Alfred Eisenstaedt on Getting Close in Street Photography

Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister. 1933 in Geneva by Alfred Eisenstaedt

alfred eisenstaedt

The other day I was hanging out with Derriel Almario and we stumbled upon an old Borders bookstore that closed down and was converted into a $1 bookstore. When I saw it, I suddenly got giddy at the possibility that there may be some hidden photography book gems that we could find. Low and behold I stumbled upon a book titled, “The Camera” which was a photography book published in 1970 by TIME.

There was a chapter on shooting people that particularly fascinated me. Most of the photojournalists interviewed for the book generally agreed it was better to get closer to your subjects than shooting far away with a zoom lens.

What Makes a Great Composition? Adam Marelli Analyzes Famous Street Photographs by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Great Compositions by Alfred EisenstaedtGreat Compositions by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Adam Marelli, who recently did a wonderful guest blog post on his experiences on shooting with a Leica M9, has recently written a great article on dissecting and analyzing famous street photographs by WWII photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. In the article, he is able to skillfully dissect images from a geometric standpoint, something that great artists and painters have been using for centuries. The post is a bit technical, but definitely worth the read if you want to understand more about composition and street photography.

Check out the article here.

So what do you think? Do you think that understanding a good composition is artistic talent, or something that can be taught and analyzed? Leave your two cents by writing a comment below!