Research - Street Photography

 

Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California

by Dorothea Lange

[Scanned image] Badger G, 2007, The Genius of Photography - How Photography has changed our lives, Quadrille Publishing Limited, Pg 77

John Thomson's book Street Life in London has been called the beginning of social-documentary genre, but some have considered Thomson's pictures to be somewhat dubious because they look staged and take on the popular journalistic approach.

 

This image was calculated to gain sympathy - and in my opinion has achieved the goal perfectly, making you wonder, what she is thinking, what the surroundings are like etc?

 

 

Lange took this image and several others whilst travelling home from a trip to San Francisco.  She saw the wet and hungry mother sitting under a make-shift  shelter.  She took several images steadily moving closer, until she was only focused on the mothers face and arms, the two children naturally turning away from the camera.



 

Other images from the series that she took

 

 

Moving to a different type of street photography in the modern day, I am going to take you to Belfast, Northern Ireland where there troubles are still lingering on (and always will - it seems).

 

Northern Ireland as been plagued by trouble for decades from the late 60's still through to today where they have started to fight for the Union flag!

 

 

 

The last image, is particularly frightening and I asked myself, just how close was the photographer when this image was indeed taken?

 

 

Belfast, Northern Ireland - The people of Belfast are buying picture postcards of their city's torment by the hundreds.  The most popular shows a boy throwing a stone at a British armoured car ... other show burned out homes, troops in battle positions on city streets and children at play amid smoking rubble.

 

 

No image shown in book, but researching I found this image which is more modern day than back in the 70's which shows that that violence is still part of todays life.

[Online image] available at https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=boy+and+stone&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=BYSTUaLZKIzDPLzMgPgF&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=775#tbm=isch&sa=1&q=boy+throws+stone+at+british+armoured+car+belfast&oq=boy+throws+stone+at+british+armoured+car+belfast&gs_l=img.3...4197.5039.2.5367.8.8.0.0.0.0.82.434.8.8.0...0.0...1c.1.12.img.w17GEhcf7mQ&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46471029,d.d2k&fp=6171b4f50508f532&biw=1440&bih=775&imgrc=olnIfOdx7u5iuM%3A%3Bf6by8qWmmnezhM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.belfasttelegraph.co.uk%252Fnews%252Flocal-national%252Fnorthern-ireland%252Farticle29167849.ece%252FALTERNATES%252Fw620%252FNWS_20130402_UNC_010_27081431_I5%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.belfasttelegraph.co.uk%252Fnews%252Flocal-national%252Fnorthern-ireland%252Fchildren-as-young-as-seven-attack-police-as-riot-flares-at-rally-29167850.html%3B620%3B314

accessed on 15/05/2013.

 

Since Belfast has few tourists, she said, most of the buyers are local people, mostly young men who want them as souvenirs.

 

A Belfast man bought two complete sets of the cards, explaining, "I think they are interesting mementoes of the times and I want my children to have them when they grow up.

 

- from The New York Times, October 29, 1974 ("Postcards of Belfast Strife Are Best Sellers There")

Sontag S, 1979 On Photography, Penguin, Pg 199,200