxaca, during my first trip there, on May 2015. The location is the side of th city I call “Fashion District” because is an area where most clothing stores are located, and exactly like in Los Angeles the whole atmosphere of that area is influenced by this type of activity.

The image shows a mannequin without head, with a feminine evening dress in the foreground while on the other side of the a woman is walking.

First consideration of this composition: the separation of the different visual elements thanks to the rectangles, the shutters of the two closed shops. They work to separate the scenes and making evident two frames to look at. 

Think also out brain how works in processing the visual elements: we are used to recognize instinctively geometric shapes and in fact mentally separate them to collect and process information.

When we analyze a photograph we should take care of the orientation. The first, most evident element in this sense is offeed by the deep shadow of the mannequin: it helps to understand the direction of the photo going to the upper right corner, encountering the secondary scene with the woman. Helping me with the lines I wanted to highlight the presence of the several directions suggested by the lines. There are horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines on the frame.

We can see a connection due to my choice to put in relation the two “human figures” through this vertical frame. It results evident the underline thanks to the extended arm of the woman the different nature and existence of the 2 subjects.

It helps in this case, observe more carefully and find out that the woman is dressing a long skirt exactly how the mannequin.

To make this photo, of course, I waited to have the woman in the second rettangle. Should I wait for the woman positioned exactly in the middle of the rolling shutter? Yes, probably. But I did have just one opportunity, and I photographed this with the Ricoh GRD IV, which has shutter lag. To have anything perfect is impossible, and I am happy to have photographed the woman with one leg in front of the other (showing the long skirt) and the extended arm.

As I repeat to my students we can’t think to obtain anything perfect, but the intent is the one to keep in consideration any shot we do. We have to be intuitive, reactive and taking the picture at home.

New upcoming wokshops 2018/2019

WORKSHOPS

 

THE WHOLE IS MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

Yes, I back to talk about Gestalt Psychology because is something pretty important in the way I do work a lot of my street photos. This helps, I think, to understand not just my pictures, but also a lot of photographs we see everyday. By understanding them we will have a clear idea about the value of any image. 

First of all, let me say that the pioneers of Gestalt Psychology were philosophers : Kant, Descartes or Husserl developed the theoretic basis on which this school of thought has been developed. 

It is important also to remind that the main proposers of Gestalt indicated alternatives to the dominant psychological paradigms, to make an example the behaviorism, which limits human behavior to associations between stigmas and responses. Great contributions were made for the cognitive by Gestalt theorists.

An important factor we shouldn’t ignore:

Our ability to pay attention and process information is affected by several factors and our brain requires a lot of effort to select the most relevant data at any given time. The example of the choice in a supermarket is perfect: we have a wall of cereal boxes, but we usually will notice the most visually striking and we will focus our attention on that. Anyway, any person understands reality in a different way: the environment and other people influence us, so our cultural background, our feelings…

To seek simple and natural explanations that can be adapted to our natural way of perceiving reality. Through perception, we are able to acquire knowledge of the world. Perception tends to organize the elements in the simplest possible way.

Our brain prefers harmonious compositions.

Mental processes are not infinite, and we cannot dedicate time and energy to everything around us. Thsi is the reasons ou brain tends to simplify what we perceive and prefer simplicity. Minimalim could be the winning formula in a photograph, but is not always in this way.

Gestalt Theory applies the law of proximity that states: the elements closest to each other tend to form a group as if they were one set.

Another law used is the law of similarity: similar figures seem to have the same shape.

Their similarity may be due to the fact that they have a similar color, shape or any other characteristic that allows us to create aunion among them.

The common fate law states that humans perceive visual elements that move in the same speed and/or direction as parts of a single stimulus.

Gestalt Psychology can have several applications and I think photography is one of them.

Based on this idea we can recognize how the circumstances are made of several components interacting with each other. If we want to solve a problem we have to reorganize its components to discover a new solution.This is also something Stephen Shore said when he stated that the photographer is an individual called to solve the composition, in order to obtain a winning photographic equation.

We know in this way that photography is about problem solving at any shot.

Wertheimer proposed us the difference between productive thinking, that consists in carrying out creative reorganizations of the elements of the problems in order to solve them, and the reproductive thinking, limited to applying the previous knowledge in a mechanical way.

Gestalt theory insists on using productive thinking, which will help us to reach insight.

The term refers to the eureka moment: when we suddenly realize what the answer to our difficulties is. Can you see how photographic is?

Gestalt Psychology is a great resource for creatives and anyone making communication through images.

If we  know Gestalt Theory very well, we will be able to attract the attention of our audience. To know how we interpret images is essential in order to identify and reviewing the photos and to create works that allow us to transmit our messages to the viewers.

If we want to compose memorable photos we need to have clear what is the important part where the message comes out. And we have to put it as clearly as possible: because photography is a language and we need to speak it with a sense. All the attention of the viewer needs to be focused on the essential elemens, possibly without irrelevant distractions. I argue this is possible also on busy streets, because the photographer entered the urban element is “dancing”, has absorbed the rhythm and speed of the scene in which it is immersed.

 

I smile anytime someone shows to misinterpret my ideas on photography. One of this is for sure to think I am a fundamentalist of rules when exactly the opposite is true. 

The fact I have an idea that street photography requires a candid approach doesn’t mean I want to dictate any rule.

And I disagree with the real fundamentalists thinking an eye contact makes a photo no more street photo and as they think should be defined a street portrait. My most famous photo so far shows a powerful eye contact (the Oriental girl ina starbuck’s window in Los Angeles) and I consider it absolutely a clear and pure example of what street photography is.

In the photograph we can see here, of course we have a clear, well defined subject. The girl is in the foreground, she is looiking at me, looking at any observer of the photo. She is the main subject and at the same time she is the opener of the story, because then the eye wanders, looking for other information it finds. The viewer can recognize a market situation with several people in the frame. We have in this way also information about the little girl, arriving to guess the reason why she is there. 

I would highlight the extraordinary of photography: it is always a representation of the reality, but is not the reality. It can’t because is always something filtered by the elections of the photographer, and despite the photographer took a piece of reality, in any moment somebody else will see the photo will be his/her reality, due to a different background, that feeds and provides a different understanding and metabolization of the scene.

In the photo above, I photographed attracted by the expression of the girl, and I immediately recognized a photographic frame where her position worked as a perfect introduction to the world behind her. There is an eye contact: of course when often happens when you count with a normal or wide angle lens and you photograph though the viewfinder. And yes, I consider it a street photograph, because I don’t marry the idea a street photogaph should be always based on juxtapositions or having a smile in the head, I have an idea of street photographs more classic and anchored to social and anthropological reflection. 

I use often to propose eye contact photos. I love the way they wok to involve me (the observer) in the frame. And if you don’t agree, no problems, you can call it my gonzography.

 

I ADDED A NEW SECTION ON THIS WEBSITE

CITIES will show a selection of street photos in any city where I worked.

Currently I have already published:

MILANO

PALERMO

LOS ANGELES

 

Other cities I will add as soon as possible:

ROMA

FIRENZE

TORINO

ORVIETO

MEXICO CITY

OAXACA

Of course I hope to visit other cities in the world!

CITIES

 

One of my favorite things about photography is that it allows subversive acts, far from academic constraints.

I support the need to listen to our voice. Bearing this in mind, the formal approach must be sought in our way of expressing ourselves rather than following the rules that all, more or less, have studied.

Don’t get me wrong and continue reading this article.

“In his introduction to William Eggleston Guide, John Szarkowski drew attention to the circular core of many of the pictures, which radiated out to the frame–a pattern clearly demonstrated by The Red Ceiling–‘Just like the Confederate flag,’ Eggleston had responded.”

source: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/05/theory-william-eggleston-introduction.html

Any photographer out of a photography school will repeat the same adage: avoid to put in the centre of the image the subject.

Let’s see these photos:

I think the 2 photos work fine, and the subject is in the center of the frame. In documentary photography, the priority of the content takes the upper hand over the formal one, but I believe that in the two cases presented a formal rigor exists, and it was decided by me. 

Now I want to present you a picture set according to more classic canons:

In this case I tried to compose using the guidelines that lead to the subjects. This is evidently a composition built almost like a landscape. The checkout tapis roulant starts from the right corner, reaching the scene, the eye is led in a natural way in  that point.

The secret for a photographer is always the same: to have the intuition to solve the composition, in order to obtain a certain photographic logic. We photographers are continually creating equations. Photographic equations. Personal photographic equations.

I share another photo:

Sensations can guide the decision to shoot. On the street we work in a really short time to capture what we want. Street Photography is first of all a question of reaction to what we see in front of us. The forms that I insert inside the image don’ t necessarily have to respond to a total caption. I have already written in previous posts about the imporance to capture the atmosphere of a certain scene. In this photo I focused on the relation that interposed between the squares of the lady’s dress and those of the box. It is a totally instinctive photograph, where there is a clear main subject and where secodary elements are confined to the edges of the frame: they still are useful as context, and I can see dynamism offered also by those elements.

Look at this:

I can see I photographed this almost blind. I was inside a restaurant and visibility was very hard to have an idea of people passing in front of the window. However, I was still attracted to the graphism that would have created the curtain. The subject is exactly on the cente of the image, but it works.

OK. I added new elements of thoughts for my readers. I would conclude this post to remind I am available for online street photography workshops where I can analyze your work and starting a learning path together. You can get all the info here:

Online Street Photography Workshops

 

 

 

Are you traveling to Mexico  or are you a local who wants to focus on street photography and reportage? Do you want to make a special Xmas gift?

Since 2011 I give street photography workshops. It is always a great experience. I love to share my experience with other people! All over these years I met people from any part of the world and is always an amazing day. I propose a full day experience as street photographers in the streets of Mexico: we eat together, we have fun and we make a lot of photos. Guys are always fantastic and I am happy to work with them. At the end of a street photo day I back at home with a vibrant energy, with the awareness it is the start of a path where I will keep to follow them thanks to the mentoring program included.

On Monday, I did a one-day street photography workshop with professional photographer Alex Coghe. It was a great experience and I learned things that immediately improved my photography. Alex, originally from Rome, has been in el D.F. for 5 years and his approach to photography really opened my eyes.I won’t divulge any of his secrets – you will have to take a workshop if you are in central Mexico – but I will say that I am now shooting almost exclusively in manual mode. I used to shoot mostly in aperture priority, but now I am going full manual with aperture, time, and focus, with only ISO on automatic. It has already helped me get sharper images when shooting street photos. Jeff Bell, from Alaska (US)

 

I did have several photographers attenfing my workshops who received as gift for birthday or as Xmas gift. You can do the same for yourself or for a photographer you love.

Now the offer is even more exciting. There are workshops in person or the ones online with a new formula:

Street Photography Workshops

Online Street Photography Workshops

Please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to read from you and answering your questions.

WHAT I AM DOING WITH THIS BLOG IS AMBITIOUS AND IT STARTS FROM AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: STREET PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT OF HOW THEY ARE CONSIDERED

I am proposing technique articles on this blog pretty different by the most of the blogs you find out of here. It is a philosophic approach to master the technique, a technique always put at the service of the events in front of us. Something my students are familiar because I don’t use a standardized method of teaching.

The evolution of my photographic process involves a lot of walking around, really lived life, and I am focused in collecting events happening  in front of my eyes that can tell a story, interesting, in my opinion.

David Lynch, filmmaker, photographer, musician helps with this statement:

“An idea comes — and you see it, and you hear it, and you know it… We don’t do anything without an idea. So they’re beautiful gifts. And I always say, you desiring an idea is like a bait on a hook — you can pull them in. And if you catch an idea that you love, that’s a beautiful, beautiful day. And you write that idea down so you won’t forget it. And that idea that you caught might just be a fragment of the whole — whatever it is you’re working on — but now you have even more bait. Thinking about that small fragment — that little fish — will bring in more, and they’ll come in and they’ll hook on. And more and more come in, and pretty soon you might have a script — or a chair, or a painting, or an idea for a painting. More often than not, in small fragments…”

Photography to me is essentially an emotional reaction. End of the story. When I pressed the shutter button I have or I don’t have the photograph I wanted. Just like all the photographers. But then, as writer of things about photography and as an educator I have another mission to carry forward. 

To be a writer too, makes me different from only photographers. This is a fact. I am not afraid of words. I think we need more contents of a certain cultural level. Let’s stop to feed SEO posts where THE NOTHING is celebrated, because Street Photographers need respect, and they don’t need really of stupid rankings. This also generated the kindergarden of today, that street photography bubble unuseful or useful only to the ones thinking lensculture is something serious. 

We have to question our photos. We need to get a real cognitive semiotics approach to the analysis of street photos in order to understand what is valid and what is not. We need to stop to celebrate stuff that does not communicate anything and therefore is not commentable from its own author. If you are not able to talk about your photograph, well, is very likely that it is not a good photo. A photographer should be a man not only for action but also for thought. A person with culture and not lensculture, if you know what I mean. 

On this blog, as my followers and readers know, I don’t think for SEO strategies. This blog is for the ones looking for something more ambitious. I am receiving a lot of congrats for this and I would let you know, you dear reader of this blog, you are the inspiration to make this possible. 

“The central act of photography, the act of choosing and eliminating, forces a concentration on the picture edge – the line that separates in from out – and on the shapes that are created by it.” – John Szarkowski: The Photographers Eye, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 2009.

The simple act of photographing represents a no democratic action.

Anything is about the photographer. About how he decided to document the scene in front of him.

The photograph you see above was taken in Trastevere, one of the more characteristics neighborhoods in Rome, Italy.

What is the point of this photo?

I will use this photo to talk about proximity. The idea today of getting close. And closer if possible. Something pretty enjoyed by street photographers.

What does proximity mean?

Closeness, nearness.

The point is to get close is OK. Of course, it always depends about what we want to show. I think getting close and closer is n ot sufficient to make a good photo. Photography is not about having balls. This is a concept used by those thinking to reach a street photographer status by getting close and closer…but hey, we are photographers, and we need to communicate something more than just “look how much is close to the subject”.

Also…dear readers, we have to consider again the Gestalt factor. I written about Gestalt Psychology in the last 2 articles on this blog in the technique section. The principle of organization in Gestalt Psychology considers events and objects near to one another being perceived as a unit.

Our brain is always ready to create associations. In this case my perception goes to the face of the main subject, close to me when I took the picture. He wears sunglasses, and the lady on the left too. Look at the hand of the man going to cover part of the face of the man immediately after the woman.

Most important thing to consider when we talk about proximity in street photography. What is the sensation I achieved to capture? The observer is there, exactly in the point where I made my photograph. This is a fundamental aspect to me: to use the lens I decided to work with for its characteristics. I am exploiting it exactly for purpose and intentionality I decided to use a 28mm lens. There is the interaction in you mind as image viewer with the man close to…us. We are talking with him.

The proximity factor is something I use often in order to get an involving photographic situation.

The Street Photography connotation is not given by being on the streets, much more is given by the form and the approach we use in order to get a street photo. I see sometimes pictures made with a telephoto soul, despite the photographer is using normal or wide angle lenses ( 35 or 28) and I don ‘t really like them. Street Photography is not about the camera and the lens, but I think it’s more based on how I use the medium to get a specific message.

 

BIG NEWS. DIRECTLY ON THE HOMEPAGE OF THIS WEBSITE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FOR FREE MY GUIDE TO STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

 

This is a best seller I published in 2015.

The book is divided in three main categories: HISTORY, AETHETICS AND MOTIVATIONS, TECHNIQUE. I included a chapter where famous street photographers that I interviewed in these years share their thoughts about Street Photography (Blake Andrews, David Gibson, James Dodd, Markus Hartel and many more).

Now I decided to propose it for free. It is the best way to get familiar with my products. In these years I published other e-books about technique and philosophy of photography. 

I hope you can buy the other products too after this gift.

Word of mouth that there is now a free guide to street photography:

https://www.alexcoghe.com

 

Milano. Milan.

Milan and Photography. The look of a street photographer in two days. Year 2018. I’m back for the third time. On two occasions to give a street photography workshop. I consider Milan one of the best cities to make street photos.

In addition to this, for me Milan means the Jamaica bar: Uliano Lucas, Mario Dondero, Tano D’Amico. And then Gabriele Basilico. Milano to me is also Mario Cattaneo.

Milan represents always a fascinating challenge, impossible not making something interesting, but you must enter a certain state of mind to see and recognize.

What I want to present with this post? First of all: a lot of photographs. It would be easier to me to present only the best shots, but it is not my goal this time. I present here almost all the photos made in 2 days, during the scouting afternoon with Gabriele Lopez and then during the workshop day. This is practically a no editing collection of photos in order to share with my readers what a street photographer does.

By looking at the photographs made in 2 days in Milan, I can see the energy of a city always on the move, hectic but that also leaves you free time, fashionista and still a pinch of poetry. Magnificent Milan to be inextricably photogenic, capable of giving the photographer some exciting moments.

I want to share this. And I want to share the imperfection of the shots, the unconditional surrender to moving, sparkling and dynamic context where I found myself working. No excessive editing to present you 2 days of shots of a street photographer. Because this is a street photography focused blog, and because the essence of street photography, guys, is the emotion to do it, good shots, less good, and I want to give an inspiration for my readers. Also I want to present Milan, how I have seen it in 2 days, while busy and not just thinking about making photos. Just like Garry Winogrand going with his students to make photos on the streets. This post is an act of love for Milan and for street photography. And for my readers. I hope you enjoy.

 

I took this picture in Milan, Italy, this year.

My priority as street photographer is to capture something awakening my curiosity. Sometimes it can be something weird, funny or simply a combination od elements working together.

It is based on instinct, but always filtered through technical skills. I don’t need to think that much about the best way to take the photo, anything is about recognizing a moment as a photograph and to be quick, before the moment will be lost forever. I pretend also my students achieving this.

It is a must have of any real street photographer.