Day Thirty - Street Photography Class

I love photographing people, but I'm way out of my comfort zone trying to photograph people on the street. So, I decided to use the money my co-workers at Northrop Grumman gave me as a retirement gift to take Jon Williams "Essentials of Street Photography" course. We had class in the morning. He told us about the "Great Masters" of street photography Henry Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Andre Kerteze, Alfred Eisenstadt, Paul Strand, Minor White, Gary Winogrand, Brassi, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Doisneau. He explained the essential of "Street Photography" elements, "It must deal primarily with social aspect of civilization, it must be honest in capture and visual presentation, it must rely on the photographers awareness of street society, the drama, order, disorder, beauty, ugliness,and poignancy. He then taught us where the power and perceived value of street photos come from, he said,"Emotive stimulus by pure visual impact, social relevance to the popular culter as a whole, relevance of the photograp to the individual viewer, prevailing morality, bias, perjudice, and perceptions of reality specific to the viewer, geographical relevance, and historical importance." I hope that some of these photos I took show some of these attributes. Today was a great photography day for me, took 243 photos in a little over three hours.

Quote of the Day: "My true program is summed up in one word: life. I expect to photograph anything suggested by that word which appeals to me." - Edward Weston