Hiroyuki Ito covered a lot of ground this summer: Moji, Dazaifu, Hakata, Yanagawa and Kumamoto on Japan’s Kyushu Island; Kochi-city and Cape Ashizuri in Kochi; Atami in Shizuoka and Omiya, Saitama. 54 cities in 18 prefectures, to be exact.
He was looking to capture the way people live outside of Tokyo — the faces, architecture, even, sometimes, what he sees in a trash can.
“I like to document the small things people do on a daily basis that are not significant enough to be listed in the history books,” he said. “I would like to think that that’s part of history, too, but not in an obvious or romantic way.”
3Bystander: A history of street photography by Joel Meyerowitz and Colin Westerbeck
In the new book Bystander, iconic photographer Joel Meyerowitz and leading photography expert Colin Westerbeck explore the development of one of the most interesting and dynamic of photographic genres, street photography.
Hailed as a landmark work when it was first published in 1994, this brand new and fully revised version of a book that has come to be known as the ‘bible’ of street photography, covers an incredible array of work, from the unknowns of the late 19th century to the acknowledged masters of the 20th, such as Atget, Stieglitz, Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Brassai, Kertesz, Frank, Arbus, Winogrand and Levitt to name just a few.
In Bystander, the story of street photography is brought up to present day with a complete re-evaluation of historical material as well as the inclusion of contemporary photographers and a new and exclusive discussion of the ongoing rise of digital photography. Available from Laurence King.
4Matt Hulse evades North Korea’s photography regulations in his series Sniper
Matt Hulse’s provocative series Sniper wins the the Felix Schoeller Gold Award
The 30 nominees for this year’s Felix Schoeller Photo Award represent some of the best contemporary photographic talent. Spanning six categories – Portraiture, Landscape, Architecture, Photojournalism, Conceptual and Best Emerging Photographer – the shortlisted projects explore a range of subject-matter and exhibit an array of styles.
Announced over the weekend at the awards ceremony in Osnabrück, Germany, this year’s Gold Award went to Matt Hulse with his project Sniper, from the Conceptual category.
“North Korea is in fact one of the most photographed capitals in the world,” reveals Gold Award winner, Matt Hulse. Travelling to the country nine times over the past few years as a tour guide for western visitors, Hulse is well-versed in the peculiarities and restrictions of one of the world’s most secretive states.
5Michael Ernest Sweet’s Coney Island Street Photography
I spent the summer of 2014 at Coney Island with a cheap little plastic 3MP camera – the Harinezumi Guru. I made this series of images that summer, which ultimately came out as a book, “Michael Sweet’s Coney Island” from Brooklyn Arts Press. The camera was fast, discreet, and made wonky, highly saturated photographs. It was a lot of fun to use and to work on this project. Although I’ve use the Harinezumi elsewhere over the years, it seems as thought the camera was made for the beaches at Coney Island.
An Austrian photographer has put together a fascinating photo series of happy accidents.
Stefan Draschan spends a lot of time with his camera in museums in Europe. There, thanks to a lot of patience, he’s managed to capture a lot of images of other museum-goers — who inadvertently matched the paintings in front of them.
Each of his shots features a joint set of subjects: one, the artwork hanging on the wall, and two, the visitor viewing it, who happens to be dressed in such a way that they could be part of the painting.
7You Are Responsible for Improving Your Photography
Photography, as with any creative pursuit, requires the creator to have their hand in the process for the results to shine. Countless Facebook ads, online workshops, and even our camera companies would have you believe that they if you just buy that next magic bullet, everything will change for you. If they are to be believed, swiping your credit card just one more time is the key to making great images. Rubbish. It’s time to break away from that thought.
Just like in any breakup, feel free to tell them it’s not them, it’s you. You are responsible for improving your photography. I’m not saying don’t purchase that lens or take that class. Of course, those things have a place in our photography. Heck, I love to watch a tutorial or two and play with sexy new glass. What I am saying is that if you give more space to your own process and take actions to improve your own photography, you will make better use of those things and, in the long run, improve your photography greatly. Back in my university days, I studied Japanese and Korean languages. As anyone who has studied a language knows, countless hours of repetition and practice are required to even make a small step forward in fluency in the target language. Photography is no different. You need to be active and deliberate in how you approach your development as an artist. Repetition, conscious effort, and attention to detail are necessary components of this process.
