More Street 'sploitation

Back in June I posted a video of Bruce Gilden being an obnoxious jackass on the streets of New York City in the name of Street Photography. Now here is a new one floating around of some guy named Thomas Leuthard walking the streets of Istanbul at night...



And Leuthard writes about his process here... 85mm Street Blog

Susan Sontag wrote about the implicit aggression in every use of the camera and of the camera being a tool of power. For most photographers there is always a struggle to counter the aggression and power of the lens with techniques of disarmament. Being mindful of the camera's intrusive nature and the ability to transcend it to make a picture of someone who appears to be oblivious to the presence of the lens is the benchmark of a great photographer. The best photography allows the viewer to forget about the medium and the messenger entirely. We feel we are the lens itself.That is the gift a master of photography gives to us. The images taken by Gilden and Leuthard are all about the camera and therefore, all about the photographer. The people in these images become secondary to their reactions to the photographer. The photographer as narcissist who willfully exploits strangers on the streets for self gratification. The look of disdain and contempt on the overwhelming majority of these street subjects confirms the level of aggression they are experiencing. The resulting images are so meaningless as to approach absurdity... nothing but a collection of deer-in-the-headlights photographs. Makes me ashamed for the craft of photography.

6 comments:

Paul's Pictures said...

You need not feel ashamed: yu posted this video and FASCINATING insights. It's funny because I mostly use a long lens, so as to keep away from subjects. Most don't see me Those that do are overwhelmingly positive and friendly and if I have the chance to speak to them I tell them I am a S/Photog recording the "ordinary" moments of life, none of which are ordinary. All so far (it's been a few months) are happy with what I've done and curious or interested. These two are about themselves, not their subjects. And I NEVER would use a flash in somone's face. I mean THAT is an act of violence. thank you my friend for this post I will be following you now. thank you

Paul's Pictures said...

Oh sorry, when i wrote "these two" I meant Gilden and Leuthard. I mean really that Gildon. He's got some great photographs, like some he did in Japan but on the street he turns into..well into what you said haha..i saw one of him in England and he was almost shouting at people to do what he wanted. How he's survived so long is a wonder. thanks again!

Anonymous said...

If you are speaking about Street Photo, see pages as http://www.in-public.com/photographers
Gilden and Leuthard are about geting some expression from people.. but this is so little to call this stret...
Shoot people with long lens, wow! These belong to the stadiums ans sport..

Jim Sabiston said...

I don't get that reaction from the video at all. After reading your short commentary and then watching the video, what really becomes apparent is your bias against this sort of photography.

As a point of clarity, let me state that I limit my comments to Thomas Leuthard's work. I am entirely unfamiliar with Gilden.

First, a simple observation. If you really watch the video, what readily becomes apparent is that most of the subjects enjoy the experience and quite a few happily participated. Others were indifferent. The one subject that looked 'iffy' in the photograph, the 2nd(?) taxi driver at the beginning of the video, was openly smiling in the video afterwards, so much so that Thomas took another photo with his full participation.

I had the rather interesting pleasure of meeting Mr. Leuthard in NYC recently and did a short tour with him as he took photos and I took some myself. It was an utterly fascinating experience. The intent, normally, is to be invisible. Nighttime photography obviously puts different demands on the photographer and a flash is unavoidable. I have not done night work myself, but it was interesting to see how unperturbed the majority of the subjects were - several even making a game of it, your commentary not-with-standing.

One thing that Mr. Leuthard stressed repeatedly when we were together was the need to be sensitive to the subject in the sense that if they exhibited any discomfort, to move along to another subject. This is NOT apparent in the video, either due to editing and/or the process being affected by the needs of the video capture.

You can have a legitimate discussion as to the quality of the resulting images (like all photographers, Mr. Leuthard disposes of most shots - the video had a different purpose and even the 'bad' shots are retained for the video) or even whether this results in 'art', or not, as worthwhile discussion. Your commentary might apply quite accurately to Gilden. Being unfamiliar with his work I cannot say. But your commentary on Mr. Leuthard on this point is inaccurate and misleading. Hopefully most of your readers will actually watch the video and see this for themselves.

Antonio said...

I think that this "style" of shooting, if gets widespread, will lead to a point where street photographers will be considered a major annoyance, and treated accordingly by the general public. We already have to go through a lot of paranoia. It would be interesting to see Mr. Leutard doing this on one "Less-photographer-friendly" location. I bet he would get his arse kicked.

Anonymous said...

Agreed Antonio, I get enough bad reaction far away with a 75mm efl lens. I cannot imagine how few people it would take like this to piss people off and further negative attitudes about photographs.
The addition of the flash makes it more intrusive and confrontational.
I did this to one of my family members in my very own home and they told me they would be annoyed if someone in public walked up and used this technique on them.