What do you do with your urban life photos?

Hi people,

I have mostly photographed families/children (my own), but am really drawn also to street photography - especially like the photography in the urban fragments, no people thread. I have two internal problems though:

1) I often feel like I'm shooting for a beginner photography class. I *like* what I've done, but then I start thinking that it's all in my head and it doesn't have a "real" audience who will appreciate it.

Related to that,

2) What do you do with these shots, even with the ones that are elevated beyond "shot for a photography class" images. Do you print/frame/showcase them? Do they exist simply to exist on your computer? Do you consider it art? A captured historical moment? What is the bigger picture of why you do street photography?

lookingforaname wrote in post #16883195
What do you do with these shots, even with the ones that are elevated beyond "shot for a photography class" images. Do you print/frame/showcase them? Do they exist simply to exist on your computer? Do you consider it art? A captured historical moment? What is the bigger picture of why you do street photography?

I wonder the same.

2) If its something I like, whether its mood, moment or expression I'll print it.

lookingforaname wrote in post #16883195
Hi people,

I have mostly photographed families/children (my own), but am really drawn also to street photography - especially like the photography in the urban fragments, no people thread. I have two internal problems though:

1) I often feel like I'm shooting for a beginner photography class. I *like* what I've done, but then I start thinking that it's all in my head and it doesn't have a "real" audience who will appreciate it.

Related to that,

2) What do you do with these shots, even with the ones that are elevated beyond "shot for a photography class" images. Do you print/frame/showcase them? Do they exist simply to exist on your computer? Do you consider it art? A captured historical moment? What is the bigger picture of why you do street photography?

lookingforaname wrote in post #16883195
Hi people,

I have mostly photographed families/children (my own), but am really drawn also to street photography - especially like the photography in the urban fragments, no people thread. I have two internal problems though:

1) I often feel like I'm shooting for a beginner photography class. I *like* what I've done, but then I start thinking that it's all in my head and it doesn't have a "real" audience who will appreciate it.

Related to that,

2) What do you do with these shots, even with the ones that are elevated beyond "shot for a photography class" images. Do you print/frame/showcase them? Do they exist simply to exist on your computer? Do you consider it art? A captured historical moment? What is the bigger picture of why you do street photography?

1. Unfortunately there aren't that many that appreciate such stuff compared to say landscapes. Just compare the number of active viewers of the forums. I have absolutely zero friends that have any comments of any "artsy" photos but they will have comments if there are people or landscapes and such. Sux.

2. If I like them enough they go on my website and I print them. Then there they will live the rest of their existence in anonymity.

lookingforaname wrote in post #16883195
Hi people,

I have mostly photographed families/children (my own), but am really drawn also to street photography - especially like the photography in the urban fragments, no people thread. I have two internal problems though:

1) I often feel like I'm shooting for a beginner photography class. I *like* what I've done, but then I start thinking that it's all in my head and it doesn't have a "real" audience who will appreciate it.

Related to that,

2) What do you do with these shots, even with the ones that are elevated beyond "shot for a photography class" images. Do you print/frame/showcase them? Do they exist simply to exist on your computer? Do you consider it art? A captured historical moment? What is the bigger picture of why you do street photography?

I don't know if there is a "bigger picture" unless and until your photography moves from being a personal passion into something that produces images the "catch" people and moves them to, well, reach out and "grab"!

Have I ever had someone pay me for photographs? Yeah, but it's never been my goal, my inspiration. I do photography because I enjoy capturing the images!

There are plenty of people here who do earn a living with their photography, and they are out there, yeah, it's just that I'm not one of them!

As to "Street" photography, I have gotten out and shot things that to me are of interest, even inspirational in some way (and I do enjoy the Urban Fragments thread). I don't think I've printed and hanged a street photography pic at this point, but I think I could...!

Mostly they sit on my computer disc, that way I find I look at them more often than at any prints which are stashed away in drawers and book shelves.

I also play around with them a lot, trying different cropping, editing, effects (I write some of my own photoshop plugins). That way I don't see them as static, finished product, but something to be active with.

What I would like to improve on is, to make themes/subjects into coherent series.

When that happens I like to print and put them on the wall at home and at the office. If people comment - fine, if they don't - well, I enjoy them.

Very common style of photography. I have seen it on prints, at walls.
And thousands of thousands of them on Flickr.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/jRFA​Eu

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/i38R​rh

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/hSYW​Cy

I had an exhibit at Calumet Photographic Chicago last April(13). Had one of my images selected for a juried show at the Soho Gallery in New York. 42 out of 2600 were selected. The opening was July 1st and the show is up until July 26th. I was selected to have a one man exhibit at the Rangefinder Gallery here in Chicago next summer (15). That's what I do...My commercial work pays all the bills. My personal work feeds my soul and passion. This was the image selected for the New York show.

Thanks for responses, people. I recently saw the Garry Winogrand exhibition at the Met, and it was kind of reinspiring for me to pursue some of the things in street photography that interest me. I guess for me it's just something that I should pursue because it's *in* me, and if I progress in it, then great; if not, they will just exist as digital files on my hard drives. I've kind of come to the feeling that at the very least, they are helping me think about seeing, and texture, and space, and line, and that I don't have to over-think whether or not they are "worth" taking, especially given our digital era.

I like Street Photography from a mental/intellectual point-of-view and is always trying to capture better pictures. I post stuff online Flick, G+ etc