even more people / decisive moments ~ here, there and everywhere

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While many bodies of work, street photography wise, are made in one location - the streets of NYC for an example - my body of work has been made in many locations. The pictures in today's entry were made in NYC, Montreal(3), Tuscany(2), New Jersey(3) and various locations in New York State / the Adirondacks(5) - once again, discursive promiscuity in action. Hence, there is no visually unifying backdrop to the pictures.

In addition, of the 30 posted pictures (in this entry and the entry immediately below), 1/2 are made indoors as opposed to on the street / outdoors. Consequently, the resulting question in my mind is whether or not these pictures really fit into the street photography genre. The only unifying visual referent is people. However, I don't believe these pictures really fit into the people / portrait genre either.

So, what genre are they? Some might not care one way or the other but my concern is that I will need a title for the body of work and the POD book.

At this point, the working title I have in mind is - HUMAN ACTIVITY ~ in situ. Whether that descriptor will hold up, only time will tell.

Update on Friday, January 29, 2016 at 02:07PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment:

John Linn wrote: "Can a picture without people included be considered in the genre of being a "decisive moment"? A picture with static elements might be considered in a "decisive moment" in that the photographer has framed, focused and composed before the shutter release is pressed... but maybe that is not it at all."

My response: I understand exactly what you are addressing with your question. I myself have thought about it and I would agree that the picture maker's act of creating, as Bresson expressed, "a precise organization of forms .... the focus on the particular subject within the mass of reality" is, indeed, a decisive decision for the picture maker.

However, my conclusion on the matter is that, if camera were mounted on a tripod or if a picture maker maintained the same POV by not moving in any substantial way, a picture of static referents could be made at any non-critcal moment in time. While there could be exceptions regarding the quality of light, those exceptions are rarely dependent upon a very singular moment in time. The "perfect light" window might be short-lived but that window is most probably measured in minutes, not seconds/ moments.

Therefore, since there is no genre of decisive minute picture making, I'll go Bresson's 2-headed notion of: 1.) capturing the "significance of an event" together with, 2.) "a precise organization of forms". Both of which combine to give "give that event its proper expression".

fyi - most of my pictures are about "a precise organization of forms". And those pictures do not attempt to depict and event. Unless, of course, you consider a spontaneous arrangement of stuff in a sink (as an example) an event.

Comments

[John]

Can a picture without people included be considered in the genre of being a "decisive moment"? A picture with static elements might be considered in a "decisive moment" in that the photographer has framed, focused and composed before the shutter release is pressed... but maybe that is not it at all.