Photojournalism has had a late start in China. The profession, which only began to thrive in China in the 1990s, hasn’t enjoyed the long and celebrated status it has in the West. Today, under the pressure of tightening censorship, stagnating income, and technology disruption, photojournalists are exiting the field in large numbers. But a small group of photographers are still dedicated to telling stories about China in a time of sweeping change.
This is a view of the main street from a tram in Nagasaki on a rainy day. The tram is vintage, but retrofitted with modern ticketing equipment. A conductor is no longer on board—only the lone driver. The quiet streetscape seen through the front windshield of the tram somehow caught my attention. This view presents quite a contrast to busy urban centers in Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka. The ride on a vintage tram through the relatively quiet main street was a memorable experience during our week-long visit to the historic city of Nagasaki.
4Japanese Man Beautifully Documents His Family’s Life in a One-Room Apartment
Japanese photographer Masaki Yamamoto didn’t have to go far to find inspiration for his work. Over the course of several years, the young photographer documented his family’s life as they lived in a small, one-room apartment. For 18 years, his seven-person family thrived in these cramped quarters with tobacco stained walls. His photography book Guts is a collection of photos taken in that environment, and are a testament to the bond of the Yamamoto family.
After his family was evicted from an apartment when he was just 8 years old, Yamamoto spent 2.5 years in a children’s institution—separated from his parents. They were finally able to reunite in their one-room dwelling, giving extra poignancy to the images. Amid the clutter and chaos, we see family members joking and laughing—genuinely enjoying the time spent together.
5‘Click, click, click, I never wait’: the everyday genius of Sabine Weiss
I am coming!” Sabine Weiss shouts as she descends from her studio to greet me. At 93, the Swiss-French photographer is immaculately presented and immediately comes across as a force to be reckoned with – holding court in her Lilliputian home and studio that nestles in a plant-filled courtyard hidden behind a row of 19th-century apartment buildings, in Paris’s wealthy 16th arrondissement.
The photographer and her late husband, the American painter Hugh Weiss, built the diminutive structure themselves, gradually converting a disused sculpture workshop measuring 5m x 5m into a place to live and work. This incongruous dwelling – home to Weiss for the last 69 years – proudly endures, much like its inhabitant, despite its perpetually changing backdrop. Hugh found the place in 1949, she says, through a connection in a Montmartre paintshop. “He told me, ‘It has no running water and only an outside toilet – it’s perfect!’” She laughs. “But we were happy. That is the most important thing, no?”
6PHOTOGRAPHERS ON WHAT “STREET PHOTOGRAPHY” MEANS TO THEM
There are nearly as many definitions of the term “street photography” as there are photographers who make street photographs. Is the genre defined by the photographer’s process, or by the subject matter? What distinguishes it from documentary photography? Does a “street” photo have to be a candid shot, and does it even need to show people? We put these and other questions to several veteran photographers whose work has often been characterized as “street.” Here are excerpts of their answers, which they gave us in email and phone interviews, edited for space and clarity.
