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The Beauty Of Street Photography

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Street photographers strive to capture the life and culture of city streets, searching for what Henri Cartier-Bresson, probably the most famous street photographer of all, termed the ‘Decisive Moment’.

When it comes to street photography, many photographers traditionally choose to work in black and white, focusing the viewer’s attention on the subject by eliminating the distraction of colour. Wide angle lenses are used by photographers who like to get in close to the action, a method that encourages interaction between the photographer and subject. Another technique is use a lens with a long focal length to take photos from a distance and throw the background out of focus.

Smashing Magazine celebrates the diversity and livelinesss of the world’s streets by presenting you 50 excellent examples of street photography, urban photography and photojournalism. There are links to the photographers’ websites and also some useful links to articles and tutorials at the bottom of the post.

Please notice: we didn’t feature Garry Winogrand, Bruce Gilden, Martin Parr, Henri Cartier-Bresson and other famous photographers — their works deserve a single post.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

60 Incredible Street Photos

Narelle Autio
Lisbon, Portugal.

Ok in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ok2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Oka in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Okb in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ok5 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Nils Jorgensen

Ni in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ni2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Egill Ibsen
Madrid, Spain.

Ei in The Beauty Of Street Photography

PeeT NeeT

Exp in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ha3 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

velco

Fl in The Beauty Of Street Photography

tbaur

Per in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Trent Parke

Tr in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Tr2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

irq506

Gi in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Maa in The Beauty Of Street Photography

MisterKey

Ke5 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ke4 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ke6 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ke in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Paulete Matos

Pau in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Craig Martin
Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Cm1 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

FrizzText

Umbr in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Blake Andrews

Bl in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Mario Mitsis

Ice in The Beauty Of Street Photography

an untrained eye

Cool in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Randy Cummings

Ha in The Beauty Of Street Photography

pennyred*

Pre in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Gianmaria

Donna in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Markus Hartel

Sig in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Sig2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Jim O’Connell

Out in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Jesse Marlow

Je in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Andy Morley-Hall

An in The Beauty Of Street Photography

P. Costa

Frien in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Ransom Riggs
Dublin, Ireland.

Li in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Sion Fullana

Dream in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Könrad

Taba in The Beauty Of Street Photography

David Solomons

Da in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Da2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Da4 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Da6 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Matt Stuart

Mat2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Mat4 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Nick Turpin

Tu in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Tu2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Tu3 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Pierre Choiniere

Mar in The Beauty Of Street Photography

~ fernando

Vog in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Claude Renault
Patna, India.

Cr1 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Massimo Camocardi

Ma2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Adriana
Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ad2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Claude Renault
Chennai, India.

Cr2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Richard Ford
Beijing, China.

Rf2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Stefan Nielsen
Venice, Italy.

Sn2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Umberto Verdoliva
Italy.

Uv2 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Richard Ford
Beijing, China, but it could be everywhere.

Rf1 in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Jimmy Dovholt
Stockholm, Sweden.

Jd in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Mario Jean
San Francisco, United States.

Mj in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Moses Stell
Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Ms in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Nino Cannizzaro
Savoca, Sicily.

Nc in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Giuseppe Squillacioti

Cl in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Last Click

Hamed Masoumi
A photo of Curig and Esther, a beautiful Iranian couple.

Va in The Beauty Of Street Photography

Resources

Famous Street Photographers

  • Henri Cartier-Bresson
    The French photographer who coined the term ‘The decisive moment.’
  • Bruce Gilden
    American street photographer famous for getting extremely close to his subjects.
  • Martin Parr
    Quirky and colourful photography from a master documentary photographer.

Related posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

Andrew Gibson is a photographer and writer. He runs Magical Places Fine Art, an online photography magazine and another great photography resource.

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  1. 1
    Furkan
    December 14th, 2008 2:46 pm

    That’s great inspiration post. Thanks for this post. More beatiful is David Solomons.

  2. 2
    cnager
    December 14th, 2008 2:57 pm

    #10 with the little girl dancing.. good stuff

  3. 3
    A u d e e
    December 14th, 2008 3:03 pm

    Wow, this is cool :D Great for my monday morning inspiration!

  4. 4
    www.galaxyspectrum.com
    December 14th, 2008 3:03 pm

    The collection is so real – you can FEEL them inside

  5. 5
    Mediumjones
    December 14th, 2008 3:29 pm

    Nice collection… seems a lot of photographers over-baked their images in post production… Very talented shots though!

  6. 6
    Lawrence Anderson
    December 14th, 2008 3:35 pm

    Awesome post. Really inspiring.

  7. 7
    tubadei
    December 14th, 2008 4:07 pm

    Narelle Autio is Australian not “Lisbon, Portugal” and makes photos mainly in Australia, at least those shown were made there… just like her husbands’ – Trent Parke, Magnum Photos member. great post :)

  8. 8
    Jonathan
    December 14th, 2008 4:42 pm

    Some of those pictures gave me so much emotion! I feel strange now.

  9. 9
    DKumar M.
    December 14th, 2008 5:56 pm

    Nice collection of inspirational street photography.

    DKumar
    http://www.instantshift.com

  10. 10
    Jhay
    December 14th, 2008 6:00 pm

    Love this type of photography very inspiring. I like the dove shot!

    Great post!

  11. 11
    Rames
    December 14th, 2008 6:10 pm

    Love this post! Thanks :)

  12. 12
    Aleso
    December 14th, 2008 6:16 pm

    amazing collention, thanks

    http://www.3dand2dmag.wordpress.com

  13. 13
    ilovephotoblogs
    December 14th, 2008 6:35 pm

    Wow…what a great collection of street photography/photographers…This is definitely more photography than I can digest at one sitting…a must-have bookmark…I have featured a short post of this wonderful article on my photo blog…thanks again.

  14. 14
    ethan
    December 14th, 2008 7:18 pm

    great photos! thank u for sharing!

  15. 15
    Ryan Dury
    December 14th, 2008 9:32 pm

    This is a great collection. They are all wonderful in their own journalistic sense; Photographs that encapsulate moments of purity, a snap of time as if the camera wasn’t even there.

    A few of my own photographs (Feel free to add me as a contact)

  16. 16
    Sion Fullana
    December 14th, 2008 10:06 pm

    Thank you SO much for the inclusion of my picture on your list. It’s a big honor to be featured among such amazing photographers. And thanks to all of them, too, for the great inspiration provided by their photos when I’ve seen them.

    Sion.

  17. 17
    Andris
    December 14th, 2008 11:07 pm

    Nice collection. Love the picture of Moses Stell.

  18. 18
    Bruno
    December 14th, 2008 11:46 pm

    The last click makes me believe in a better world…
    thanks for the fantastic post smashing magazine!!!

  19. 19
    Hayfa
    December 15th, 2008 12:27 am

    Beautiful pictures.

    I especially like Matt Stuart’s and Nick Turpin’s photos. They have brought the word “pun” to another level through images. Very English humour :)

  20. 20
    Jaden Nyberg
    December 15th, 2008 1:03 am

    Fantastic set! I’ve been waiting for one like this for a long time.

    Jaden

  21. 21
    sven jens
    December 15th, 2008 1:56 am

    #10 Zwarte piet :D Dancing fantastic

  22. 22
    John
    December 15th, 2008 2:18 am

    Why not just say great photos.
    A train is not a street, nor is a seaside cliff or an art gallery or a cafe or bar ……

    BTW, they are great pgotos

  23. 23
    isabelle_yang
    December 15th, 2008 3:16 am

    my favorite set would have to be misterkey’s. the last pic with the shadow… looks as if they shadow was about to tap on her shoulder, when it’s actually her hand near the wall. pretty good angle!

  24. 24
    Tom Sawyer
    December 15th, 2008 3:25 am

    Should’ve been 40.

  25. 25
    sheepsound
    December 15th, 2008 3:51 am

    Bonjour, j’aime bien la photo du caricaturiste … Les autres sont biens mais celle-ci est ma préférée !

    Hello, I like the photo of the cartoonist … The others are property, but it is my favorite!

    skatepark montbriz

  26. 26
    Steve
    December 15th, 2008 4:13 am

    Truly beautiful collection you guys. It’s articles like this that keep me coming back.

    @ John who posted at 2:18 am

    Among the many accepted definitions of the word street are:
    - the inhabitants or frequenters of a street
    - coarse; crude; vulgar</cite

  27. 27
    Mark Pearson
    December 15th, 2008 5:14 am

    “The Decisive Moment” was not the book’s original title but that of its English language version.
    Its original French title, “Images a la Sauvettee”, means images taken on the wing, on the fly, stolen images, a somewhat less positive connotation,

  28. 28
    Nathan Beck
    December 15th, 2008 5:58 am

    That is, in my opinion, the best photography post I’ve seen yet on Smashing Magazine. Absolutely love it and will be forwarding on to friends.

  29. 29
    Alain
    December 15th, 2008 6:05 am

    I completely agree with Nathan.
    Great pictures…Most are B&W by the way.

  30. 30
    danny garcía
    December 15th, 2008 6:18 am

    oh nice pic`s

  31. 31
    josh
    December 15th, 2008 6:20 am

    some of these are kinda “blah”

  32. 32
    Larry Bradshaw
    December 15th, 2008 6:30 am

    This is great inspiration for us amateur photographers who want to be more pro-like.

  33. 33
    Allen
    December 15th, 2008 7:15 am

    Not a bad collection, a few good ones in there, some “urban landscapes”, some that seemed poised or setup which throws out the whole “Decisive Moment” mantra.

    Look at any Magnum photographer for more fine examples of Street Photography

  34. 34
    Allan
    December 15th, 2008 7:25 am

    These photos are really amazing. There’s just so much vibrancy and life here.

  35. 35
    neil
    December 15th, 2008 8:21 am

    Great post thanks! Here is a load more from another guy i found on flickr. Some of them are simply great! Tony Littlejohns on Flickr

  36. 36
    Rex
    December 15th, 2008 9:37 am

    Wow!… Isn’t photography awesome?!!!!

  37. 37
    tracy
    December 15th, 2008 10:07 am

    Great post. Inspiring stuff. Definitely need to step my game up.

    D.C. Street Series

  38. 38
    David
    December 15th, 2008 10:51 am

    What’s the deal with model relseases for street photography? I was always under the impression that they were necessary.

  39. 39
    Ann
    December 15th, 2008 3:40 pm

    These photos are truly amazing and I think the best part about them is the moments they capture, you really feel like you are there.

    After my fiance proposed to me with a gorgeous diamond engagement ring from http://www.idonowidont.com we are looking for a photographer who can get natural moments photographed, where its just us just being us, not formal.

    We would totally love to find someone who can take the knowledge of capturing street photography and translating them to our engagement photos!

  40. 40
    adams
    December 15th, 2008 10:30 pm

    nice pict’s :)
    love it all…

  41. 41
    Sion Fullana
    December 16th, 2008 2:46 am

    To ANN:

    Congratulations on your engagement!!! I don’t know if you would consider my style fitting, but if so, I would gladly try my best to make you guys proud of your union and get your complicity put into images…. you can check my style at my Flickr page… available if you click on my picture on this post…

    Thanks!

  42. 42
    KAte
    December 16th, 2008 6:06 am

    Fantastic post and many of these photographers are just the sort of people I would get n with.

    I too am a urban photographer and have my own website about the subject of urban photography and its beauty. If any one is interested it is at http://www.urban-photography-art.com

  43. 43
    Tracy
    December 16th, 2008 8:42 am

    Another one that you missed. Mark Kitaoka | Moments of Humanity

  44. 44
    Camilla
    December 16th, 2008 9:42 am

    Great post – really beautiful shots. I love this type of photography x

  45. 45
    Nikki
    December 16th, 2008 10:58 am

    These are so nice. Its amazing what you can do with a camera and just the right moment in time. It’s sometimes hard to find the perfect moment to capture and better yet, be ready for it when it actually happens. Beautiful.

  46. 46
    Bischita
    December 16th, 2008 2:00 pm

    Impresionantes!!

    Awesome!! wow!!

  47. 47
    Michelle
    December 16th, 2008 9:40 pm

    Whoa, whoa, whoa

    Is that just black and white, or is that clown in blackface…?!

  48. 48
    Rakesh.S
    December 17th, 2008 4:53 am

    No words to describe my surprise !! Really cool post.
    Expecting such posts in future also.

  49. 49
    Ignatz Horowitz
    December 17th, 2008 7:20 am

    Some of these might be considered “street” photography; some are not, and, what’s worse, some are posed. But better than the hideous “Fantastic HDR” nonsense.

  50. 50
    irq506
    December 17th, 2008 8:38 am

    Hi the link to my flickr stuff above is incorrect try this instead

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/devtank/

    thanks for the exposure.

  51. 51
    Walker
    December 18th, 2008 6:50 am

    I am just getting started. You are an inspiration.

  52. 52
    Nehal Charania
    December 18th, 2008 7:06 am

    i need help,im trying to become a photojornilst can someone help?

  53. 53
    nasri
    December 18th, 2008 7:18 am

    Stumbled into smashing magazine and wow.. Gorgeous pictures! Hope to pick up the techniques that you have shown so beautifully… =)

  54. 54
    Rebecca
    December 18th, 2008 9:21 am

    Wow! Great photos. If you love street photography and travel, you could write about it. I’m sure you’d have interesting articles. By the way, I really liked the Venice, Italy and Stockholm, Sweden photos.

    You may want to check out Travel-Writers-Exchange.com. You could combine your love of photography with writing. It’s another way to reach many people.

  55. 55
    Jimmy ;D
    December 18th, 2008 12:31 pm

    Thanks, Rebeca!

    And thanks to Andrew for including me in this very fine collection of streetshooters. It´s not every day my images get 15 minutes of exposure ;D

    /Jimmy

    You´ll find a nice compilation of some of my images at Onexposure, http://1x.com/?member=2594&jimmy-dovholt

  56. 56
    z
    December 19th, 2008 2:32 pm

    another of the best Helen Levitt [http://www.laurencemillergallery.com/levittlist.htm] and someone might be interested in my own: photography [http://www.i-am-z.com/photoz.html]

  57. 57
    Thodoris
    December 21st, 2008 11:42 pm

    You can also see a few other photographs that I’ve found! Beauty on the street I and Beauty on the street II

  58. 58
    وفا
    December 26th, 2008 9:32 am

    that’s grates. like before

  59. 59
    Robert M Johnson
    December 26th, 2008 6:15 pm

    A very nice group of street photos!

    My 70’s Street Images…

    http://www.www.fullframeimages.com

  60. 60
    Robert M Johnson
    December 28th, 2008 8:57 am

    link correction…

    http://www.fullframeimages.com

  61. 61
    Christian
    December 28th, 2008 9:06 am

    Great choice of photos – gives the essence of real street-photography

  62. 62
    Omar Ramírez
    December 30th, 2008 10:14 am

    Very nice collection!!
    Congratulations!

  63. 63
    Nico Ouburg
    January 5th, 2009 1:06 pm

    Hi Andrew,

    I ad a link to your site on my site because I like your site :-)

    grtz, Nico

    http://www.xs4all.nl/~ouburg/Site/Links.html

  64. 64
    Photo Layout
    January 10th, 2009 7:07 pm

    Killer, I love street photography, Nice gallery

  65. 65
    paras
    January 15th, 2009 10:57 pm

    hey its beautiful photography……….thnx a lot……

  66. 66
    Danielle
    January 27th, 2009 12:14 pm

    this sucks

  67. 67
    ER Images Eirwen Rogers
    January 28th, 2009 3:06 am

    As the article stated some truly awe inspiring images.

  68. 68
    Marco
    January 29th, 2009 8:51 am

    reminds me of his photo’s: http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/ check de menu: recently

  69. 69
    Robert Brown
    February 1st, 2009 5:47 am

    Beautiful selection of street photography. Many favorites here, especially work by Trent Parke and other In-Public photographers. Bravo!

    My street work can be seen here:
    robertbrownimages.com

  70. 70
    VoteAudrey
    February 1st, 2009 9:16 pm

    There’s something so magical about street photos…now I’ve got to check out the links included above…

  71. 71
    peter
    February 2nd, 2009 2:22 pm

    Wow, wow, wow, absolutely beautiful shots…where is my camera, I’m going out!!!

  72. 72
    Be_Ba
    March 8th, 2009 1:05 pm

    I Like them all, no hipshot fucko’s…well framed.

    Thank You

  73. 73
    yasar
    March 21st, 2009 10:40 pm

    the phote so so so cute

  74. 74
    moses stell
    April 25th, 2009 7:05 am

    thank you for showing this beautiful street photography….and thank you for posting!

  75. 75
    Richard Ford
    June 17th, 2009 2:07 am

    Thanks for publishing some of my pics. One digital (bleah) and one my lovely TMAX-400!

    @ John

    Street shooting isn’t about being on the street. It is just a label. Street shooting is about creating or freeze framing the random and fleeting juxtapositions of real life.

    I also second the fact that Mark Kitaoka should be looked at. He is one of my influencers and is a damned sight better than I.

    http://www.markkitaoka.com/photo-blog/

    Cheers,
    RF.

  76. 76
  77. 77
    CarlPH
    August 23rd, 2009 1:02 am

    Great post, still amazes me everytime I visit it..

  78. 78
    Adriana
    August 25th, 2009 8:11 pm

    Thank you for publishing my photo!!!

  79. 79
    John
    August 30th, 2009 8:37 am

    Really great examples, makes me want to go out and shoot street myself! This is a site I never get tired off.

    iarehuman.com

    updated everyday so theres always good street stuff to look at.

  80. 80
    Vittore Fotografo
    October 23rd, 2009 7:04 pm

    Really great examples.
    Here you can find some interesting gallery of street photography and reportage. Thake a look becuse are really nice.

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