What Makes Street Photograhpy Unique
Street photography is unique compared to other types of photography because it can’t be replicated. With all of the unique elements in a street photo, it creates moments that just won’t happen again.
To me, that’s really motivating - the fact that with the click of the shutter button, I can create a picture that no other photographer can.
No Street Photograph Can Be the Same
In street photography with people, a frame is going to include numerous unique factors. For one, you have the people in a frame. You won’t find that combination of people in the same way again, or at least it’s unlikely. Plus, consider what the people are wearing. The gestures they make.
Then there’s the setting they’re in and the background. In street photography, environments may not change on a daily basis, but things like signage and buildings change. Maybe a building gets knocked down to make way for a new one. In other words, human-built environments are constantly changing.
With Other Types of Photography, Two Different Photographers Could Take Very Similar Pictures
This is not to take away from other types of photography, but with landscape photography, for example, a photo could be re-created by another photographer. It’s unlikely, considering that factors like the weather and cloud cover in the sky are going to be different at one location from one day to another.
But still, the odds of two or more other photographers creating a very similar landscape photo are much higher than in street photography. I remember back in 2015, there was a Petapixel article about how two different photographers who went on a cruise on the coast of Chile came away with very similar photos of an iceberg. This resulted in one of the photographers thinking the other had stolen their photo, when in reality, they both took separate photos that just turned out to be very similar.
In street photography, this is just extremely unlikely to happen if the photo has people in it.
Street Photography Including People
I don’t think this applies nearly as much to “street photography” that veers more towards urban landscape photography. I can see two different photographers taking photos of the same building and having it turn out very similarly. Or infrastructure like a bridge or a photo of a skyline. This would be more likely to happen if the photographers took the photos on the same day because there are variables like the color of the sky and the weather.
When you add people to the mix, though, that’s when street photography becomes more unique. As I mentioned before, there are just so many unique aspects that make up a street photograph that has people in it: the people, their clothing, their gestures, all combined with a changing environment.
The Moments You Capture Won’t Happen Again
The moments that you’re able to capture in street photography happen once, and that’s it. I find that incredibly motivating, that I have the ability to freeze a moment in time that won’t happen again. Other street photographers won’t be able to capture that scene. I won’t be able to capture it again, even.
The fact that street photography offers the opportunity to create unique art is the main reason why I do street photography.
I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty cool.
