the streets A
S t r e e t
P h o t o g r a p h y
M a g a z i n e
issue four
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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 4
Editor’s Letter
PERSPECTIVES (Photographer Series) 12 24
John Hayes
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James Harper
Avi Taranto
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Jonathan Higbee
INTERSECTIONS (Conversations with strangers) 60
Collaborating with Strangers
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Collect on Sunday
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Shoreditch Street Art
Editor and Creative Director: Meredith M Howard Creative and Digital Assistant: Eva Howard Special thanks to Greg Howard and Elise Howard Front cover photo: Jonathan Higbee Back cover photo: Avi Taranto Contributors: John Hayes, Avi Taranto, James Harper, Jonathan Higbee, Meredith M Howard Contact THE STREETS: info@thestreetsmag.com www.thestreetsmag.com Follow us on Instagram @thestreetsmagazine All work is copyrighted to the photographer, artist, or author. No part of this magazine may be used without permission of THE STREETS. 3
E D I T O R ' S
L E T T E R
I recently went on a walk in downtown Atlanta with 50 other street photographers. The leader took us up eight flights of stairs to the roof of a parking deck and said, “Have at it,” gesturing to the city around us. I felt a little out of my element, because I don’t normally shoot cityscapes. I took a few pictures of the Ferris wheel and the buildings and then wandered around to see if I could find anything else that looked interesting. The manager of the parking deck soon appeared and told us we couldn't take pictures there. So, we headed back down the eight flights of stairs and out onto the street. As we split up, I realized this situation was much better for my style of photography, which focuses on people.
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Editor's Letter
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Editor's Letter After an hour, we gathered to talk about editing our photos. I peeked at the pictures other people were loading onto their laptops – cool views of the city, picturesque views of the Ferris wheel, amazing look-ups.
In my head, I compared my photos to theirs. I hardly had any of those types of pictures. I felt like I had failed. Then, I stopped myself – “Don't compare yourself to them. What can you learn from this?” I thought about what I liked about their photos – the symmetry, the leading lines, the composition. I realized we weren’t even using the same focal length. My 85mm lens (intended for portraits) was never going to capture architecture the same way as their 24mm lens.
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Editor's Letter We often look at other people and think, “I don’t have as much talent as they do.” But we have no idea how hard they have worked. Maybe if I spent some time working at architectural photos, I would show some "talent" in that area as well.
“People who feel like imposters downplay their success. They assume it was either an accident or an unrepeatable burst of energy...The truth is, every success is the product of a ton of work, some talent, and a little bit of luck. Every success took more work than we'll ever know." - Musicbed Blog So, I have dedicated this issue of The Streets to the whole learning process – gathering information, practicing, failing, adjusting, and trying again. I have asked each contributing photographer to tell us what they learned last year and what they want to learn during 2017. And I have included an article on lessons I have learned recently from collaborating with strangers. I hope you find a photograph or quote in this Issue that inspires you to learn something new this year... or at least, to practice what you already know. - Meredith
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Pictured - Roy Shavers @mrbegreat
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Photograph by Meredith M Howard
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perspectives perspectives perspectives What do you see when you walk down the street?
perspectives perspectives perspectives perspectives
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John Hayes P h o t o g r a p h e r
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John Hayes
How did you get into photography? Through the back door: I was initially interested in video, and did a lot with my parents’ VHS camera, from short improv sketches to scripted amateur films. Video interested me for its seeming ability to crystallize moments in time. From that point of view, it occurred to me that photography was a dramatically condensed way to do the same thing – and with intensified attention to the different things that compose a single image. What do you look for when you take a photograph? I trust my gut feeling and wait until something catches my eye. I don’t try to force a photograph; when I have tried to do that, the resulting photographs were always dull. Once something catches my eye, I pause and try to reflect before taking the photograph. What exactly was it that caught my eye, and how can I convey that to the imaginary viewer of the photograph? Then I consider technical matters like lighting, contrast, depth of field, etc. And then I take the shot.
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"...the mystery of time and the longing for timelessness..."
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John Hayes What are your favorite things in life? The beauty that is in the world – often in spite of the ugliness that humans concoct; the mystery of time and the longing for timelessness; the remarkable power of the imagination and the inner depths of human existence.
"By ordinary standards, the place was utterly nondescript – you would never guess that enduring works of art had been crafted there."
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What is one thing you learned in photography and/or life in 2016? Some academic research took me to Hale County, Alabama, to the exact road (still dirt) where Walker Evans took his poignant, enduring photographs of three white tenant farmer families in 1936. By ordinary standards, the place was utterly nondescript – you would never guess that enduring works of art had been crafted there. Indeed, you wouldn’t even guess that anyone had lived there at all: not a single building that the families lived or worked in is still standing. Yet all this human life, full of pathos and struggle, had been lived there, and thanks to Evans, those hard human lives were documented for posterity. This made me reflect on how intense human pathos is all around us, even in the most nondescript of places –we just don’t see it or make efforts to document it.
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John Hayes
What is one thing you want to learn or improve in photography in 2017? And how do you intend to do that? I want to slow down and take time to craft a good photograph once something has caught my eye. Too often I’m in a hurry, don’t take adequate time to reflect and to think about technical matters, and the results show the impatience.
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Why do you still shoot film? Have you ever considered switching to digital? At one level, it’s like vinyl versus digital – I just like the sound quality of records better, and likewise, I just like the image quality of slide photographs better than digital ones. But I also think the cumbersome nature of slide photography (like vinyl) forces a greater focus. I know I’ve got 36 slides on this roll, that getting the film developed involves mailing it off, that I’d have to then have them digitized if I wanted to edit or alter them, that I have to set up my clunky old slide projector to see them properly, and the like. All of that makes it more of a craft and an event for me, and I enjoy that. John Hayes is an Assistant Professor of History at Augusta University. Look for his new book Hard, Hard Religion: The Other World of the Poor South (UNC Press) in the Fall of 2017. 21
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Photograph by John Hayes
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Avi Taranto P h o t o g r a p h e r
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Avi Taranto How did you get into photography? My father is an architectural photographer and owned a photolab and gallery in New York City when I was growing up. I didn’t develop a passion for the field until later but photography has unquestionably always been present in my life. I started training to become a tour guide in Israel when I was 26 and throughout the tour-guiding course, I found myself every week in one photogenic location after another. I started posting photos of these places on social media and started getting attention for them. After six months of serious iPhone photography, I asked for an SLR from my dad for my birthday and started shooting with a Pentax K-50. I started shooting and editing constantly and it has only grown from there. I now shoot with a Nikon D5500. This series contains photos shot on both cameras.
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Have you ever felt sparks go off in your brain? Those sparks of imagination, ideas, interest, motivation... I feel those sparks all the time. That's why I created THE STREETS and that's what I hope you feel when you read THE STREETS. If you don't, email me and I'll refund your money.
Get access here www.thestreetsmag.com ...and then let me know if you feel the sparks...
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