Street Thread: "My desires are... unconventional. My photos are... unacceptable."

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Street Thread: "My desires are... unconventional. My photos are... unacceptable."

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

why aren't August Sander or the Sartorialist in this thread?

both are excellent examples of how a cool subject can really take your image from good to great

plus, the sartorialist is modern, shoots digital, and has a great success story.

here's some of my better street shots:

plain to see how the guys i posted about influenced my stuff

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 01:18

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:36

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

dunno posted:

Because they are not street photographers. There is a world of difference between street portraiture and conventional street photography, the primary one i guess being asking permission and poses. Street photography generally feels immediate and maybe a little transgressive. It's not about portraying the subjects positively so much as some imagined and captured version of "how things really are".

Those portraits are generally pretty decent but they are not street photography as conventionally talked about.

Edit: Also, I've been meaning to put together a better/more specific reply for a while, but I think the overall calibre of the shots in this thread so far is pretty high, good on you guys!

Ah, I thought they might fall under a larger umbrella.

Radbot posted:

dorkasaurus: Nice work, those are some awesome portraits. They seem a little soft to me though, is this intentional?

Really? I think the guy in the yellow jacket and the delivery guy are some of the sharpest I've ever taken, and considering they're medium format, that's pretty drat sharp. The Indian looking business-man I shot like the first day I ever had my 6x7 so yeah it's soft, and the Asian girl was shot at night with push-processed film at like 2.4 or something. Not trying to make excuses, but some of those are far from soft.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 02:53

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Radbot posted:

It might just be me, maybe I'm just used to seeing shots with more USM. Regardless, they're great.

What do you shoot with? A Pentax 67? Do you use a tripod?

Thank you. Pentax 6x7, focusing prism (so I look through it straight through, like a 35mm), no tripod ever. I don't even own a tripod strong enough for it, haha. Where's my gorillapod for medium format cameras?!

I think these might be more street-y:

dorkasaurus_rex fucked around with this message at 09:34 on Aug 25, 2009

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 09:23

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Interrupting Moss posted:

Awesome work. It's creative and I can appreciate the amount of work that went into the finished works. Funch never distorted reality.

If he had, somehow, done all that in the darkroom people would think he was a god.

These are great. "Street photography" seems to be typically understood to be black and white, spontaneous, and shot at f/8. I don't understand why, such hard rules don't apply anywhere else in photography. I'd wager that if the depth of field weren't so shallow no one would have said anything about those shots not being street photography.

If I shoot a building from the street, is that street photography or architectural photography? What if there are no people in the shot? What about all the shots that have lots of people and buildings in them? Which is it?

Don't kid yourself. That's street photography, and it's good.

Really? I wasn't aware f/8 had that particular connotation. Thanks though.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 14:37

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Interrupting Moss posted:

f/8 given as an example of something that would get a large DOF, especially on a 35mm or 50mm lens, which are also generally believed to be required.

Seriously, I like those shots a lot. Post more.

Well, if you say so, here are some of my better randoms:

Radbot posted:

Dorkasaurus, what made you gravitate to the Pentax? It's pretty much the most beastly camera I've ever seen that doesn't have a vertical ground glass focusing screen. Also, why 6x7? Massive real estate?

I went to Adorama one day and said I wanted a medium format camera with: a good range of wide lenses (which the Mamiya 7, the other camera I was considering, doesn't really have), a focusing prism of some sort (so I don't have to look down), and generally something similar to a 35mm, which I was used to using by that point. It came down to the Mamiya 7 and the Pentax 6x7 and I was more comfortable with the feel of the Pentax 6x7 and that was that. Also the Pentax 6x7 was significantly cheaper, haha. Incidentally, I just found out that Todd Hido, who happens to be one of my favorite current photographers, uses a Pentax 6x7 as well.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 17:44

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Interrupting Moss posted:

Yup, those are pretty cool.

People, on the streets, just looking at the camera. Good stuff. Almost makes me want to live in NYC.

Do you approach and ask to take their photo, bam, done?

Yup! Sometimes just a few glances and motions is enough.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 19:22

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

DJExile posted:

OK I kind of want to know what the context here is, but then I'm so amused by not having any context at all, and all that I know is that there's some dude in a Rangers mask wielding a big-wheel while someone on a bench laughs at him.

It's a really cool shot.

E: Wait he's kind of short... and the Statue of Liberty is on his mask... MIKE RICHTER, IS THAT YOU?

It was a tricycle race in central park. People showed up in wacky outfits and raced in home-made tricycles. here's all the shots from that day

Sadi posted:

What lens and aperture are you using for most of these dorkasaurus? Its a very pleasing and smooth transition to the out of focus area.

Well, it's probably only 4.5-5.6, but that transition is probably cause of the format, not the aperture. Thinking I should probably make a medium and large format megathread, heh.

I only really use a 105mm 2.4 and a 75mm 4.5 on my Pentax 6x7. I had a 55m 3.5 but it was stolen. Is there a specific shot you're asking about?

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 20:33

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Interrupting Moss posted:

Yes, please.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3191750

Martytoof posted:

You churn out some of the best shots. I was in love with your 6x7 in the Pentax thread, now I kind of want one

those were taken on my 35mm Canon :ssh:

# ¿ Aug 25, 2009 22:27

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:36

dorkasaurus_rex: Jun 10, 2005; gawrsh do you think any women will be there

Ric posted:

Here are some street portraits I took last night - not what I was planning on doing, but they were intrigued by the camera so I took the opportunity.

Dude, these are really nice. What did you take them on and where were they taken?

# ¿ Jan 20, 2010 09:42

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Street Thread: "My desires are... unconventional. My photos are... unacceptable."