In 2009,  street photographer Blake Andrews famously wrote a blog post stating that “99.98% of street photographs are crap†in response to Nick Turpin on street photography. You can read more on the subject here.
This got me wondering, what exactly differentiates a good street photograph from a bad one? People say that art is subjective, but when it comes to st reet photography (and other forms of photography), I find it uncanny that there is a general consensus in the street photography public what constitutes a good and bad street photograph.
Recently in the news, the British Journal of Photography recently awarded this image, “Man asleep on the Golden Mile, Durban, South Africa.â€, by South African photographer Michelle Sank as the best single image category of its International Photography Award.There was a ton of unrest on the internet with some people calling the piece “a joke†and others calling it “rubbish.†Honestly when I saw the image, I was a bit turned off too. I didn’t see the strong merit of the image, when there were tons of other great photographs that were submitted.
In searching for the truth of what makes a good street photograph, I will chronicle some of the aspects that I have noticed of all award-winning and inspiring street photographs.
