I’m not much of a street photographer. Purists say street photography requires a kind of invisibility. You have to capture people unposed. The object is to produce an authentic documentation of life on the street. You’re like a birder in a blind. Or an anthropologist in camouflage. Personally, I find that hard to do. Inevitably, I end up connecting with the people I photograph. Things begin with conversation, or eye contact. A mutual understanding. A nod. A moment of release. A revelation. Then again, I think the purists are full of shit. Anthropologists gave up the fiction of objectivity 40 years ago when Clifford Geertz published The Interpretation of Cultures. Why are street photographers so stuck in the past?
So here we have Moses Adolphe. I met him in Moss Park with dozens of other men, mostly homeless, sitting under the trees to cope with the heat. He was staying at the Salvation Army’s Maxwell Meighen Centre. This isn’t a street photograph. This is a me-talking-with-a-man photograph. He tells me something about his situation. I ask if I can take his photo. After I shoot it, he wants to see. The most important part of the transaction comes when I affirm to him that I have heard him and have seen him. Street photography ignores that part of the deal.
This is a cat with its owner. I put the spot focus on the cat’s eye because it’s clear who’s in charge. In the feline world, humans are superfluous. I have no scientific data to back me up on this, but I would estimate that 99.9% of all cat owners are delighted to be photographed with their cats.
In a way, the photo below is unposed like a street photograph. A woman approaches carrying drinks from Tim Hortons. I think to myself: this is a good balancing act; I should take a photo of it. I smile as I raise my camera. She smiles back. Negotiations are concluded. Click. She never stops, so the image isn’t as crisp as the ones above. The whole transaction takes less than a second. As an aside, it’s worth noting that, even a few years ago, this photo would have been impossible to take. It’s only with the development of autofocus technology in DSLRs that photographers have been able to pick up their camera, pull the scene into focus, and release the shutter in as little time as it takes to twitch a finger.
