What is street photography?

Street photography is also called candid photographythough there is a delicate difference between the two.This photography is conducted for enquiry or for pure love for art. However, in both cases, street photography features random incidents, rustic movements and chance encounters in public places.

Most street photography is candid in nature and some candid photography is categorized as street photography. Street photography is a specific genre that captures candid, spontaneous and unposed moments of daily life in public places, usually in the urban landscape, as all the elements unfold themselves naturally. It could be a bustling city or busy town. The purpose is to document the essence and cultural elements of urban life and human’s action, reaction and inaction on the streets.

Partha Das

Surajit Dutta

Street photography involves keen observation on both the subject and the surroundings, anticipating interesting happenings, interactions with all the elements present at the moment and feeling emotions so that the photo could narrate an engaging story to the audience.

Interestingly, street photography does not always have a street or an urban elementin it. In fact, street photography may or may not have presence of people. Sometimes, an object or environment occupies the entire scenario or becomes a major part of it.

In street photography, the photographer is a keen observer of what he wants to capture. Unlike fashion or food photography, the photographer has no option to tell his/her subject to pause and pose so that he can get the perfect click. One has to capture the perfect moment in the blink of an eye as every moment at present rolls into the abyss of past.

Saikat Chanda

Devaraj Devan

In other words, timing and framing can bea key to the craft as the street photographer aims to produce images of a poignant moment, character or both.

What do street photographers want to convey?

For each street photo, the photographer takes a solitary walk towards the soul of the character, animate or inanimate, and thus, becomes an extension of his subject or object. The photographer is a stroller, stalker, soul-searcher and storyteller who looks for something that, despite an ordinary appearance, presents a mystic appeal.

Deep Maity

Sreejith Ek

A soul-to-soul connection is established before his finger presses the shutter, fully knowing that if the moment passes by, there is no chance to recreate the magic. Once gone, time and tide never come back; prompting you to leave your mark at the right moment.

For a street photographer, the entire city or village becomes a vast landscape, with every element presenting a certain degree of importance and interest to his penetrating eyes and discerning senses. He feels himself as a part of the entire scenario at that particular moment, thus enjoying every bit of watching and becoming a connoisseur of compassion in the process.

Haimanti Mazumder

Manas Das

An important character of street photography, which is the most challenging task for the photographer as well, is to find out a certain subject or object and focus on it. Given the same scenario, and moments, two photographers’ choice of subject i.e. focus could be polar opposite.

If thought deeply, a street photographer often creates a still documentary of a person or people in a single fame, leaving up to the viewers’ imagination what could happen next, what the subject is thinking or what the actual story is. In a word, it ignites viewers’ fertile imagination and prompts each of them to come up with a version of one’s own. This way, it is lot like a short story that, even when ends, leaves you wanting for more.

About the Photographs

Looking at the photographs, you can understand that the photographers have created magic out of mundane. People, ambiance and other images in these photos are very ordinary. We see them in our everyday life. So, what draws our attention towards them? The sublime sensibility guising in the form of simplicity!

Soumalya Das

Tathagataa Ghosh

However, an excellent blend of the photographers’ focussed thought, choice of subject, technical skill and sense for the magic have infused the kind of story in the frame that we love to read in books or watch on the silver screen. It seems that the story or movie has already started; we are in the midway and have more to read/see.

The photographers have taken the challenge of making things interesting to their discerning audiences, without any kind of cosmetic twists or turns. They have presented it raw, allowing the subjects to narrate their own story through heart-touching and soul-stirring silence. Rustic things exude a magnetic charm that keeps people engaged and enthralled as the framed moments live on for eternity.

Surajit Dutta

Rajdeep Das