Street Photography in the Countryside
As July arrives, the first of two waves of Parisians leave the city to head towards the provinces for vacations. I was one of them last week for a week vacation in Southern France. During the long drive, I definitely had time to reflect on the topic of street photography in the country side.
To me the main components of street photography are a human setting, a human presence (or hint of presence) that are linked through a story or a feeling. Therefore, even if street photography might have a urban connotation, it can certainly be performed in the country side, with of course, a few differences :
1) patience, a farm community main street is definitely not as busy as Les Champs-Elysées.
2) it is definitely a challenge to take candid shots when there are only two people in a street.
3) in Paris, someone with a camera is a tourist and clueless. In a village, photographers only come for the national newspaper. They expect to be in the front cover the next day
4) there are a lot of old women taking their dogs for a walk. Shot variety might especially suffer in villages of <100 people.
5) animals do not count as humans, look for other shots and read point #1 again.
6) having your companion pause as a stranger in a selected spot does not count, read point #1 again.
Jokes apart and to match the vacations period, I will start tonight a two weeks series on the topic of Street Photography in the Countryside. Hope you will enjoy the vision of a Parisian in the country side.
juillet 6th, 2009 at 15:02
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I am looking forward to your series. Believe it or not, the majority of Europeans do not live in a mega city ;-)) , so you series mights give me some insight how to approach this thing outside the cities. Have a great vacation!
juillet 8th, 2009 at 19:23
Hello, actually I come initially from a small village so I have an idea of the rural world
the biggest difference is IMO the notion of time, life is slower, street shots opportunities are less, it forces you to wait, which is a good thing. And of course, Paris carries with it a lyric and romantic image that is difficult not to include in the pictures. cheers