Authors Posts by Iris Maria Tusa

Iris Maria Tusa

8 POSTS 15 COMMENTS
Iris Maria Tusa is passionate about photography, traveling and observing places, people, traditions, moments in time. She likes best Street Photography as she thinks that this is one of the best moments of preserving moments in time. If you would like to see her work you can also visit his Street Hunters Profile.

Helen Levit

As a female photographer myself, I also find inspiration in other women street photographers. I can connect somewhat emotionally and relate as a woman, not just as a photographer. I would like to share my ideas in this new series called PhotograpHER. I will be discussing women photographers that inspire me and share with you how I connect with them. In this installment, I will be discussing Helen Levitt. In the following weeks, I will be looking at photographers such as Vivian Maier, Susan Meiselas, Diana Markosian, Carolyn Drake, and Bieke Depoorter. So stay tuned!

Introduction

Helen Levitt was a USA based photographer, well known, especially for her New York street photography. Levitt was born in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood to a Russian-Jewish immigrant family on 31 August 1913. As a teenager, Levitt wanted to be an artist but felt she “could not draw well.” When she came across an exhibition of the Pictorial Photographers of America, an association founded in 1916 which presented photographers as artists who created soulful works of art comparable to paintings, she decided that she wanted to start taking photos. 

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Book review of Gratuity Included by Chris Suspect

Introduction

Dear Streethunters.net Readers,

This is my first try to review a published photo book, and I must say it’s not just any photo book but a very wild and daring one. I am pretty excited about it although it seems to me like a serious and difficult task but also a fun and challenging one. In my opinion, a book reviewer should have an open mind, a good sense of observation, be detail-oriented plus to possess a dash of humour, and to think out of the box. I shall focus, obviously, on the book insight, determining the quality of the photos in here and its contents, but examining also things like the design and the quality of the print. 

Gratuity Included by Chris Suspect

Diane Arbus

As a female photographer myself, I also find inspiration in other women street photographers. I can connect somewhat emotionally and relate as a woman not just as a photographer. I would like to share my ideas in this new series called PhotograpHER. This is a series where I will be talking about women photographers that inspire me and the ways that I connect with them. In this installment, I will be discussing Diane Arbus. In the following weeks, I will be taking a look at photographers such as Vivian Maier, Helen Levitt, Susan Meiselas, Diana Markosian, Carolyn Drake and Bieke Depoorter. So stay tuned!

Introduction

Diane Arbus was an American photographer born on March 14, 1923, into a wealthy Jewish family that lived in New York City, NY. She had a hard and lonely childhood as her parents kept ignoring her and she found later love in her close and twisted relationship with her brother, poet Howard Nemerov. Because of the sterile environment in which she grew up, Arbus felt the need to break out and explore more of the unconventional and strangeness of the world.

She started her career photographing with her husband, Allan Arbus. She did fashion and advertising, making photos for prestigious magazines such as VOGUE. But since she didn’t feel that she could make her “creative voice” heard or have the identity that she desired as an artist, she left fashion and chose a different path in 1950.

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Mary Ellen Mark,
Santa Claus Having Lunch,Manhattan, New York, USA, 1963

Happy Holidays from the StreetHunters team!

Enjoy your holidays and stay sharp & keep shooting!

Here is an all time favorite classic Christmas Street Photography selection from our team. Hope you enjoy it, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We will be back again next year with new articles, contests and photo news!

Photo by Elliott Erwitt
Photo by Elliott Erwitt

13 ways to destroy street photography

I never expected to actually witness someone destroy “freedom of expression” in street photography or to categorize it in such a manner that it would affect approximately 90% of the street photographers out there! But alas, someone has attempted to harm street photography. I just happened to stumble upon this so called “list of things I have seen too much of”  accidentally when a while ago I came across a post on a social media site that I consider provocative and offensive. What was more surprising was the author of this post. I will not mention the name of the photographer that believes in these things out of respect for his privacy, but I clearly disagree with him and this is the reason why I took the time to write this post. I felt the need to express my ideas and to describe in a few words how his words made me feel. Check it out: 

”I have judged a couple of Street Photography Awards this month, here are the things that I have seen far too much of.

  1. People working out on Venice Beach style outdoor gyms.
  2. Indian streets with animals especially cows and chickens.
  3. Close up flash lit people at festivals or parades.
  4. People carrying mirrors.
  5. Reflections in puddles flipped upside down.
  6. People in stripes crossing zebra crossings (really?)
  7. Air Shows with smoke or planes in ears or around heads etc.
  8. Skate boarders in mid air.
  9. Anyone in mid air especially jumping into water.
  10. Your holiday/travel photos especially monks.
  11. Torrential downpours of rain.
  12. Men getting a blow job while buying a coke.
  13. People on top of trains, climbing in train windows, passing things through train windows, hanging out of train windows, usually in Asia.

Be responsible, think before you push the shutter”

It looks to me as a list of rules to follow if you don’t want to end up being a bad street photographer according to the author, of course. Personally I have always been under the impression that street photography was supposed to be a way for photographers to freely express themselves. Since reading through this list though, I am not that sure anymore. To better explain what I have on my mind, I will go through each one of the aforementioned

13 “rules” and will try to debunk them one by one, because I love street photography and I will not let anybody attempt to destroy it for me!

Street Photo by Alfredo Aleandri, winner of the October 2017 Street Photography competition.
Photo by Alfredo Aleandri

Introduction

Alfredo Aleandri is an Italian street photographer, currently based in Pisa, Italy. Though his main interest is street, Alfredo finds himself recently focusing more on abstract and surreal photography.

He started shooting street photography in 2014, so his interest in street photography is quite recent. During our interview Alfredo also mentioned to us that he is still looking for a personal and distinctive style. 

Currently, he doesn’t have a personal web page so he shares his work through Instagram and Flickr. Both links are shared at the end of the interview.

Alfredo Aleandri is the winner of the October 2017 Street Photography Contest and the theme of that contest was “Shadows Telling A Story”. Today we interview him so you can get to know him and his work a little bit better.

Mary Ellen Mark photographer self portrait

As a female photographer myself, I also find inspiration in other women street photographers. I can connect somewhat emotionally and relate also as a woman not just as a photographer. I would like to share my ideas in this new series called PhotograpHER. This is a series where I will be talking about women photographers that inspire me and the ways that I connect with them. In this first installment, I will be discussing Mary Ellen Mark. In the following weeks, I will be discussing photographers such as: Diane Arbus, Vivian Maier, Helen Levitt, Susan Meiselas, Diana Markosian, Carolyn Drake and Bieke Depoorter. So stay tuned!

Introduction

Mary Ellen Mark (http://www.maryellenmark.com/) (20 March – 20 May) is the first photographer I will be speaking about in my addiction diary, as I mentioned before.

Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer well known for her photojournalism, her portraits, her commercial photography and of course, my favorite, her documentary photography. She documented prostitution and circuses in India, homelessness in the United States, mental institutionalization and orphanages, refugees camps in Ireland and much more.

Her work spans over almost five decades. The fact that she was active for so long, makes her work so much more interesting, as you can see in her photos how her style evolved throughout the years but also how the world has changed. In 1962 she got her degree in photojournalism and a BFA award. Her first book called “Passport” was published in 1974.

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Street Photography vs Documentary Photography

Introduction

Street photography, known also as candid photography, is the photography done in public places and is conducted for the art of enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents. When talking about street photography we don’t necessary need the presence of the street or the urban environment. Street photography can be done just as well in rural areas or public buildings; while documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. Documentary is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit.

So street photography is not the same thing as documentary photography. Although they are linked, and some would say that they are similar to a certain point, they are certainly not the same thing. So, until which point could we say they are connected?