Street Photography is Art with People

In praise of street photography:

It took me a while to realize this, but here is an interesting idea:

Street photography is art with people.

Nothing is more beautiful than the human being

With beauty and aesthetics, I believe the ultimate beauty are humans.

The ultimate pleasure we humans get is in other humans.

Perhaps the reason why we enjoy street photography so much is that it indulges several of our interests:

The ability to observe and analyze other human beings.
Through making photos of people, we interact with other (real) human beings in the real world (humans enjoy interacting with reality).
We inherently find human beings beautiful, thus when we photograph other humans, we show our delight and appreciation of being alive (in the company of other human beings).

Photos are art

Not all photographs are art. Yet, many artworks are photographs.

For example, if I photograph my receipt or my parking spot, I don’t consider that art. However, if I am meaningfully and consciously trying to make artwork (using the camera as an artwork-creation device), then the photos I make are my artwork.

Making artwork we like to look at

This is the thing:

As photographer-artists, we should strive to make photos that WE like to look at ourselves!

For example today I spent a great deal of time looking through my archives from 2014, and found some of the photos (included in this post). And it is lovely, because I genuinely enjoy looking at these photos!

How do you know if a photo is good or not?

If you like looking at the photo, it is a good photo.

Street photography as a tool to augment your personal joy and happiness in life

I believe the main benefit of street photography isn’t to make street photos; the benefit is LIVING MORE ENGAGED!

It means street photography helps us step outside of our comfort zones to interact with other (real humans), street photography helps us leave the house, and street photography helps us discover more beauty in our fellow human beings!

Remember:

The point of photography isn’t to become a better photographer, the point of photography is to improve your life!

Tips

Always use the simplest, smallest, and least cumbersome camera possible. Treat street photography as a tool to better interact with other humans — any camera which can lower the friction in your interaction with another human is the best camera! I recommend Fujifilm XF10 or RICOH GR II.
Treat street photography as a lifestyle; a way to interact with the world. A life in which we’re not shy with strangers, a world where we PREFER to interact with others; a life in which we aren’t meek!
Strive to interact more with other human beings; the ultimate street photographer.

LIVE ON!

ERIC

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