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While simultaneously seeking out new talent, WNYC is exploring the art of street photography through the eyes of six diverse photographers in their Street Shots series. One of them, 61-year-old Bruce Gilden, is more of a character than some of his subjects. He's been taking photos of strangers on the streets of Manhattan for decades, and he's becoming a little bored with the homogeneity of the passersby. See how his "in your face" approach goes over with his subjects:
After the jump check out Jamel Shabazz, who documented the emerging hip-hop scene in the early '80s. You can view the rest here, including one on our own Jake Dobkin, and his work at Bluejake.
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Oh nice! I saw something on pbs or some channel about Gilden AGES ago and I've been trying to remember his name ever since. Thanks gothamist!
Gosh, I love photographs, and I have to admit his images are arresting. But I am troubled by his strange approach to capturing people's images. , myself, have been know to photograph people without their knowledge, but his lunge and flash technique should lead to fights.
What an asshole. I'd smash his camera if he did that to me.
I liked the photographs alright -- and the lunging was annoying but didn't bother me too much except for one very important thing:
You can't lunge at little old ladies. Not for art, not for science, not for anything.
I mean, Jesus, what was he thinking? That old lady thought she was about to be attacked by a man twice her size. She handled it well -- but if you lunge at enough old ladies, you will eventually scare one badly enough that she falls and is hurt.
Lunge at fat guys, tall guys, big guys (if you've got the grapes to do so). Lunge at pretty women...hell, lunge at little kids if it gets you going. But little old ladies? That's straight bullshit -- and it gives all street photographers a bad name.
Shabazz's work is actually much more interesting --- thought I recognized his name, he has a book out of amazing 80s photos --- his persona is like night and day when compared to Gilden. Gothamist, you should've highlighted Jamal's work. Accentuate the positive. Do we really need more people who call themselves "artists" like Gilden fouling up our streets?
If that shnook jumped at me like that I think I would swat him, and his camera, hard. Reflexively, of course. But I am entirely an uninteresting subject. However someone is going to hurt that jerk.
I have to agree. I'm probably too jumpy, but if someone lunged at me with a bright flash and a camera, I'd probably smack his very expensive camera to the sidewalk and kick it into traffic--not out of malice, but out of alarm and reflex. The smack-and-kick reflex would probably be quickly followed by an elbow or forearm to the face. This would all take place in the course of about 2 seconds. It's not a good idea to do stuff like that on the streets of NYC. I can't understand why he hasn't been beaten up before.
Shabazz, on the other hand, is a man I like b/c he knows that the essence of street photography is slowing down, waiting, and capturing the moment that is independent of the shock he inflicts by jamming himself into people's lives. Plus, his style is less violating people's personal space than capturing people and then involving them with immediate feedback.
True, Shabazz is staging more of his pictures than Gilden, but they're good contrapositives of two different styles of street photography.
Wow. I can't believe that someone would take pictures like that. It's waaaay too in your face for my tastes.