Street Photography - Love it or Hate it?

Street photography - the visual documentation of humankind - has captured some of the most decisive and divisive moments in our recent history, and absolutely has my support and appreciation as a genre.

When I am moved to tears of laughter, joy, sadness or despair by the work of photojournalists like Zoriah Miller, I wonder how my small contribution to this body of evidence can ever be considered worthwhile - but then I remember that, yes, actually, it IS. We all have our part to play in witnessing these, our times. In the same way that a bird watcher can be equally entranced by the appearance of a Booted Warbler as they are by an Osprey, each human interaction and action captured candidly is a microcosm in and of itself - a reflection of our times, of who we are as a species.

Photo - 'WTF?' by Jay Taylor

Photo - 'Cheesemonger' by Jay Taylor

These candid, unguarded moments, these never-to-be-repeated snapshots of our times and our social development as individuals, as a culture and as a species, feel both fascinating and important to me as an observer of human behaviour, and as a human being. Posed photographs will never have that sense of immediacy, of unguarded honesty, that the candid capture reveals in all its glory.

Photo - 'Avenue 3' by Jay Taylor

We all share the same planet, we all struggle to cope with the same breed of insanity and dysfunction; the same conditioning and restrictions; the same life challenges, to some degree or other. And my social documentation is representative of my little bit of that planet: the environments and people around me; their habits; their posture and their posturing; their self-protective mechanisms and the effects those strategies and responses have upon their bodies, their mannerisms, their interactions and their environment; their joys and sorrows; their excitement and disappointments, their triumphs and their failings. In all honesty, I tend to find most people more interesting at the end of a (preferably LONG!) lens. As a lifelong lover of nature studies, this seems like a perfectly natural condition to me, and forms part of my own personal response to my experiences in the world of man: fascinating, enthralling, compelling, beautiful - but best viewed from a distance (inner or outer, no matter) for the most part!

Photo - 'Are you Awake' by Jay Taylor

I find that people are often deeply moved or entertained by candid shots from exotic, faraway lands and cultures, or even from their own countries of origin, but frequently they are not so keen on seeing images from closer to home - their own town, their own family - even themselves ‘caught on camera’ perhaps... That starts to feel like an ‘invasion of privacy’, and ‘intrusion’, ‘taking liberties’ or even ‘voyeurism’. But every street or candid shot ever thrilled to by the public at large is a photograph of someone's mother, lover, daughter, son... I do not subscribe to the mindset that like exotic pets, candid imagery is fine and dandy to capture and display as long as its origins are not too close to home.

Photo - 'Bench' by Jay Taylor

I was prompted to write this article after receiving my first and only ‘complaint’ to date regarding street photography. The man concerned was clearly not at all amused to discover that a (rather beautiful, in my opinion) candid photograph of himself with a lady companion was featured as a part of my Jay's World Project. He was so incensed, in fact, that he engaged his local MP to threaten me with legal action rather than contact me directly himself...

I removed the image in question from my online portfolio because I have no wish to retain an image which is bringing back negative energy from its subject in my direction. But the laws on street photography in the UK are very clear on this issue: one has no right to privacy in a public place, and if one does not want to be ‘caught in the act’, one should refrain from carrying out that act in public. One may request that a photographer stop taking pictures, but they are under no obligation to cease, unless his or her actions could be construed as harassment or victimisation. At the time of writing, under UK law, there are NO RESTRICTIONS on taking photographs in a public place, or on photography of groups of people or individuals, be they adults or minors.

Photo - 'Out of the Blue' by Jay Taylor

I feel that street photography is vital, vibrant, fascinating and imperative to the historical record and study of humanity in all its rich and varied manifestations. As bureaucracy creeps, I sincerely hope that street photography as a genre and a reality is here to stay; and I count myself amongst those photographers who are and have been willing to risk incurring the wrath of the unwitting and the unwilling in order to preserve and add to that record. In years to come, and indeed RIGHT NOW, I feel it is vital that we are willing and able to reflect upon our human and social condition and the part it plays in the creation and continuation of the world as a whole, and its impact upon this beautiful planet which we share. How do you feel about it?

With love - Jay