About Cover Street
Unnoticed, exceptional things happen everyday in front of our very eyes, sometimes like funny little codes to decipher and some other times like giant capital words which few dare to read. We are readers, readers of street, an infinite book whose Cover is Street Photography.
This group is heavily moderated.
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Street Of The Week #12:
by 頑固爺
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When William Henry Fox Talbot published the first ever photographically illustrated book, The Pencil of Nature, in 1844, he changed the world forever. Although Louis Daguerre’s photographic process pre-dated that of Fox Talbot (by a couple of years), the former was able only to produce one image per capture; whereas Fox Talbot had invented a photographic negative that could be used to print multiple copies. Thus, the seed of modern photography was sown.
For the next eighty years, cameras were large, cumbersome contraptions, difficult to carry, slow to set up and almost impossible to conceal. But in 1924, Leica produced the first lightweight, hand-held camera, opening the door for what we now know as street photography.
A young Frenchman, Henri Cartier-Bresson (HCB), adopted the Leica in 1933 and through his prodigious output, his indisputable visual acuity and his insightful writing became, and some would say remains, the single person most synonymous with street photography. HCB set the benchmark for the art form; but he was not the first to practise it. Alfred Stieglitz was a forerunner of street photography even before HCB was born. But HCB is still recognised by most as the seminal figure, the towering giant and the father of all that has been produced since.
For most practitioners, however, street photography has not stood still. The art form has grown in popularity and developed its own progeny of styles. There are photographers who capture what is out there for all the world to see; and the best of them do it brilliantly. Sometimes, they capture spectacular images of events we wish we could have seen for ourselves; and other times, they bring us the subtlest of moments that we usually don’t have time to see in the hectic rush of our busy lives. Some of them show us images of great beauty or poignancy that we might otherwise overlook; and some of them bring to our attention the sadness and pain that we, perhaps, would rather not see. Then again, there are other photographers who use the street as their canvass but turn their cameras inwards to depict what we feel and fear and hope for. And the best of them do it equally brilliantly. Their images are often confronting to see and challenging to understand. They provoke more often than they entertain; and they speak in a language that has no words. But these cohorts of photographers and many others belong to a fellowship of artists who record and document and comment upon and bring to our notice, in a way that is eye-opening, the everyday poetry of human existence.
Cover Street is committed to bringing you the very best of contemporary street photography. To this end, we have assembled a team of photographers whose diversity of vision runs the gamut of styles; but whose skill and commitment unifies them at the peak of their art. In their work, you will see your own world in a way that you may not have been able to see before; and even if you are not a photographer, it may give you a new way of seeing forever after.
But Cover Street is not just a gallery for an elite group to show off their wares. As a team, we equally committed to promoting street photography as an art form; enabling up-and-coming street photographers to develop their abilities by exposing them to examples of the highest quality and providing an on-line forum where the creative process can be analysed and discussed; and encouraging all visitors to broaden their understanding of the social, cultural, ethical and moral issues affecting street photography in our time.
Never before has street photography been under so much threat. The threat of terrorism plus the inappropriate use of cameras by a minority of individuals, especially since the beginning of the digital age, has created a public suspicion of street photographers and a perception that anyone who points a camera at a stranger is up to no good. But Cover Street is committed to raising public awareness and understanding of street photography, promoting its true objectives, and restoring its reputation as a legitimate and important art form.
The camera is the people’s paintbox and no form of photography addresses the subject of people with more enthusiasm, wit and compassion than street photography. So we invite you to take a look at our website, explore the images, read the discussions and give us your opinions; and above all, aspire to become part of the legacy of those luminaries such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassai and Robert Doisneau.
by Keith Munro,
project Cover Street.
http://www.cover-street.com
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