I just had an incredible time teaching my Introduction to Urban Landscapes: A Street Photographer’s Perspective at Gulf Photo Plus 2014 here in Dubai. If you were interested you can see the slides above or on on Slideshare. You can also read more in-depth about Urban Landscapes on the blog here.
You can see all the student photos from the workshop below!
All photographs in this article are copyrighted by Joel Sternfeld.
Joel Sternfeld is one of the most important and influential photographers of this generation. His large-format color work: “American Prospects” was one of the most revolutionary color works of the time– when “serious” art photographers were only using black and white. Inspired by Robert Frank, Sternfeld hit the road in a small Volkswagon van for 3 years and traveled across America– seeking to capture the American landscape. In his Guggenheim report he wrote that the urge was “of someone who grew up with a vision of classical regional America and the order it seemed to contain, to find beauty and harmony in an increasingly uniform, technological, and disturbing America.”
For today’s lesson I want to talk about “urban landscapes.” Urban landscapes aren’t really compositions in the specific sense (compared to lines, curves, etc)– but I still feel they are relevant when creating our street photographs.
If you guys have read my prior lessons on composition– I have thought a lot about what a “composition” really is. For me at the end of the day– a composition can really be anything. The dictionary’s definition to composition is as follows:
Composition:Â The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole.
So when it comes to street photography, whatever elements we capture in the background make an image.
I am not exactly sure what direction these “composition lessons” are heading– but thank you for your support. Let us continue to ride the wave– and see where it follows: