Was back browsing my street life pictures and found this one.

In retrospect, this is probably more along the lines of what the judges may have been looking for.

When you’re given a theme like “Street Life” and there is no brief provided to give a context, it should really be up to the photographer to interpret that theme. Sure, they may end up “outside the box”, but if it can be viewed as within theme then it should stand. However, with both themed NIPA competitions this year, the judge on the night has turned up and within seconds passed a comment to the effect of “the council have decided that <the theme> means…”

Instantly I was able to rule out a lot of my shots. More depressing was the fact that a lot of other photographers fell foul of this as well. On the night, I ended up getting second overall in the colour prints section, but to be honest it was marred by my frustration at this ‘secret rules’ thing that seems to keep happening. Myself and a few others mentioned our frustration to the NIPA rep – let me stress this is not his fault, he fell foul of it too.

Maybe next year NIPA will provide a context for the theme rounds on their web site? I’ll be dropping an email to ask them to do just that when the dust settles this year.

I have a feeling next weeks NIPA inter-club competition will be the worst one for me yet. It’s been hiding in my mind since September and no matter how I approach it, the subject just doesn’t do anything for me.

It’s funny in a way, since I’ve yet to find a type of photography I haven’t enjoyed apart from the sort of “Street Encounter” shot which I think the theme is hinting at.

Actually, while I’m talking about titles, if I could change one thing about the NIPA rounds it would be these two word titles. When you look at something like Fujimugs, this approach works well, but NIPA seem to have a habit of changing the rules right up until the closing date of a competition and when it’s decided that “Water” must be a certain percentage of water and you only find out on the night of judging, it can be a pain in the rumpus. I’m kind of dreading what rules they’ve decided on for “Street Life”

Anyway, I don’t think I’ve done myself justice this round, but I thought I’d share.

As well as various exploits with Photoshop, Lightroom, GIMP, Picasa and lord knows what else over the last year, I've tried to experiment or experience the different styles of photography that are out there. To date I've tried a few different things, landscapes, portraits, macro and so on.

However, there has been one style that has caused more lunch time debates with Andrew than any other and that's "Street Photography."

In case you're not aware of the term, wikipedia (via google define) says "Street Photography" is:

Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks ...

I think it's fair to say Andrew is a huge fan of it, and I can see the attraction it holds for him. He's also shown me work by other photographers both as YouTube videos and from books and portfolio web sites.

He's also helped me rationalise my opinions on it.

Initially my reaction to it was horror. The thought of taking a candid photo of someone as they minded their own business, of sticking my camera in front of someone in an attempt to grab some sort of social commentary left me cold. What's more, thinking about it from the subjects point of view left me feeling a little violated.

I asked a few people what they thought, and to almost a man they all said they'd hate someone doing it to them. Different responses were suggested and I'm not entirely sure how a camera would react to a digestive system... Especially when approached from THAT angle.

People have the right to privacy, right?

Then I started picking up on the photographers rights stuff I've mentioned in the past and noticed the similarity in issues around that. Preventing someone from taking a photo because they don't have a licence or to "protect" someone or something publicly visible seems a little extreme in the other way. After all, CCTV takes our photo constantly when we're out and about and it's never clear what nefarious purposes it's used for.

So, can you really expect privacy in a public place?

Probably not.

If you can't expect privacy, then I think you can expect people to respect your personal space and to respect your right to not be misrepresented.

If I accept those premises. And to be honest they seem pretty fair to me. Then, I have to accept that sometimes people may take my photograph without my explicit permission. I guess that's OK providing it's not going to impact me negatively or make them a lot of money without me getting a cut.

So, where does that leave me?

To be honest I'm not sure.

I went out doing street photography with Andrew a few weeks back (I'm not sure what terminology you'd use, where we "street shooting" or "streeting", what do the cool kids call it these days anyway?).

My initial impressions that it was invasive and unfair on the subjects did waver in the face of people smiling at him, (though there were scowls too). I also tried taking pictures of people and finding my own social statement. I don't think I enjoyed it.

I guess that's where it leaves me after all. I can understand it's appeal, but it's not a style of photography I'm passionate about or really interested in. My days of saying I'd never do it have passed (and indeed one of the founding statements of this blog has bitten the dust as a result).

Maybe it's something I'll do in the future. I'll probably keep it to times and places when people have a reasonable expectation that there will be cameras though. In fairness, that's probably more because it's easier to make a social statement at a parade or in a tourist spot than when someone is coming out of a shop.

Of course, not being passionate about it might not stop me posting pictures in that style from time to time.

If you're interested in Street Photography and you haven't done it already. You really should check out Andrews blog. He does have some excellent examples of how it can work well.