What Street Photographers Can Learn About Design and Composition from Classical Art

by Eric Kim on February 25, 2013

Adam Marelli, a talented photographer and artist that I have taught two workshops with recently gave a superb lecture at the B&H Photo space in NYC on design/composition. The talk is about an hour and a half, and worth every minute. I highly recommend every street photographer who wants to better understand how to compose their photos better to watch it. More description of the talk below:

We will look at how many of the design problems that photographers face have been addressed by classical artists. Bridging the gap of classical art and street photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson combined the two practices and set the world of photography on a new course. We will look at how he and his followers at Magnum, converted the lessons from classical artists into the photojournalism, street photography, and portraiture. We will introduce the visual language, examining its basic grammar and the ways in which photographers can build up each element in their own work. They will be given specific examples from master painters who were proto-street photographers.

Attendees will walk away with a completely new way of viewing the design accomplishments of classical art. Museums and galleries will breathe with new life as the geometry of art and design is decoded specifically for photographers. You will be given a list of “common compositional mistakes” that many photographers make because the they are only taught to artists. We will also reveal where the “Rule of Thirds” comes from and look at additional techniques to use with a 35mm format.

If you want to learn more, make sure to also check out Adam’s upcoming workshops here.

  • http://johngoldsmithphotography.com/ John Goldsmith

    Thanks for sharing this, Eric. I want to add when I became a parent, I was finding that the art in many of the books i was reading to my kids had similar layouts to what I was finding in street photography. Of course, this should have been obvious beforehand but I wasn’t so aware of this since I wasn’t trained in the visual arts. But I suggest that if one wants to get a sense of forms in art, children’s book provide a great beginning for the exact reason as classical art, which is no doubt the origin. Or cave drawings. :)

    • http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim

      Anytime John- and glad you are able to experience that as a parent. Can’t wait until I have kids one day :)

  • IcyArthur

    Thank you for sharing this, it was very helpful and inspiring.

  • lee

    nice lecture but im not sure that a lot of what was talked about in terms of lines and placing areas of light and dark together are always thought about in such detail during the making of some of these images in particular the winogrand image. We have a tendency to over analyse after the fact which is definitely one of the problems inherent in art practice.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Donohoe/100000308877053 Paul Donohoe

    yes!! I think I spend more time looking at all kinds of art than I do the work of other street photographers. Looking at other art helps one develop one’s own vision, looking TOO MUCH at the work of other street photographers can have you following their styles more that developing your own. I would recommend anyone who wants to be a GOOD street photographer learn to appreciate all kinds of art

  • Robert Dein

    Excellent!!! Thanks for sharing.

    http://www.deinfaces.com/

  • Richards

    This was interesting thanks. I went to a photography show case in London yesterday. The guy was a travel photographer and a bloody good one at that. He was talking about exactly the same thing. He said that the national gallery in London have talks three times a week where an art expert will dissect some art. He said this was really valuable for photography. I’ll be checking it out.

    http://www.fuji-x100-blog.co.uk

  • Brett

    Yes, excellent, thoroughly enjoyed the lecture, i feel i’ve learned many lessons that previously escaped me, highly commended Eric.

  • Adam Marelli

    Thank you for sharing Eric, and glad that everyone is enjoying the video. May it prove useful to your photography!

    • http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim

      Thanks again for putting this together Adam!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=666705838 Gary Gumanow

    Me thinks you doth protest too much.

  • http://www.facebook.com/stillaliveandwell Matt Harding

    I have been looking for this kind of information for years. Thank you Eric for posting this and thank you Adam for so graciously allowing this to be viewed by the public. Now its time for me to get out of my head and start looking for these relationships through the viewfinder.

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