The Beauty Of Street Photography
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:
- Beautiful Black and White Photography
- 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
- 50 Stunning Examples Of Reflective Photography
- The Showcase Of Rain Photography
60 Incredible Street Photos
Narelle Autio
Lisbon, Portugal.
Egill Ibsen
Madrid, Spain.
Craig Martin
Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Ransom Riggs
Dublin, Ireland.
Claude Renault
Patna, India.
Adriana
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Claude Renault
Chennai, India.
Richard Ford
Beijing, China.
Stefan Nielsen
Venice, Italy.
Umberto Verdoliva
Italy.
Richard Ford
Beijing, China, but it could be everywhere.
Jimmy Dovholt
Stockholm, Sweden.
Mario Jean
San Francisco, United States.
Moses Stell
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Nino Cannizzaro
Savoca, Sicily.
Last Click
Hamed Masoumi
A photo of Curig and Esther, a beautiful Iranian couple.
Resources
- Documentary and Street Photography
Street photography tutorial from Luminous Landscape. - Street Photography
Tutorial by Philip Greenspun at photo.net. - Joel Meyerowitz on Street Photography
New York City pro photographer Joel Meyerowitz gives a video tutorial on street photography. - iN-PUBLiC
iN-PUBLiC – a home for street photographers. - Raw Street Photography
Official website of the Flickr group Raw Street Photography. - Masters Of Street Photography
- Masters Of Street Photography
- 50 Master Photographers
- The Real Street Photography Flickr Pool
- Just Street Photography Flickr Pool
- Extreme Street Photography
- Street Or Studio Flickr Pool
- 5 Fav Street Photography
- Street Noir Flickr Pool
- WNYC’s Street Photography Challenge
- hello, stranger Flickr Group
- Hardcore Street Photography
- Street Noir Flickr Pool
- Street Photography: The Suchness of Life
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:
Furkan
December 14th, 2008 2:46 pmThat’s great inspiration post. Thanks for this post. More beatiful is David Solomons.
cnager
December 14th, 2008 2:57 pm#10 with the little girl dancing.. good stuff
A u d e e
December 14th, 2008 3:03 pmWow, this is cool :D Great for my monday morning inspiration!
www.galaxyspectrum.com
December 14th, 2008 3:03 pmThe collection is so real – you can FEEL them inside
Mediumjones
December 14th, 2008 3:29 pmNice collection… seems a lot of photographers over-baked their images in post production… Very talented shots though!
Lawrence Anderson
December 14th, 2008 3:35 pmAwesome post. Really inspiring.
tubadei
December 14th, 2008 4:07 pmNarelle 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 :)
Jonathan
December 14th, 2008 4:42 pmSome of those pictures gave me so much emotion! I feel strange now.
DKumar M.
December 14th, 2008 5:56 pmNice collection of inspirational street photography.
DKumar
http://www.instantshift.com
Jhay
December 14th, 2008 6:00 pmLove this type of photography very inspiring. I like the dove shot!
Great post!
Rames
December 14th, 2008 6:10 pmLove this post! Thanks :)
Aleso
December 14th, 2008 6:16 pmamazing collention, thanks
http://www.3dand2dmag.wordpress.com
ilovephotoblogs
December 14th, 2008 6:35 pmWow…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.
ethan
December 14th, 2008 7:18 pmgreat photos! thank u for sharing!
Ryan Dury
December 14th, 2008 9:32 pmThis 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)
Sion Fullana
December 14th, 2008 10:06 pmThank 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.
Andris
December 14th, 2008 11:07 pmNice collection. Love the picture of Moses Stell.
Bruno
December 14th, 2008 11:46 pmThe last click makes me believe in a better world…
thanks for the fantastic post smashing magazine!!!
Hayfa
December 15th, 2008 12:27 amBeautiful 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 :)
Jaden Nyberg
December 15th, 2008 1:03 amFantastic set! I’ve been waiting for one like this for a long time.
Jaden
sven jens
December 15th, 2008 1:56 am#10 Zwarte piet :D Dancing fantastic
John
December 15th, 2008 2:18 amWhy 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
isabelle_yang
December 15th, 2008 3:16 ammy 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!
Tom Sawyer
December 15th, 2008 3:25 amShould’ve been 40.
sheepsound
December 15th, 2008 3:51 amBonjour, 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
Steve
December 15th, 2008 4:13 amTruly 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
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,
Nathan Beck
December 15th, 2008 5:58 amThat 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.
Alain
December 15th, 2008 6:05 amI completely agree with Nathan.
Great pictures…Most are B&W by the way.
danny garcía
December 15th, 2008 6:18 amoh nice pic`s
josh
December 15th, 2008 6:20 amsome of these are kinda “blah”
Larry Bradshaw
December 15th, 2008 6:30 amThis is great inspiration for us amateur photographers who want to be more pro-like.
Allen
December 15th, 2008 7:15 amNot 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
Allan
December 15th, 2008 7:25 amThese photos are really amazing. There’s just so much vibrancy and life here.
neil
December 15th, 2008 8:21 amGreat post thanks! Here is a load more from another guy i found on flickr. Some of them are simply great! Tony Littlejohns on Flickr
Rex
December 15th, 2008 9:37 amWow!… Isn’t photography awesome?!!!!
tracy
December 15th, 2008 10:07 amGreat post. Inspiring stuff. Definitely need to step my game up.
D.C. Street Series
David
December 15th, 2008 10:51 amWhat’s the deal with model relseases for street photography? I was always under the impression that they were necessary.
Ann
December 15th, 2008 3:40 pmThese 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!
adams
December 15th, 2008 10:30 pmnice pict’s :)
love it all…
Sion Fullana
December 16th, 2008 2:46 amTo 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!
KAte
December 16th, 2008 6:06 amFantastic 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
Tracy
December 16th, 2008 8:42 amAnother one that you missed. Mark Kitaoka | Moments of Humanity
Camilla
December 16th, 2008 9:42 amGreat post – really beautiful shots. I love this type of photography x
Nikki
December 16th, 2008 10:58 amThese 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.
Bischita
December 16th, 2008 2:00 pmImpresionantes!!
Awesome!! wow!!
Michelle
December 16th, 2008 9:40 pmWhoa, whoa, whoa
Is that just black and white, or is that clown in blackface…?!
Rakesh.S
December 17th, 2008 4:53 amNo words to describe my surprise !! Really cool post.
Expecting such posts in future also.
Ignatz Horowitz
December 17th, 2008 7:20 amSome 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.
irq506
December 17th, 2008 8:38 amHi the link to my flickr stuff above is incorrect try this instead
http://www.flickr.com/photos/devtank/
thanks for the exposure.
Walker
December 18th, 2008 6:50 amI am just getting started. You are an inspiration.
Nehal Charania
December 18th, 2008 7:06 ami need help,im trying to become a photojornilst can someone help?
nasri
December 18th, 2008 7:18 amStumbled into smashing magazine and wow.. Gorgeous pictures! Hope to pick up the techniques that you have shown so beautifully… =)
Rebecca
December 18th, 2008 9:21 amWow! 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.
Jimmy ;D
December 18th, 2008 12:31 pmThanks, 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
z
December 19th, 2008 2:32 pmanother 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]
Thodoris
December 21st, 2008 11:42 pmYou can also see a few other photographs that I’ve found! Beauty on the street I and Beauty on the street II
وفا
December 26th, 2008 9:32 amthat’s grates. like before
Robert M Johnson
December 26th, 2008 6:15 pmA very nice group of street photos!
My 70′s Street Images…
http://www.www.fullframeimages.com
Robert M Johnson
December 28th, 2008 8:57 amlink correction…
http://www.fullframeimages.com
Christian
December 28th, 2008 9:06 amGreat choice of photos – gives the essence of real street-photography
Omar Ramírez
December 30th, 2008 10:14 amVery nice collection!!
Congratulations!
Nico Ouburg
January 5th, 2009 1:06 pmHi 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
Photo Layout
January 10th, 2009 7:07 pmKiller, I love street photography, Nice gallery
paras
January 15th, 2009 10:57 pmhey its beautiful photography……….thnx a lot……
Danielle
January 27th, 2009 12:14 pmthis sucks
ER Images Eirwen Rogers
January 28th, 2009 3:06 amAs the article stated some truly awe inspiring images.
Marco
January 29th, 2009 8:51 amreminds me of his photo’s: http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/ check de menu: recently
Robert Brown
February 1st, 2009 5:47 amBeautiful 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
VoteAudrey
February 1st, 2009 9:16 pmThere’s something so magical about street photos…now I’ve got to check out the links included above…
peter
February 2nd, 2009 2:22 pmWow, wow, wow, absolutely beautiful shots…where is my camera, I’m going out!!!
Be_Ba
March 8th, 2009 1:05 pmI Like them all, no hipshot fucko’s…well framed.
Thank You
yasar
March 21st, 2009 10:40 pmthe phote so so so cute
moses stell
April 25th, 2009 7:05 amthank you for showing this beautiful street photography….and thank you for posting!
Richard Ford
June 17th, 2009 2:07 amThanks 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.
Kelly rae
July 30th, 2009 7:21 amhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/40003627@N03/sets/72157621261082437/
CarlPH
August 23rd, 2009 1:02 amGreat post, still amazes me everytime I visit it..
Adriana
August 25th, 2009 8:11 pmThank you for publishing my photo!!!
John
August 30th, 2009 8:37 amReally 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.
Vittore Fotografo
October 23rd, 2009 7:04 pmReally great examples.
Here you can find some interesting gallery of street photography and reportage. Thake a look becuse are really nice.
Public-Life
January 27th, 2010 3:48 pmhttp://www.public-life.org/
Diego
February 14th, 2010 8:49 amBeautiful pictures and so many photographer names I didn’t know.
Diego
JOJO
May 26th, 2010 9:42 amthis is beautiful photos so i wait what do next
Ayush Kumar
August 15th, 2010 6:43 amJust beautiful!
GP
October 10th, 2010 2:52 pmExcellent selection of photographers, if you like can go to see my street photography work at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavopaz
Mimi Azel
July 31st, 2011 7:49 amGreat captures shared here…im a fan!
Mimi Azel
July 31st, 2011 8:30 amDecisive moments captured!
Isabelle Boutonnet
September 16th, 2011 2:27 pmReally beautiful, you show famous photographer but don’t forget this great french street photographers :
1. Cartier Bresson :
http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14T1LX&nm=Henri%20Cartier-Bresson
2. Serge Bouvet :
http://sergebouvet.com/blog/category/street-photography/
Perry
October 19th, 2011 6:53 amHi,
These are some wonderful examples of street photography. However I feel to give a more balanced view you should include works from many different parts of the world. There are some very unique sights and people to be seen in countries like India, China, Japan, the Middle East and other parts of the non-Western world.
One recent photographer I can think of who exemplifies my point is linked below. I especially love how each picture tells a story at multiple layers and levels and the unique perspective of the photographer shines though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vineetradhakrishnan/
Cheers,
Perry
Gabriela patrescu
December 14th, 2011 3:38 pmnice share …. street photography is photgraphing the various mood if there are a lot of people an important side in photography … let me share article about reactions that may encountered by people, that extremely improve the quality and mood of your street photography.
Radames
February 2nd, 2012 3:38 pmAbsolutly wow. Hope that one day I can make such photos. Thank you very much to sharing this with us. Wish you only the best!