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A review by emiliareadssometimes
The Street Photographer's Manual by David Gibson
2.0
This book was fine but it doesn't give much detail on the principles of streetphotography, no technical information or real projects. He only rambles a bit on every topic but doesn't go into detail on how to explore these. Most things were quite obvious to me and it seemed a bit outdated (to illustrate just how outdated: Instagram was explained in the glossary at the end). The fact that the book feels a bit prehistoric in terms of postprocessing-naivety or technological scepticism is not the problem, but rather that you can just get this information by watching videos online of a streetphotography POV, which will give you the same insight but make it more entertaining.
I did not care for his attempts to define streetphotography either. Rather than keeping the definition as narrow and niche as possible, creating rules that limit creativity, I would rather go for a "whatevers floats your boat" philosophy. I don't think there is "cheating" in art. It has to elicit a response in the person experiencing it. That can happen through photos that were shot at the hip, on roads or streets, altered in Photoshop, shot with the newest camera or a smart phone. His introduction seems a bit outdated in that sense because nowadays everyone tweaks their pictures. And that's okay. Whatever floats your boat ;)
On Eric Kim's advice: he says that not everyone knows what a great street photograph is so you shouldn't trust criticism. But that just further gatekeeps (is that the right word?), I mean that it puts a certain limit to who is allowed to have an opinion about streetphotography. But shooting street happens in public and is for the public. Just like books are not written for someone with a literature degree but rather for the average reader. And everyone is allowed to like or dislike something. Whether criticism hurts a photographers ego is their problem.
I did not care for his attempts to define streetphotography either. Rather than keeping the definition as narrow and niche as possible, creating rules that limit creativity, I would rather go for a "whatevers floats your boat" philosophy. I don't think there is "cheating" in art. It has to elicit a response in the person experiencing it. That can happen through photos that were shot at the hip, on roads or streets, altered in Photoshop, shot with the newest camera or a smart phone. His introduction seems a bit outdated in that sense because nowadays everyone tweaks their pictures. And that's okay. Whatever floats your boat ;)
On Eric Kim's advice: he says that not everyone knows what a great street photograph is so you shouldn't trust criticism. But that just further gatekeeps (is that the right word?), I mean that it puts a certain limit to who is allowed to have an opinion about streetphotography. But shooting street happens in public and is for the public. Just like books are not written for someone with a literature degree but rather for the average reader. And everyone is allowed to like or dislike something. Whether criticism hurts a photographers ego is their problem.