Today’s photo of the day is oddly timely, given I chose the photo yesterday, mostly at random. As shown in the caption below, it is a photo by photographer Nick Ut, of 9-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc, also known as “napalm girl,” as she ran, terrified and in pain, following a napalm attack by a South…
Much is being written this week about the protest of a young, biracial athlete’s refusal to stand for the U.S. national anthem. For an old-timer like me, it is noteworthy only in that his protest echoes similar protests made nearly 50 years ago, not to mention my own protests in 1970, spurred on by Tommie…
On 1 September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, one of the architects of the Jewish Holocaust, decreed that all Jews over six years of age in the Reich, Alsace, Bohemia-Moravia and the German–annexed territory of western Poland were to wear yellow Star of David badges on their outer clothing in public at all times. The word “Jew”…
Robert Frank (Switzerland / USA) – 1924 to Present I come to profile Robert Frank, not to praise him. With apologies to Shakespeare, that subtle but important distinction is one the reader needs to understand. To this point, with the exception of some shooters whose contributions to street photography have been exaggerated (e.g. Henri Cartier-Bresson),…
People still ask me why I shoot street, why I take photos of people I don’t know — of events few will remember and places that are seemingly nondescript. I take them because someone knows them, because few might otherwise remember, because nothing is nondescript.
On this day, 8 April, in 1871, Clarence Hudson White was born in small-town Ohio in the United States. White was a teacher and self-taught photographer, but within a few years of his beginning in the art form at age 22, he’d achieved some measure of international fame. His photos were emotional pieces that reflected…
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-born Jewish photographer who reached fame for his street shots and work for Life Magazine. (See our series on the History of Street Photography, Part 5, for more on “Eisie” and his work.) Although he was a German World War 1 wounded veteran, by 1933, Shitler’s Nazis had risen to power,…
See Track A, Part 1 here: Track A (History of Street Photography) Part 2 Links I wish I could give you the name of a book that laid out all of these photographers in order, but I can’t. The first link may be such a source, but honestly, I haven’t read it. However, here are…
See Track A, Part 1 here: We continue our view of the History of Street Photography with the first of four epochs in street photography, this of the art form’s founding fathers — the Foundational epoch, from 1839 to the start of World War I. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (France) – 1787 – 1851 Photography as an…
Introduction – What is Street Photography? If you want to start an argument among street photographers, guaranteed, ask them, “Exactly what is street photography anyway?” Then stand back, and watch the lovely violence. Simply put, there is no consensus. Certainly, you will encounter a vocal group that will swear there are a firm set of…
Raw, Naked Art 