How to Shoot Political Photography

Politics pertains to the “polis” (city, as good old Aristotle has taught us). Political photography and street photography seems to be the same thing.

Politics as the ultimate entertainment

Let us not be fooled and suckered. Politics is entertainment. It seems if we desire to photograph politics, anything that pertains to government, politics, inequality is good to photograph. Political messages, people, etc.

How general or broad is ‘politics’?

It seems in today’s world, the concept of ‘news’ and ‘politics’ is synonymous. Anything that does with the news, pertains to politics. Politics as pertaining to:

  1. Socio-economic policies
  2. Foreign and domestic affairs
  3. Free trade, capitalism/consumerism/manufacturing
  4. Public vs Private places
  5. Propaganda
  6. Partisans, left vs right vs center vs moderate, etc.

This means, almost everything that has to do with humans is political. ‘Politikos‘ (Greek) pertaining to citizens and free people, from ‘Polis‘ (City).

And when it comes to a city, it can be generalized to your community, your country, etc.

Street photography meets political photography

The more I contemplate on it, perhaps street photography has always been political photography. Anything you photograph which regards race, ethnicity, money, corporations, class, etc is political-social. I studied sociology in school, and to be honest, political science wasn’t too different; they seemed to be sister majors and concentrations.

Pragmatic suggestions

If it seems ‘political’ to you, just photograph it and figure out what to do with the photos afterwards.

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