Street Photography: Documenting the Human Condition

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3. Street Photography: Documenting the Human Conditio…

by Chris Weeks

2 months ago

2. Street Photography: Documenting the Human Conditio…

by Chris Weeks

2 months ago

1. Street Photography: Documenting the Human Conditi…

by Chris Weeks

2 months ago

Back in 2006 I wrote a .pdf about purism and street photography and posted it on deviantart.com. I featured not only my own work but many of my street-shooting friends from all over the world.

Having wrote that it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to update it. Yes, I could have written something yet I really wanted to do it with video. Until the Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 came about -- and with the most recent firmware update -- i couldn't have achieved "the look" i wanted.

Over the course of two months this summer I enlisted the help of some friends to shoot ... I dunno ... the next volume or whatever this is.

In this video you'll see my work and that of photographers Severin Koller, Frank Jackson and Mario Anzuoni, all with different perspectives for shooting street photography.

There are too many people to thank; please read the credits at the end of part three.

I hope you enjoy it. I know that I had an amazing time shooting and editing it.

Credits

Chris Weeks
Director
John Launius
Narrator
laith majali
Editing Consultant
Richard Keith
Editing Consultant

449 Likes

Atis Vītols
37 minutes ago
Mattias
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Terrance Bryant
1 day ago
Antoine Mathys
7 days ago
fernando barbera
9 days ago
Rodrigo M.G
10 days ago
Binyam Berhane
11 days ago
Stefan
11 days ago
Julie Landozzi
11 days ago
antoinedelaroche
14 days ago
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Tags

Richard Keith 2 months ago

well done
Chema Lara 2 months ago

Congrats!!
Lennart Meinz 2 months ago

Great stuff, I love it!
Steve Caddy 2 months ago

Fantastic work Chris. Thanks so much for doing this. You've (and your collaborators) do such a good job of articulating a lot of stuff I've only really 'known' through intuition, and in doing so have given at least some validation to the beliefs of this aspiring ammeter.
Marc 2 months ago

amazing. i love how powerful black and white can be for capturing a moment.
MUZIEKTELEVISIE 2 months ago

this is fantastic. My favorite street photographer by far is this brilliant guy: flickr.com/photos/benjamingoss/
Laengsynt 2 months ago

Nice Video...Great
Brian Feeley 2 months ago

Chris this series is absolutely amazing. So inspiring. Thanks for doing it.
Martin Zahuta 2 months ago

This was special! Amazing documentary!
Sebastiaan Knoops 2 months ago

Amazing stuff! If you haven't alreay, you should look at philosopher/writer Jean Baudrillard, in particular 'Signs and Simulacra' and 'America'. Your notions about reality and aesthetics in the beginning of the piece really remind me of Baudrillard's notions of hyperreality and simulation.
Mattia Santino Merli 2 months ago

The picture at 01:55... simply amazing... thanks for sharing with us!
bob pitts 2 months ago

great job!! inspiring I just traded for my 5dm2 love it and I only hope to be able to convey messages as you did so well.
Make Some Tea 2 months ago

what a fantastic video. i love shooting on streets but always try and avoid people. they're not the nicest of creatures.
ZhiC 2 months ago

very very inspiring documentary.
there was a lot of truth in what was conveyed.
If you happened to publish a book documenting this 'human condition' I'd definitely give it a read
Tommy Martin 2 months ago

What a great series. I found them very well produced and just as inspiring.
Jonas Yip 2 months ago

Great stuff, Chris.
steve seagal 2 months ago

What about the last pic§?
Awesome vid,keep going!
Anton Woldhek 2 months ago

Interesting piece, perhaps a bit more thinking about dialogue recording since it is so focused on the narrative.
Chris Weeks 2 months ago

sound was a challenge for sure!
Charles Kenwright 2 months ago

Interesting and well put together.
Thanks!
Marcelo Paixão 2 months ago

narrators are boring :( if you do mind i think you should use another ways to expose your ideas. less texts, more images. Cause it's a documentary about photograpy why don't you use a language related withi it. Maybe diferent ways of making interviews should be interesting too.
Daniel Burke 2 months ago

Very informative doc. I follow you on DA and have often wondered how you shoot in the street. Love your street images.
xI jIn 2 months ago

sounds correctly. most details in life refer to truth!!!
Dr. Surrey 2 months ago

Nice film; excellent synopsis of rangefinders; well presented; great videography; great editing; very professional; clean use of language.
Marina LeClair 2 months ago

I absolutely loved this!!! Best thing I've seen all week!! It totally got me pumped to get out on the street with my third eye!! Thanks for posting !!!
poagao 2 months ago

If a rangefinder is necessary for good street photography, then as far as digital is concerned, it's not a very level playing field, as the body alone of an M9, the only full-frame digital rangefinder, is around US$7,000. For film, though, I would agree.

I did think it funny how the videographer seemed to be trying to get "streetesque" shots and framing every once in a while throughout the videos.
Gino Maccanti 2 months ago

as a street photographer newbie I really really enjoyed watching it
Antonio Chagas 2 months ago

Well done guys. :)

I really enjoy street photography and I love to see how do you do your shots. Here in Portugal if I make shot's like you do and some one see me take a picture they make a lot of questions! It is just insane!!

About the rangefinder cameras, I never use one before but I am really curious to get one and just try to use it. I love to have one Leica like some of you, but is expensive for me right now. I will try something cheaper and then I will try see the difference for a SLR.

Once again congratulations for the videos.

Best regards,
António Chagas.

PS - I am sorry for my bad English! :P
Antonio Chagas 2 months ago

Just one question...

How can I publish this videos on my blog at antchagas.com ???

I try but then VIMEO Player said I need to have authorization from you. Can I post them there?

Thanks.
Chris Weeks 2 months ago

done.

happy you enjoyed it, mate.
Antonio Chagas 2 months ago

Can you please make the same to the other two clips?
Thanks. :)
d'greg 2 months ago

Excellent piece of work!
Tobias Schrenk 2 months ago

Thanks a lot for this great work.

What I ask myself do you develop on your own when shooting on film? I am really curious about this.
Tate Dominguez 2 months ago

Great stuff
David Sotosek 2 months ago

very well done. i love the way you used tilt/shift and fisheye in the videos. really great.

i have a question for you. do you shoot raw or jpeg? at 7.32 i the 3rd movie i saw that preview on the camera was b&w but the picture shown later was color. so i guess you shoot in raw or...?
Simon Bak 2 months ago

Don't think there was any tilt/shift used here. Just wide open apertures.
David Sotosek 2 months ago

Look at the credits. Canon lens 45 2.8 TS was used on 5D mkII. It was used at 3.15 in the movie, when Chris is shooting in Chinatown. Look at the table which is right besides him-it is completely unsharp. Look at those people sitting around table in the background-they are sharp, but with normal lens they wouldn't be! They would be out of focus for sure.
Regards, David
Thomas Heylen 2 months ago

Thank you for making this great documentary
Phil Jackson 2 months ago

Really interesting stuff, some I agree with some I don't but in the end it gets me thinking. I now am looking into getting a rangefinder.
JS Photo 2 months ago

Thank You.... Very inspirational and educational.
Found Object Films 2 months ago

It was cool seeing the situation in motion and also the single final image of just the right moment of that situation. The interviews are very illuminating. I always assumed slr was the only game in town because of pralaxing, focus etc.
Anthony Johnson 2 months ago

very nice

however i hated the tilt /shift focus .. found it inappropriate to the film

was pointless to use it ... maybe stick to photography lol !
Hoop-la 2 months ago

Great work.
Andrés Vargas 2 months ago

ever since i saw this video and began reading a bit more on cartier-bresson i've been going out nightly to take street shots with an slr.i'm fascinated with the idea of shooting with a rangefinder.i'll see what comes up. maybe an m-mount voigtlander.
Fabian Püschel 1 month ago

i´m always suprised how good you Americans bring commercial livestyle and a touch of indipendent produktion and philosophy together. (sorry for my bad english) The only thing i dont like is how you guys mispronounce Henti Cartier Bresson. You need to learn;) it sounds like some cowboy with achewing gum tries to speaak french, very funny;)