Women in Street

Female Street Photographers

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Archives for December 2016

 Alison McCauley

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Street Chat

Please give us a little background about yourself, where are you from, where do you live now, and how did you discover photography?

I’m not really from anywhere specific because I’ve spent my entire life moving from country to country. My father is Scottish and English and my mother is Irish and English. My father was a hydro-electrical engineer and his work took us to exciting countries with big rivers. My sisters and I grew up in Malaysia, Canada and Brazil. My husband’s Australian and my two children are more Swiss than anything else. The countries that are most important to me are France, the UK, Brazil and Switzerland. I currently live in Singapore.

I’ve been very visually aware for as long as I can remember. As a small child I was as enthralled by John Singleton Copley’s Watson and the Shark as I was by a plant’s shadow.

I studied Fine Art Painting as an undergrad and as a graduate student. I eventually tired of painting and the way it isolated me from my environment. Around this time I began to look at and think more about photography. I started a degree in Creative Arts Photography around 2008. I hated the course and the tedious hoops I had to jump through to earn my degree, but it lead me towards the kind of critical thinking that I think has given me a solid base to grow from. Although painting was important to me for many years, I never had the crazy obsession with painting that I have with photography.

You are shooting equally in styles generally defined as street, documentary, and travel photography. What are the distinctions to you, and is defining a difference between these styles of any importance?

I just think of myself as a photographer. I don’t like separating my photographs into genres. I like to mix things up. I’m constantly evolving in the way I think and in the kind of work I make. It’s only over the past couple of years that I’ve really identified and understood where I’m coming from and where I want to go. I need the freedom to be as subjective and illogical as I want. I don’t think what I’m doing now could fit into a genre…even if I wanted it to!

In your years of travel experience, are there some memorable anecdotes illustrating contrasting attitudes toward photographers in the streets around the world?

People in megacities like London, NY and Paris are usually too busy to worry about being in some stranger’s photograph. It can be a lot more difficult in some smaller towns in France where people can be very suspicious. I lived in Geneva for 13 years. People are very private there and I always felt street photography was a real challenge in Geneva. The worst location I’ve ever experienced for street photography was Djibouti. Although some Djiboutians were happy to pose for photographs, most of the men seemed to see candid photography as an abusive act and they responded with threats of violence. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the locations where people get very excited about being photographed and start posing as soon as they see me. This happens a lot in small towns in India. While it’s not what I’m after photographically, the interaction is enjoyable.

You work more on groups of images and series, rather than “single shots,” what can you say about this?

I’m definitely much more interested in how images communicate together than I am in the power of a singe image. I’ve always felt that a single image wasn’t enough and that a series was the best way for me to create something stronger and more meaningful. I really enjoy selecting and sequencing images.

And what can you tell us about your selection process?

If I’m looking for a series of about 32 photos, I will quickly select about 100. Then I will narrow it down to about 50. After this stage I like to take some time, if possible, to distance myself emotionally from the experience of the shoot, before making the tighter selection. The final stage involves the tough part of killing my babies for the sake of flow and rhythm. I used to try to tell fairly linear stories, but now my editing is much looser and more subjective.

You have been active in different social media environments since before Instagram and the current fashionability of the street genre, what changes have you noticed?

I started using Flickr about six years ago. From what I hear, it was already waning then. I can’t really judge how it’s evolved because I haven’t spent much time on Flickr over the past few years. I dive in and out of Facebook frequently but for short periods and I enjoy seeing what other photographers are up to. I don’t think I’ve been part of the FB photo community long enough to see any differences. I’ve recently started using Instagram and it is a great way of viewing and sharing images.

Have you observed differences for women in the genre between then and now?

I think that there is now more awareness of male dominance in street photography. I’m confident this awareness is encouraging a more inclusive street photography community. Blogs like Her Side of the Street are playing an important role. Personally I’ve never felt I missed out because I’m a woman, but I will always advocate for an inclusive photography community.

In what ways do you think being a woman has affected your work?

It’s difficult to talk about this without falling into gender stereotypes, but I do think many of my interests are traditionally feminine and the general feel of my photography could also be described as feminine. While it’s interesting to be aware of general differences between the two predominant genders, I really think a photographer’s interests and work has much more to do with his/her personality than his/her gender. I also feel uncomfortable discussing gender as though it is binary, which it obviously isn’t.

Color or black and white, digital or film?

Both colour and black & white — it depends on the subject and the feel I want the series to have. I love the way B&W simplifies visually, while it can intensify the emotional power of an image. However I enjoy colour too much not to also shoot in colour. I’ve been digital since 2008. I also use Polaroid-type cameras sometimes.

Can you name some photographers you find inspirational, and are there “ones to watch” you have your eye on?

From a very long list of favorite photographers, here are a few I find particularly inspiring: Kim Thue, Martin Borgen, Michael Ackerman, Jeff Jacobson, Carolyn Drake, Jacob Aue Sobol, Olivia Arthur and David Carol.

There are too many interesting photographers who I’ve discovered through social media to even start a list, but two amazing photographers that spring to mind are Gustavo Gomes and Dina Oganova.

Alison McCauley | Website | Instagram |

Beach Lovers: a Rockaway love story

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A street photography project by Erica Reade

I have always been inspired by gritty NYC street photography, and I had hoped to emulate the works of women such as Vivan Maier or Diane Arbus. But I was always too shy a street photographer, and was never happy with the results of my work. I’ve also always been aware that street photography crosses boundaries of consent and permission, and this weighs on me when I shoot photos. As someone who encounters street harassment in New York, and who teaches about consent and boundaries in my day job, I am especially careful not to publish photos of women on the beach that would cause them to feel discomfort, or photos that have crossed lines of consent I would not be okay with for myself.

That being said, my series is about moments of love, tenderness, and vulnerability. The world can feel incredibly dark, many people are cynical about finding love in New York, and my aim is to soften these feelings with images of love and beauty. I love capturing intimate moments that take place in the hot sun and salty air. With Beach Lovers, I am able to bring a street photography approach to the beach. I am able to slip around with my camera undetected, as people are so wrapped up in each other, they fail to notice me.

There is this extra level of intimacy that people engage in on the beach that I have not seen anywhere else. The towel becomes a little private island. It may seem a little voyeuristic of me at times, but people get hot and heavy sometimes, or fall asleep in awkward poses. They adopt this mini-vacation attitude, even on New York beaches, leaving the stress of the city behind. I like to see the limits and boundaries couples push that they would not do in any other environment.

This series also came about because I am a huge beach lover and a surfer at Rockaway. When Hurricane Sandy hit, I started volunteering with the clean up efforts, and I brought my camera and documented what was happening. It a was a natural evolution to bring my photography to the beach permanently.

There has always been strong Rockaway Beach community out there, but not many people associate New York City with beach culture, or give much thought to this tiny islip so far away from the streets of Manhattan. We tend to think of Coney Island as the go-to beach in New York for iconic photography. So the Rockaways, for me, has been inspiring to shoot because the area feels somewhat uncharted and lesser known, at least until more recently. I have so much more work ahead of me, and I am so excited by that. I love this project, and I aim to take it throughout the many beaches of the US and then globally. I’d like to explore how love and intimacy looks the same, or different, across the country and world. I plan to make a book and have a big exhibit next year, celebrating three years of Beach Lovers at Rockaway.

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Erica Reade is now a Brooklyn based photographer. She is self-taught, and uses both digital and analog formats. Erica is an Artist Member of SohoPhoto Gallery in NYC, and was a 2015 National Natural Eye Scholarship winner at the Santa Fe Photography Workshops. She is founder of Camera of the Month Club, a unique gathering of young, dedicated photographers from across NYC who are as passionate about experimenting with different cameras as they are about shooting compelling photos. Follow more of her street photography on Instagram.

Julia Coddington

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Street Chat

Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, where do you live now? Your background with photography, how and when you were drawn into the street genre.

Like all street photographers I find people endlessly fascinating. People watching has always been a favourite pastime and since discovering street photography I no longer sit and watch, but watch and capture.

I don’t really have a “photography background”or any formal training but have always enjoyed it, and as a design professional perhaps I’m more tuned in to what works well visually. As a kid, and probably like many kids growing up the 60s and 70s, I had a trusty polaroid and loved to take candid pics of family and friends — especially at parties — of which I recall there were many. I grew up in the bush, and we had a very social time with all the cousins, aunts and uncles etc.

In the 80s I lived in Indonesia for a while, and armed with an Olympus OM-10, I enjoyed wandering the streets taking photos. I didn’t realise at the time that what I was doing was street photography.

In 2008 I got my first iPhone, and this is probably when I got really hooked after discovering I could discreetly take candid photos of random people in the street. In the last couple of years my partner and I have travelled quite a bit and actively sought out great places for street.

A few years ago I moved to a small coastal village on the south coast of New South Wales — south of Sydney, Australia. It’s a special place, but not exactly a street photographer’s dream, given the population is less than 3000.

How do you define “street photography” for yourself?

For me street photography is about many things. I haven’t yet formed a particular “definition” because it’s still very much an exploration and learning process for me. It’s about exploring the world of people — observing the interactions between them, tuning in to these interactions, and waiting for the moment, inserting myself into a place where I become invisible, and the challenge of getting as close as I possibly can without being noticed. But when I am noticed, being comfortable enough with what I’m doing that I’m not a threat. What I love most is when I lose myself in my invisibility and meld into the scene. It’s almost a fugue-like state, like I’m not there, or like a fly on the wall.

In what ways do you think being a woman has affected your work?

I think my ability to become invisible is very much about being a woman. I’m not a threat. I’m not obvious. I’m a woman in my 50s, and I’m small, I don’t stand out. No one really looks at me or notices me. At last I have an advantage! And it gives me a sense of power that I’ve never really felt before. As a woman it’s easier for me to take photos of children. It irritates me intensely that men complain about this. Men have it all, can do anything in this world. But it is much more difficult for them to take photos of children — some are quite comfortable doing it, but most don’t because they fear the consequences. That women have an advantage doing this is a great thing and men should shut up about it.

Color or black and white, digital or film?

I used film in the past, although I didn’t ever develop it myself. Digital is the bomb! We are so lucky to live in this age of technology. That being said, we have film cameras in the house, and rolls of film waiting to be taken out. The other day I listened to a discussion between Valerie Jardin and German photographer Monika Andrae, who experiments with vintage cameras and expired rolls of film. It was inspiring, so now I’m keen to give it a try.

I shoot both colour and black and white. Both have their advantages. My favourite at the moment is colour, and I shoot primarily using a vivid colour profile. I prefer black and white if I’m using flash, or if I’m shooting events or performances.

What photographers can you name who are the most inspirational to you?

Of course many of the street photography “Masters” inspire me — Elliot Erwitt, Shirley Baker, Joel Meyerowitz, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Mark, Saul Leiter, Alex Webb, Henri Cartier Bresson, Vivian Maier, Martin Parr, Garry Winogrand. But most of my inspiration comes from contemporary street photographers, and of course from my fellow street photographers. They’re the ones who truly inspire me. I love Graciela Magnoni’s work, and of course fellow Australian Narelle Autio’s wonderful work. Some of the contemporary Indian photographers like Swapan Parekh, Vineet Vohra and Rohit Vohra are doing amazing stuff, along with many of the Israeli photographers. Last year in New York, we saw an exhibition of Ernesto Bazan’s work. He is primarily a documentary photographer, but I love his South American based projects and would love to do one of his workshops.

Perhaps the style of street photography I currently enjoy and strive for is attempting to create layers, to capture the oddities and peculiarities, capturing that one moment where everything lines up to create an Alex Webb-like masterpiece!

I listen to a lot of street photography podcasts, read blogs, magazines, watch videos, and actively look at what people are posting online. It helps that I have a partner who is also a street photography nerd.

Is there a special project you are working on? Or is there a certain theme or series that often comes up in your work?

Given that I am very limited to what I have in the place where I live…. I’m working on a project at our local rock swimming pool. We are blessed in this country with the most amazing light and blue skies. My goal is to capture the essence of this place in which I live — the laid back beach culture — and the joy that living by the sea and this place, brings to people as they experience it — and which culminates at the pool. The late afternoon sun heightens the colours, and by using a vivid colour profile I can accentuate this. I sit by the pool or wander around it, listening and observing, moving slowly or sometimes very quickly, but discreetly, to position myself in the right place — looking for layers, movement, detail, bright colours. In particular I love to capture people dripping with water as they just come out of the pool in the late afternoon sun.

My courage and confidence has grown exponentially in the last year, and this has physically changed my approach and creatively transformed the way I do street photography. One of my favourite things to do is to get as close as possible to people. I was inspired to try this after listening to an interview on streetpx with Willem Jonkers, a street photographer from Rotterdam who uses a fisheye or 14mm lens at a very low angle and up close. It gives you an interesting ‘Gulliver’ effect. (Willem Jonkers partner Sandra Jonkers is a wheel chair bound photographer who also uses an interesting approach!)

I’ve also been trying out flash after the flash photography challenge on the Women Street Photographers Facebook challenge. Thanks to Michelle Groskopf for the inspiration! I really loved the photos Rebecca Weston took in Austin for this challenge.

I have a couple of projects in the pipeline. They will present great challenges for me because firstly they involve getting up early, and secondly they involve engaging and talking with people. In fact one of my major goals in the coming year is to overcome the fear of engaging with people and to try more of a documentary form of street photography. In January we’re off to Myanmar for a week long street photography workshop with Maciej Dakowicz, who challenges his students to engage with people — so hopefully this will help ease me over this major hurdle!


Julia Coddington 

Fabrizia Ascatigno

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Street Chat

Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, where do you live now? Your background with photography, how and when you were drawn to the street genre.

I have been living in Milan for many years, and this is where most of my photographs are taken. Photography has always thrilled and intrigued me, but only recently did I discover “street photography,” attending a course on the topic. Then, I was struck by the great photographers, and by the charm of their photographs. So I take pictures for passion, fun, and sometimes for work. I wander the city, sniffing out eccentric characters, looking for funny situations, and tuning into scenes that spontaneously erupt on city corners.

How do you define “street photography” for yourself?

To me, street photography is looking at people sincerely, giving room for curiosity. It is staying among people, and having fun.

Does your local situation affect your work?

There are places like stations or airports in which photography is forbidden, but in a large city full of people and tourists as Milan is, there’s no problem going around and taking photos. You are almost invisible. I’m not aggressive, I don’t use flash, and I always respect people. Only a few times did I have to delete photos, as people didn’t appreciate being photographed. This is not a problem for me, if they ask, then I simply delete the pictures.

In what ways do you think being a woman has affected your work?

Women are more sensitive. I think they look at reality with different eyes, more empathy, and are more involved with people and situations.

Color or black and white, digital or film?

All of my most recently published work is in colour, which helps me in composition — it gives life, emphasis, and intensity to my photography. I have always admired Alex Webb, Saul Leiter, and many others that use colours to let the eye move, communicating messages. I can’t resist colours when they are brilliant under the sun’s touch. My camera is a mirrorless, and I can be almost invisible in the street in this way. I take only digital photos, so I have the possibility of some control in post-production.

What photographers can you name who are the most inspirational to you?

One of the first I admired was Joel Meyerowitz, for his energy and his continuous propensity for new experiments. I like English photographers like Martin Parr and Matt Stuart, very different from each other. They use irony to tell about the funnier aspects of life.

There are not as many female street photographers from the past, among them, my favourites are Diane Arbus, Helen Levitt, and of course Vivian Maier. I’m inspired by Vivian Maier’s photos — her street portraits, her unusual characters, and the humorous opportunities offered by the street. Sometimes, when I’m in the street with my camera, I wonder what she would have shot if she were with me. Today, the number of female street photographers has increased, and I can see their work on the web, and in social media. I think they’re exceptionally gifted.

Is there a special project you are working on? Or recurring themes you are often drawn to?

I have some recurrent subjects — I like street portraits, and in particular couples, funny adults, and children. It’s interesting to me the funny aspect of situations, as well as body language: hand-gestures, and facial expressions. When someone smiles looking at my photos, I have met my goal.

I have just finished a study about sunlight in Milan. These are minimal pictures, where the sun is the main actor that gives light to the people. I have always admired certain artists’ use of light, the way they realize its placement in their images. For example, the paintings of Edward Hopper, the films of Woody Allen, and the photography of Trente Parke. I wanted to effect something similar.

But the real inspiration for my study came when I read the book Sopresi nella luce Americana, by a great Italian photographer, Franco Fontana. What I began to understand through his series, is the importance of light in examining the urban landscape — its many buildings, all of its signs, and all of the figures in motion, and all somehow scattered, in the American streets.

I wanted to experiment with this idea in Milan, the Italian city that sits at the foundation of respect from other Italians, with its grand avenues and classic buildings. The protagonists are the lines, the bands of horizontal and vertical color, the unrelentingly penetrating light. The people walk as though moving through the recesses, somehow a symbol of the human spirit.

In addition to your themes of humor and sunlight, we find more intimate candid portraits, showing a range of emotion, particularly in public transport.

For many years I have taken the metro to get to work, and I always liked observing the people, imagining their lives, their thoughts. At any given time of day, there is always someone or something interesting to photograph in the metro, it’s where I took my first street photographs. The cars were packed with tourists, nobody gave you much mind, and I felt at my leisure to photograph.

In this setting, it’s possible to obtain more serious portraits. I have focused mainly on women, of all ages. I find them to be more fascinating than men from a photographic point of view — their colored lips, their scarves and capes, their jewelry and other accessories, makes each woman unique.

Fabrizia Ascatigno | Flickr | Instagram |

 

Rural Street Photography

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A candid focus outside the city, by Didi S. Gilson

 

Q: Which of your photographs is your favorite?
A: The one I’m going to take tomorrow. — Imogen Cunningham

In Australia, the CBD (short for Central Business District) has the same recognizable, albeit sun-drenched appearance as many of the world’s cities do. There are shops and restaurants at street level, housed inside towering buildings. Bars and pubs, cinemas, theaters and all sorts of activity hubs like hairdressers and fast food eateries, pastry shops and ice cream parlors, with pedestrians walking to or from work, and their lunchtime breaks.

These sights are augmented by an orchestral cacophony: screeching tire stops and the go-go-GO of vehicular traffic. Add in all of those types of scenes where the everyday cast of usual and unusual characters that we’re accustomed to seeing (acting out their lives) when we think of classic street photography.

However, in the CBD of a less populated rural town or small coastal village (like the one where I’ve lived for the past fifteen years), you’ll find a more ‘down to earth’ locale. You’d easily discern a visual difference between the dailiness here, and that in those photos we would know immediately had occurred within the hustle of a bustling metropolis.

Of course, things happen on the outskirts, in suburban and country regions, similar instantaneous glances and actions. But the distinctive photographic potential can vary widely from those of city-dwellings, mostly due to the setting. Here’s a more relaxed attitude, also an absence of sizable buildings. On quieter streets, along with much less noise, there’s less car traffic, fewer pedestrians so less foot traffic…

That’s not to say that there’s less to see or to photograph. Still, it’s necessary to have an alternative mindset, another kind of keen eye than what many of us would be used to using.

The stores, houses and other roofs are lower to the ground — offering vast swathes of sky, gloriously accompanied by shifting clouds and the ray-gun sun. Instead of block columns of skyscrapers, we glimpse garages, sheds and boats, heaps of signs, utility lines, and when we’re lucky, kids riding bikes, skateboards or scooters, people walking their dogs, or putting out the weekly trash, then checking their front yard mailbox.

Sometimes when I leave the house, I have specific plans or errands to run. Often enough, I just meander, and I chuckle whenever I recall the typo: “wondering around” when the person really means: wandering. I apply that mix-up combo to reality though, as I do both wander and wonder around.

Although when there’s no one else out and about, and as a photographer who is used to observing people everywhere, it can seem eerily deserted, and so much harder to make worthwhile photographs. It helps if you’re determined to unlock the site to uncover disparate evidence left behind — hints that there are intriguing incidents, humans and assorted mysterious animals… lives being lived everywhere.

This is slooooooww-shooting, as the photographer feels more like a clue-seeking sleuth, or quite nearly working on an archaeological dig. I’m a total tree-nut, so whenever there’s intriguing foliage, I pause to contemplate.

When I go on walkabout in the Aussie neighborhoods, I’m noticing photogenic objects, geographic arrangements and a locus of points that simply catch my eye, usually before a person would even enter my peripheral vision. You have to know who you are, and what you like. Whether you prefer vistas or do you crave only closer details? Don’t be complacent, but focus, play and discover.

Outside of cities, as anywhere, it’s important to pay attention to light and shadow — both are obviously effected by times of day as well as by seasonal changes. Note how such atmospheric, weather-dominant naturalism ingrains photos with a dissimilar ‘air’ rarely found in the cement and steel canyons of city environs, except possibly in parks. It’s best to embrace this inherent attribute for the photos.

When I first moved here, I took this challenge as a personal dare — how to continue finding the means and methods of being true to my way of making clear-eyed photos, no matter where I am.

An ex-New Yorker, I don’t drive a car, so my Oz journey began in earnest by walking as I’ve always done, and occasionally by taking buses or rides with my new Aussie family and friends. Framing my experience via windows and the people and places both inside and outside from this vantage view meant I was always ready with a camera, and present in the unfolding moment. Watching, anticipating and learning about this Down Under world simultaneously. It’s the only kind of drive-by shooting I’d ever recommend.

Camera toting, I traveled to the local grocery stores and also shopping malls in neighboring towns. Sometimes to make a quick purchase or three, but other times ‘just because…’

I’m not a street photography purist. For me, what’s important are the resulting images, not any label or niche — whether my own or those of others. I don’t want to be repeating the same circumstantial pictures over and over, or have a ‘schtick’ that I heavily rely on.

I’ve never shied away from making a street portrait if I felt an impromptu grab-shot might not do justice to an individual, pair or group of strangers, within their surroundings. I rarely hide what I’m doing; so since it’s not sly, I’m willing to take a permission granted opportunity, for an engaging image.

Then, frequently I’ll wait, itchy finger on the shutter release — but patiently I inhale and stop myself right on the brink… I’m never sure exactly what I’m pausing for — whether it’s some gestural nuance, or Barthes’ lucid punctum — but I’ll know the split-second when I see it in the viewfinder.

At the top of this piece, I’d quoted Imogen Cunningham, because of the astute optimism of her statement. Forward-looking, open to the entire realm of possibilities one might encounter. I like to go out the door with that intuitive adventure in mind.

 

Guest author: Didi S. Gilson

Raised in New York City, and given her first camera at the age of eight, Didi has photographed throughout her life. Since relocating to New South Wales, Australia in March of 2001, she has been based from a small, coastal town.
In Oz, they call a lifestyle switch, moving from the city, a Sea Change or more recently a Tree Change — happily, Didi is now enjoying the best of those worlds (not to mention the flocks of wild birds).