Urban photography

Introduction

The development of society brought new ways of expressing people feeling among arts. Therefore urban photography captured powerful and memorable images of communities under transformation. In America Urbanization transform so called “Silver Cities” in a matter of discipline of study that now exist as a work of cultural studies. “Silver Cities has become to seem closer to a foundation stone than a rock thrown at the window prevailing opinion about photography and the American city-as separate cultural phenomena and as a synergistic conjunction.”( Peter Bacon Hales,p. xv) Cities became for photography a source of providing new ways of seeing life. Looking through the lenses of a camera cities are not appearing only places that are crowded, where everyone remains busy, with neighbors like strangers, or where everyone finds himself in hurry and worry, bur remain fascinating and inspiring. They are like labyrinths with lots of connections and boundaries with the suburbs or with the most darken places that develop fears. In fact is about an adventure like in a book only with one difference images are right in front of you. Urban photography is transformed in a virtual reality that says more things about our life than we can say in words. Because photography is actually “the art of capturing the beauty of life, the act of appreciating ‘the moment,’ and used as a personal database in one quick snapshot.”( Urban Dictionary) We have to recognize the photography’s potential of historical evidence as a vital visual records of change. The images have an unquestionable value of past, present and sometimes of anticipating the future. So, they are “matchless pieces of information, description of things, scenes and persons, infinitely more vivid than words”.( Thomas J. Schlereth, p. 278) Miles Orvell talked about “Americanness” of American photography. For him this means social changes along with the history of poverty, immigration and urban development in the United States that create an environment for documentary photography that offers a reflection of national conditions, political and social habits. Also a contribution had the American obsession with advertising and the media shape, the production of contemporary modes of image-photography (American Photography, p. 9). And this was the beginning of urban photography.

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Some photos from a pre-war period need to mention because of their art value in order to make a strong difference to contemporary photography. Pennsylvania R.R. Chicago Skyline

Immigrants and beggars of the streets in America were wonderful surprised through the lens of Jacob Riis’s camera:

He brought the struggle of the poor to the attention of the upper class and to people in power.

Jacob Riis made a choice and he was proud of, he decide to help the others “the other half” and for this history admires him. His claim was that "I would kill the abuse, not the man who was but the instrument and the victim of it." And he did it through his photography by showing with proofs.( Len Bernstein, What Do The World and People Deserve?)

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Contemporary urban photography

For many of us cities became not the only home but the place that nourish our sense of art through photography. New technology introduce a profound complexity into everyday tasks and also challenge to accept notions of urban life, including the nature and the scope of public interactions and also adapted to the corresponding design of the build environment. We can talk about the hand-held camera at the end of the nineteenth century to the mobile phone at the end of the twentieth century. The city has always been a mediated contrast. “The city into the cultural imaginary as a hodgepodge of disconnected of signifiers often organized by the technologies that produce them.” ( Eric Gordon, p. 2) American city grew up in parallel to the technologies that enable the spectator power of domination. The contrast with the old times is that the city become a legible concept until it appropriate the means of its representation into its form. ( Eric Gordon, p. 2) This means that the spectator can not only see the concept-city but also posses it. It is a mental and imaginary possession that transgresses the lows and enters into a visual and touchable content that can be taken with you everywhere you go.

Many of us own a camera or at least a phone with a camera and we rely on our abilities and knowledge in cropping and Photoshop filters to give to so called common photos an “artsy” feel. So everyone who has a camera can become a photographer, in a word- an artist.( Michael Zhang, Urban Dictionary). The camera doesn’t surprise better the reality but we see it better though a photo. It is more about expressing ourselves though something that is touchable and visual. Nowadays, we can say “I don’t leave the house without my camera!”. Everything around us became a possible photo. But you need more than these, you need the knowledge how to make good photos and of course you need to feel the sense of art. The following photographs will show that is not a big gap between an amateur and a professional. The camera most of the time makes the difference. Professional photographer use expensive camera and sometimes that is the only way in which their photos are better, but other times they have experience, knowledge and sense of art. They can be seen as real artists that know how

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to emphasize the beauty in everything just knowing the perfect angle, perfect position, perfect light and so on. Professional photographers at the beginning were amateurs so everyone has a chance. Art photography may be very different but it is based on individual and uniqueness. The world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same thing, don't you think? We have to see the uniqueness in the things that surround us, if we don’t find it then we should create it. One wall can be seen from different perspective and depends on the person from which part she/he look at it. Anyway we should explore the artistic flair and creative eye of individual photographers, which expresses their vision of the urban landscape, creating pictures with imagination and impact. Urban photography stands out from the crowd and shows how and where we live, providing an insightful and energetic snapshot of life in our urban environments.

When we talk about urban photography, we have to know that in technical terms is called urban landscape photography. This is usually associated with imagery within contemporary mediums, cities, buildings, streets, subways, and just about anywhere human life exists and lives. It represents and expresses experiences that exist among those areas, and it can sometimes focus more on the patterns or processes of those areas rather than the people. Urban photography is not necessary bound to finished buildings or architectural figures, it can also expand its areas to what is to come or what is being brought to life like construction areas and unfinished buildings or facilities.(Diana Eftaiha) In this domain we can distinguish three types of photographic genres:“1.Cityscape Photography – urban landscapes go beyond the capturing of the big picture cityscape that is usually quote polished and clean.

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Photography by Richard I'Anson, Lonely Planet: “The world’s towns and cities provide easy access to a variety of subject matter. In the time it takes to walk a block or two, you can photograph panoramic skylines, people at work or at play, abstract architectural details, frenetic street activity and peaceful park scenes.” Richard tries to explain his vision upon urban landscape photography.

2. Architectural Photography – urban landscapes are less interested in the building and it’s architectural style and more interested in what happens in and around it.

Photography by Joseph Cristina from Palm Beach, FL Here we see the discrepancy between the skyscrapers and the short buildings and also their position and forms or shapes of architecture.

Architectural photography does not need to be the entire city can be only a piece of building.

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Photography with Copyright 2010 Glazemoo, New YorkArchitectural photography mainly focuses on exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential, cityscape and historic structures or buildings.

3. Candid Street Photography – urban photography focused more upon the city itself (and it’s life) than the people who live in it.”( Darren Rowse, Photographing Urban Landscapes)

By Matt Weber, Women of New York

What highlights this photography is the quantity of the rain that falls on the street of New York. The single woman that stands with her umbrella is just an intruder that interrupts the rain, she is just a passenger. The rain ads a dramatic effect and her back pack perfect balances the side even if her one is missing. She can be seen as part of the concrete, part of nonliving things. Only the rain and the cars are animated, people are seen as unexciting.

Darren Rowse says that Urban Landscape photography is often gritty, it’s not always pretty and it can be quite abstract. But when it comes to abstract we can talk about combining urban landscape photography with digital editing.

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By Ken, Streets: TrustoCorp in New York By Carlos NYC - Manhattan - NoHo urban landscape City, of course the street signs are added This photography that was with a purpose of implementing government taken by an amateur can be as a grade reflective vinyl in the artist work. considerated a beautiful museum in the street.

For those who are master of editing everything is possible. For example combining two or more pictures in one and the result is this:

It’s photography by Jean Innes, Past Present Future. He combined two photos to create an illusion something that can be called piece of art. He describe his photo “this was taken with HDR settings try to show past (the old train station) present (the train) and future (the child)”

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To be a professional photographer you have to follow some rules. These are only tips that can help younger photographs to develop but not to be the best photographers. Many urban landscape photographers shared their secret. Among them is Mark Bury. He advises us to shoot in the morning because of three reasons: clean Streets, people free shots, different activity. Also the prospective perspectives have to taken in consideration. The shape of the buildings is very important in the moment when you frame the images. To take a photo you is important to have permission to shoot because in some areas you might need to get a license in order to use the photography. And the last is the angle attack. To find new angles for photographing, areas of them that are hidden from the average photographer and look for interesting patterns, shapes, textures, reflections and angles that highlight the details of the building that might have previously been missed by others.( Digital Photographer Magazine)

In this category of urban photography enters nowadays the ecological photography in order to highlight the differences between nature and concrete, between development and nature. This issues urban ecosystems around cites.

Creative urban landscape design

The work was designed by the designer who pays attention to environmental protection with waste milk bottles and yellow leaves.

“Ecological photography is mostly geared towards taking various photographs of the stability or instability of a particular system and the inhabitants and all other elements located within the system.” (Mark, Ecological Photography-one Ecosystem at a time)This refers to the instability

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that has been generated by pollution and of course cities are the source. This is similar to two other types of photography; environmental photography and documentary photography, but unlike environmental which focuses on the changes of an environment and the effects that man has on it or like documentary which documents a location and other subjects over extended periods of time. The ecosystem of human has been affected by human’s bad habits of living and having an ignorant attitude.

Landfill Operation Is Conducted by the City of New York on the Marshlands of Jamaica Bay. Pollution Hazards and Ecological Damage Have Called Out Strong Opposition

By Lisa Baron New York District,

Balancing Economic Revitalization & the Environment in one of the World's Most Urbanized Estuaries

By Jason Fulford, The Concrete Jungle

Wild turkeys crossing the intersection of Seaview Avenue and Father Capodanno Boulevard, near the South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island

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What is so fascinating and inspiring in cities? Joel Bankhead says “The dramatic collision of people and architecture gives each city a unique essence and existence. They are living breathing places that are simultaneously busy, lonely, awake, tired, and alive.”( Urban & City Photography: 70 Dramatic Examples) It is some kind of awareness of you as an individual -a human standing alone into the immensity of concrete and unliving walls. I love cities. City in photography shows the hustle and bustle of inner city life. The whole environment creates depressed atmosphere. The grayness of concrete, towering skyscrapers and graffiti that cover the walls – are full of photographic potential for some people that create a new world. This world can bring positively view and it’s a way of living.

Due to the fact, that urban photography is like graffiti and street art, sometimes is highly temporary because of its large number of anonymous authors. For this reason, there are several more or less famous photographers, specialized in documenting street art and graffiti in its urban contexts. If graffiti surprise like a painting a fact, a message, urban photography surprise the process of making it.

By Brenna Urban, Titi Freak – London 2010

It is like the walls, the building or the machineries are humanize, are brought to life. They exist because of the intervention of humans.

This kind of photography somehow begin to “protect graffiti and street artworks from weather, so-called street collectors and other urban

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transformation, a loose guild of amateur photographers, semi-professionals, photo journalist and photography enthusiasts was created to not just photographically preserve urban art for the next generations, but also to document the process and the adrenalin and feeling of probably illegal street action”.( Brenna Urban, Top Urban Art Photographers) Those photographers pushed artists of the streets on the surface and made them famous and known to everybody. There is unauthorized list of these graffiti photographers that surprise the urban art wonderful. Among these is Martha Cooper – The US-American Martha Cooper unfortunately is the only female urban art photographer in this list, but her legendary Subway Art book, which was published in 1984, is a milestone in the medial writing documentation.

By Martha Cooper, Subway Art series

In conclusion urban photography has become a part of our life. Even if this domain is not very well documented in the future will be the main subject. It’s surrounding us everywhere on flyers, on commercials, on posters and even in our phones. We life with it and some of us know to live through it as a source of art. We tend to see only the negative part of things but we have to learn to appreciate what we have and accept changing. This is who we are and what define us “skyscrapers, amazing business centers, cold and industrial parking lots, futuristic shopping centers, illuminated warehouses, majestic theatres and spacious subway stations”.

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Bibliography

1. Hales, Peter Bacon, Silver Cities: Photographing American Urbanization, 1839-1939, USA: UNM Press, 2005

2. Zhang, Michael, Urban Dictionary, The Definition of ‘Photographer’, Jul 19, 2011 Online: http://www.petapixel.com/2011/07/19/the-definition-of-photographer-according-to-urban-dictionary/ [19.02.2013, 15:07]

3. Urban Dictionary , Sep 21, 2005, Online:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=photography [19.02.2013, 15:29]

4. Schlereth, Thomas J., Material Culture Studies in America: An Anthology,USA: Rowman Altamira, 1982.

5. Miles Orvell ,American Photography,UK: Oxford University Press, 2003.6. Gordon, Eric, The Urban Spectator: American Concept Cities from

Kodak to Google, USA: UPNE Press, 20107. Bankhead, Joel , Urban & City Photography: 70 Dramatic Examples,

Nov 23rd 2010 Online:http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/urban-city-photography-70-dramatic-examples/ [19.02.2013, 14:19]

8. Eftaiha, Diana, Urban landscape photography, Apr 14, 2010, Online:http://www.thedphoto.com/inspiration-fix/urban-landscape-photography/ [19.02.2013, 16:34]

9. Rowse, Darren, Photographing Urban Landscapes, Online:http://digital-photography-school.com/photographing-urban-landscapes [19.02.2013, 16:58]

10. I'Anson, Richard, Lonely Planet, Online:http://www.bbc.com/travel/slideshow/20111121-urban-photography-tips[19.02.2013, 17:15]

11. Bernstein, Len, What Do The World and People Deserve?, 2005, Online:

http://www.lenbernstein.com/RiisArticle.html [19.02.2013, 23:02]12. Mark, Bury in Digital Photographer Magazine, Urban Landscape

Photography Tips by Darren Rowse Online:

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http://digital-photography-school.com/urban-landscape-photography-tips [19.02.2013, 16:02]

13. Mark, Ecological Photography-one Ecosystem at a time, Online:http://luisegonzalez.hubpages.com/hub/Ecological-Photography-photographing-one-ecosystem-at-a-time [19.02.2013, 23:18]

14. Brenna Urban, Top Urban Art Photographers, Urban Art Core, Online:http://www.urbanartcore.eu/top-urban-art-photographers/ [19.02.2013, 24:17]

Photography source:

1. http://everypictures.blogspot.ro/2010/01/americas-industrial-and- urban.html [19.02.2013, 15:46]

2. http://drewphotoalastair.blogspot.ro/2009/12/jacob- riis.html[19.02.2013, 16:24]

3. Joel Bankhead , Urban & City Photography: 70 Dramatic Examples on Nov 23rd 2010 http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/urban-city-photography-70-dramatic-examples/ [19.02.2013, 21:47]

4. Photography by Joseph Cristina from Palm Beach, FL,Online:http://alluremm.com/blog/tag/architectural-photography/ [19.02.2013, 21:25]

5. Glazemoo, New York, 2010, Online:http://glazemoo.blogspot.ro/2010/07/architectural-photography-examples.html [19.02.2013, 18:35]

6. Matt Weber, Women of New York, “Deluge” Upper West Side 2010, Online:http://weber-street-photography.com/category/women-of-new-york/page/5/ [19.02.2013, 22:03]

7. Ken, Streets: TrustoCorp in New York City, February 19, 2010, Online: http://arrestedmotion.com/2010/02/streets-trustocorp-in-new-york-city/

[19.02.2013, 22:16]

8. Creative urban landscape design, July 3rd, 2012, Online:http://imwm.org/creative-urban-landscape-design/ [19.02.2013, 22:38]

9. Carlos NYC - Manhattan - NoHo -urban landscape, April 24, 2009, Online:

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/15434282@N00/3478122658/ [19.02.2013, 22:51]

10. Jean Innes, Past Present Future, Online:11. http://www.gurushots.com/photo-critique/travel-photography/past-

present-future [19.02.2013, 23:11]12. Landfill Operation Is Conducted by the City of New York, Online:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/3903196263/ 13. Jason Fulford, The Concrete Jungle, Sep 12, 2010 Online:

http://nymag.com/news/features/68087/

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