Young man in a carnival costume fooling around with a toy pistol, 03/14/11 Forbach, France

Photo Essay: The Imaginative Street Photography of Siegfried Becker

Young man in a carnival costume fooling around with a toy pistol, 03/14/11 Forbach, France
Young man in a carnival costume fooling around with a toy pistol, 03/14/11 Forbach, France

For many years I used a studio for the majority of my photography. The attraction of this kind of photography lay in creating artificial imagery, but today I find my subjects in the streets.

Life writes the best stories and practically no other area of photography proves this better than Street Photography. When you look more closely, the everyday reveals unique moments which are often comical, sometimes surreal and not seldom sorrowful and yet always show the variety of human behaviour.

Worker cleaning a canopy of a theater, 07/09/08 Luxembourg Ville, Luxemburg
Worker cleaning a canopy of a theater, 07/09/08 Luxembourg Ville, Luxemburg

But for me, it’s never about making a fool of people, it’s always about intensity and originality.
It’s these moments, which last only a fraction of a second that I try to make capture with my camera.

Woman waiting at a bus stop and reflecting in a shop window, 07/23/07  Sarreguemines, France
Woman waiting at a bus stop and reflecting in a shop window, 07/23/07 Sarreguemines, France

I live in the southwest of Germany, near the border of France and nearby Luxemburg. So I have the opportunity to take pictures in three different cultures, just around the corner.
My photos are published in magazines and I have also worked as a lecturer at various educational institutions for some years.

Homeless person, 07/10/09 Metz, France
Homeless person, 07/10/09 Metz, France

I give workshops, from studio photography to classic black-and-white darkroom technique and I have teaching assignments at the University of my hometown.

Young person at a school outing, 03/22/11 Trier, Germany
Young person at a school outing, 03/22/11 Trier, Germany

Links

See more of Siegfried’s images on his website here, and watch a YouTube slideshow of his finest images below as well.

Which one of Siegfried’s images are your favorite? Leave a comment below!

If you’re also interested in submitting a street photography essay, please shoot me an email at erickimphotography@gmail.com