![Copyright: Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos /SPAIN. Valencia. 1933. Inside the sliding doors of the bullfight arena](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/valencia-800x537.jpg?resize=800%2C537)
Sharpness is over-rated in street photography. Even Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.”
I remember when I first saw one of HCB’s exhibitions in person in Paris, I was surprised by how soft most of his shots were. And many of his photos were significantly out of focus (thinking about the famous shot of the man in a bullfighter’s ring in Spain (above).
When I stated street photography, I was obsessed with sharpness. This of course, was due to all the nerds on gear forums who showed corner to corner sharpness tests on brick walls. I was suckered into thinking a sharp photo was a good photo.
However once I discovered the work or Daido Moriyama, I realized that a good photo didn’t need to be sharp. In-fact, a grainy, out of focus, and soft photo often had more mood, emotion, and soul than an uber-sharp photo:
![Copyright: Daido Moriyama](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/daido_moriyama_005.jpg?resize=720%2C474)
Even when I shoot digital, I try to get my digital shots to look like my film shots. I add grain and grittiness — and what I get in return is a less clinical image.
And of course when shooting film, I make an image that (to me) has more character and soul. I get physical light hitting a piece of paper, recording the light– rather than a computer recording a bunch of 1’s and 0’s.
So what does this mean practically in street photography?
Well, you don’t need a super high resolution camera or a super sharp lens. Don’t get me wrong, I love high detail (large format Richard Avedon images amaze me) and sharpness for the aesthetic, but that alone doesn’t make a good photograph.
![Copyright: Jacob Aue Sobol / Magnum Photos](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/jacob-aue-sobol.jpg?resize=660%2C467)
Some of my favorite photos are the ones that are gritty and imperfect. The work of Daido Moriyama, Anders Peterson, and Jacob Aue Sobol all speak to me on a deep level. With color photography, I love prefer the film work of Alex Webb, Steve McCurry, Martin Parr, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, and Joel Sternfeld.
Don’t be a slave of the camera. Make the camera your slave (what Araki said that Daido Moriyama did). Daido has been using a cheap film point and shoot Ricoh GR more or less his entire career — and made much more emotional shots than his peers with super slick Leicas or medium format cameras. He shot with his heart, soul, and gut. While I don’t like a lot of Daidos photos individually, I like the mood I get from his photos as a whole.
So don’t worry about gear, nerd sharpness tests, and lens chromatic abbreviation blah blah blah.
Who cares how sharp your lenses are? It is far more important to have a sharp eye and a loving heart.