Street photography is another favorite genre of mine. Every other genre is unique in its own way so is Street Photography. It is full of thrilling moments, capturing moments of random people on streets and turning them into an absolutely fantastic piece of art in Post Production.
This type of photography doesn’t have many rules as it is a very subjective genre among street photographers. Every Photographer has their own magic that they apply to the picture to turn the mundane image into an amazing shot! The more candid the shot is, the more natural the shot will look.
Street photography is all about suspense, thrill, spontaneous silhouettes and uneven shapes, and busy faces.
Street photography doesn’t have a static meaning or explanation; it’s artistic, it’s dynamic, it’s many things. On the basis of the style of the Photographer, a Street Photograph can be Artistic, or rebellious, or Intrusive, or all of them together. A Street Photo can be a work of fine art, a two seconds glance like, Full of busy people or absolutely without people. As you can see, there are multiple styles of this genre out there. Today, we are going to talk about the Types of Street Photography. We will see what defines each of these types, and through this explanation, we will better understand the scope that Street Photography covers.
Now let’s learn about their types,
UNOBTRUSIVE
Unobtrusive or Standard street photography is the type of Street Photography that refers to the photographs that have been taken without the intrusion into the private space of subjects by Photographers; the key to it is either they were remained unnoticed or were welcomed due to their warm social skills. These photographs have an observatory or a documentary style; they show the unfiltered reality of life as it unfolds itself in a very candid way in front of the street photographer. Because of the quality of the Photographer being unnoticed, this results in unforgettable candid moments or photos with a tinge of photojournalism that can be preserved for historical evidence. There has to be an appropriate balance between the people and their faces in the picture, the environment, and the montage that can be seen depicted in it—recording someone’s life’s events, anecdotes, feelings, people, simply priceless.
INTRUSIVE
As the name above implies, this Type of Street Photography is more onto your face. Street Photographers that perform this Type of Street Photography cannot be shy; they are stubborn or just crazy. They capture people in their moments in their faces using a flash. They just jump from here to there and play around with their gears, outcomes of this Type of Street Photography are exceptional, and if you think of how bold you need to be to do this, you will realize the value of these photographs. Of course, Intrusive Street Photography isn’t much about documenting somebody’s life events, such as unobtrusive Street Photography is, but it has a purpose, and the outcomes are most often stunning. Next, we are going to talk about Raw Street Photography.
RAW
In this type of street photography, anything and everything is allowed. There are absolutely no ethical boundaries, and usually, composition, geometry, or light are not so necessary. What is essential in Raw Street Photography is to capture anything as it is, where it is, without any concern of making the subject(s) feel bothered about being captured. Homeless who are in havoc, the real pain in those eyes of the desperate people. All the real-life incidents and moments, unfiltered and unaltered, but not in the form of photojournalism. These photographs are not clicked with the purpose of entertainment or historical evidence. Some Raw Street Photographers want to relay a message to all those people who didn’t live in these situations or experienced this side of the world. Some want to click these kinds of photographs to remind themselves to stay true to their roots and be down to earth. This Type of Street Photography is the reality in its most brutal, and the Photographer creating these types of photographs must be able to handle the heat of unhappy people that have nothing to lose.
FINE ART
Here, in this type, you will find the artistic depiction of a photographer; the subject might not be apparent to normal eyes but definitely has a deep meaning to it. Fine Art Street Photography can also bring out photographs that are very pleasing to the eye, which might make the audience feel like they are staring at a marvelous painting. Photographs with an amazing combination of light and shadows that tells a story that makes the audience feel something are the real deal. And of course, art is meant to make you feel something!
The main goal of this type that is Fine Art Street Photography is to bring out amazing, incredible, artsy shots that can be hung on a wall as a wall hanging and can be admired and appreciated by people. Fine Art Street Photos have to be well thought of, with proper conceptualization and brainstorming; for example, the Photographer must plan every shot that he is going to take and the angles or lighting that can bring out those stunning shots. They have to shake the feeling of the Photographer so they can produce something that will be presented to the viewers in a way that will touch their hearts as well.
GEOMETRIC
Geometric is one such type, very appropriate for all those ‘symmetry-sucker ‘ photographers. Geometric is the Type of Street Photography that mainly revolves around Geometric shapes, lines, sharp structural shadows created by structures, parallel space, staircases, doors, and anything related to Architecture.
Basically, anything that can add a dimension to the photographs. Street Photographers who perform Geometric Street Photography have a very observatory skill of literally finding the best corner of a wall. They will find the perfect building, the best shoot-able spot around a modern architectural building that has the most striking structure of light, and all you have to do is wait for a person to walk into the frame, to get captured and bring out the human element in the photograph. Humans aren’t exactly the main element in this Type of Street Photography; they are more like the icing on top of a cake. The main focus and the main features in this Type of Street Photography are structural shadows of the architecture, the symmetric lateral effects, and that modern urban vibe with proper lights and lines.
OUTLOOK :
So basically, these were the different types of street photography. Have you ever spared some time to look at your photographs and collect what Type of Street Photography you shoot most of the time? You might be surprised to learn that you take more Street Photographs of a specific type. That’s your niche. Hold onto that. By going through your photographs and trying to compartmentalize them in this way will help you understand more about yourself and what kind of Street Photographer you are. We all have our unique style, and that style or style is defined by the Types of photographs we take and our personal understanding of what is Street Photography to us.