Impulsive Street Photography

I was recently asked if there is a subset of my photographs that mean one thing to me and another for viewers. Specifically, if what I intended to see was not what others saw after printing them.

As in any form of art and communication, the predisposition and expectation of the recipients are commonly different from that of the presenter. Yet it is the role of the photographer to find that angle and context that would mean the same for most viewers.

But there are always exceptions.

So here are a few photographs for which I have received variable reactions from viewers.

A.    Madrid, Spain

This photo was totally unplanned. I was walking with the crowd late in the day when I heard laughing and exclamations at loud voice. Turned around, and saw this man holding a magazine and being very expressive. My lens (a Fujinon) was wide open and I clicked once and kept walking.

It was only when I looked at the negative that I noticed he was looking at a male models magazine.  

For me, it is a photo of a relaxed moment in the streets of Madrid. Many others have found it to represent different stages of a man’s life, as well as the delightful surprise of not finding him looking at a female models’ magazine.

B.     Paris, France

Outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral, I saw these two ladies in a similar sitting posture, eating ice cream. Took the photo knowing that it was not the greatest, but did it anyhow. When I developed the negative, I notice the third person wearing the Michael Jackson-like single glove. I did not see the glove when I took the picture.

Interestingly, Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 and I took this photograph in July of that year. So, without intending it, it does have a historical background.

C.    Oslo, Norway

This one, again, was an impulse-based photograph where I wanted to capture the harmony in the joint postures of two Norwegian young women.  Beyond that, I had no story to tell.

However, I received a number of comments from Norway where viewers of this photograph had seen the dichotomy they faced about joining the European Union (EU). Indeed, I learned that Norway did not immediately find comfort in making the transition from its people’s-based democracy to adhering to the rules of the EU.

Clearly, such an interpretation is relevant only since the photograph was taking in Oslo…

D.    The Model and the shy dog, Baltimore, Maryland

I was walking my dog when I saw that there was a photo session happening. I talked to the photographer who told me he was doing a series of shots for a calendar. The model was a well known young woman who was dressed in leather and a red jacket.

I did mention that I was a photographer too and would be interested in watching him work with the light changes. “Sure,” he said. “But you can do more – how about having your dog in some of the shots?”

I thought “Lucky dog!!!!”

I took a few pictures with permission. He said I can use them if I want.

When I looked at one of the pictures, I could not stop laughing: my dog seemed so shy next to this beautiful woman! He even closed his eyes….

E.     Urban Kiss, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland

This is a photograph using medium format film. What is interesting here is that I tried to do a B&W transparency from film. That is a process called a “reversal process” where the negative is developed but not fixed. Then a bath and washing in potassium permanganate in sulfuric acid solution would take some of the silver halide to be unevenly distributed on the film, which upon exposure to light can give unexpected patterns to the negative once fixed and dried.

Interestingly, I was more pleased by how the buildings and crowd on the boardwalk appeared when I printed it. Yet, all of the viewers of this photograph commented on the tenderness of the kiss with absolutely no consideration of the rest of the photograph….

F.     Somewhere in Virginia

This is an old photograph and I do not recall the name of the town. It was a re-enactment of Western lifestyle with cowboys and Native Americans.

I was walking in the parking lot when I heard laughter. Turned around and clicked on the old Pentax K 1000 (yes, I remember carrying that camera on that day…). Unfortunately the negative was damaged during development and the picture did not qualify for anything except for sharing it with some friends. The reason was that it is an intriguing photograph lending itself for many interpretations and fantasizing.

The obvious question was “Where is Big Chief?” and most answers I got were along the line of “One lucky Big Chief!”

… The moral of the story is that sometimes one should take photographs on impulse without necessarily having a complete picture in mind. The surprises street photography provides post hoc can be just delightful!

March 23, 2016

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2016