2This Poignant Photo Series Reveals The Raw Reality Of Detroit
Jarod Lew is a documentary photographer based in Oak Park, Michigan, whose work examines the complex relationship between human identity and environment. His ongoing project Maybe I’ll See You There captures a poignant and introspective view of daily life in Detroit, a city often portrayed in the media as a flashpoint for race relations and economic disparity.
The main focus of each image is to unveil a piece of a larger story about what is currently happening in Detroit. I’m digging into the history of the city’s past while also showcasing the pain and heartache, the truthful stories, framing the happiness and pride the populous has despite its tribulations.
Being able to exhibit a much more complicated story as opposed to just the glam and glitz that glosses over the city’s backstory is what I strive for. As a child I was advised to look away from what was going on, what has gone on, but I became compelled to throw away those past beliefs and instead to look on my own. It is through this own discovery that I’ve found a story that makes too much sense for me not to want to share it.
Street Photography is the latest in the Photo Review Australia series of pocket guides on photography.
Street photography has been around almost as long as the camera, but really came into its own when more compact cameras became available in the 1960s.
The A5 76-page Street Photography guide begins with a discussion of what separates street photography – that features chance encounters and random accidents within public places; – from documentary and portrait photography on the one hand, and simple snapshots on the other, with reference to some of the great 20th Century street photographers such as Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus and Bill Brandt.
Considerable space is allocated to the legal and ethical do’s and don’ts; of street photography. This has always been a controversial aspect of public photography, made more so recently through heightened concerns about privacy, commercial and local government restrictions, and even child safety.
4A Photographer Captures Chilean Street Life, from the Hustlers to the Homeless
The Photo Madame Figaro prize for a woman photographer, for which there were eight finalists this year, went to distinguished Chilean photographer Paz Errázuriz, who also has a retrospective at Arles, A Poetics of the Human. Errázuriz’s kaleidoscopic vision encompasses all aspects of city life. Firstly, the social: In the 1980s, she focused her camera on her native Santiago, from those in the upper middle class (“Kennel Club, Santiago,” 1988) to lowest, with numerous images of the poor (“Compadres, Santiago,” 1987), the homeless, and the disenfranchised. In the dangerous political climate of the Pinochet dictatorship, Errázuriz documented protests, often putting herself at risk to do so. Thus her output from this period ranges from instantaneous street photography to intimate composed portraits. The show’s curator, Juan Vicente Aliaga, commented via email: “The images of transvestite hustlers, prostitutes or natives from the Kawesqar community are the outcome of the long time Errazuriz spent in the company of people who often became her friends.”
5Notting Hill Carnival – Sensational Street Photography
I’ve been going to Notting Hill carnival ever since I moved to London in the early 1980s. It’s one of the things about being a Londoner that I’m most proud of.
Back then, it was very much a carnival of two halves. Daytime floats, costumes and pageantry gave way, after sunset, to the sound systems, accompanied by a palpable tension. Amid the night-time revelry, you would lose all your friends and make a whole new set as the music pulsated.
With the gentrification of the area in the 90s came new laws and restrictions. Tighter regulations and the scaling down of the sound systems now mean that carnival is a more polite affair. But the energy and hedonism are still there, and over the past few years Europe’s biggest multicultural urban gathering has become even more of an open-air party-cum-night club.
Living and working in Oxford his entire life, Paddy Summerfield is renowned for his evocative series of black and white images, all shot on 35mm film, which co-opt the traditional genre of documentary photography to realise a more personal and inward looking vision.
Summerfield came to prominence in the seventies, when his photo series capturing everyday life in Oxford, recently published as a photobook The Oxford Pictures 1968-78, was exhibited widely. Documenting Oxford University students during their summer terms, the images reflected Summerfield’s own insecurities and fears as he entered adulthood. Despite his work being shown in galleries such as the ICA, the Barbican and the Serpentine during the late 60s, he fell into obscurity until recently.
