Street Photography is Not a Competition...

Street photography is not a competition or a popularity contest. It's about truth and honesty. It's about the belief that what you're doing is going to affect future generations and how they view us and our time. It's about recording history no matter how inconsequential the event and it's about getting out and enjoying life.

34th Street, Manhattan, New York. 07/03/09
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

New Yorkers are nice.

Someone says they're from New York City and many people immediately paint them as an asshole, bad driver, pushy, aggressive, etc... Every day I'm reminded of how wrong that stereotype is.

A hand on a shoulder on Broadway.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Louie (left) and Jose (right) appear to be good friends as well as coworkers...
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

NY Doesn't Disappoint.

The fruits of their labor are spilling out onto the street.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

The man on the right is very well known at "Ground Zero". He walks around shouting "How many buildings were there? You better not say two! You better not say two!"
The two unsuspecting tourists on the left are now getting a history lesson.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Broken down ice cream truck on Broad Street.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Running down Broadway...
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Street photography is easy.

Walk and click and smile and walk, that's all there is to it. Of course it also helps to live in a heavily populated area! Try Street Photography in rural Alaska and you will find that your number of "keepers" dramatically declines.
Street photography is photography at its most basic. Get the shot no matter what. Everything else comes second. It took me a while to get over the notion that everything must be planned, perfect, and sharp and I blame my involvement in stock photography for this attitude.
Now that I have shed myself of all the boring photography rules, I feel like this hobby is finally fun again!

Greyscale: Don't push that button!

I've done a lot of reading and research on the practice of street photography lately. I've viewed many thousands of photos, some great and some horrible. One thing that seems to bother me the most is the common phenomenon of seemingly thoughtless, arbitrary use of the greyscale button in Photoshop.

Why do so many contemporary photographers insist on converting digital street photos to black and white? Do they think it looks better that way? Do they imagine themselves as a modern day Winogrand? Does it really look better and I'm completely out of touch?

I guess my feeling comes from my own definition of street photography. I feel street photography in it's purist form is an accurate, natural reflection of reality.

In my opinion, there is nothing accurate or natural about removing color from a photograph when we humans see everything in color. Why create such a false reality when we don't have to?

Many of the classic street photos that we have come to know and love over the years have been made on black and white film. This is a direct result of economics, artistic norms, and technical issues of the time they were made. For the most part, up until the days of Joel Meyerowitz, the famous color street photographer of the 1970s, black and white film was faster, cheaper, and considered more artistic than color film. So in light of those factors, most photographers chose black and white film.

Sure there is a gritty, raw, quality to a Garry Winogrand or Cartier-Bresson street photo but I more often than not find myself thinking; Damn, I wish that was in color!

We're still here...

MTA employee at the South Ferry R train station.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Waiting for the bus outside the customs building.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

5pm rush hour.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

The New York State flag comes down for the night with a squeak and a clang...
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Getting the right angle...
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

A stranger in our midst...

These days I recognize many people I've photographed as I see them multiple times on my daily travels. I find it quite interesting how in a city of 7 million people we think of ourselves as completely anonymous when in reality we are not.

Somehow this man has eluded me until today. A newcomer perhaps?
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

Broken car on Beaver Street.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold

A man frozen in time, forever chasing that bus to New Jersey.
Copyright Eric R. Bechtold