Street Photography

Imagine yourself walking alone down a New York City street when suddenly a photographer appears seemingly out of nowhere and takes your picture. Just as he snaps the photograph, your mouth opens wide in astonishment. Would you consider it a compliment or an invasion of privacy? Street photography as the technique is known, was recently discussed at the Queens College Photography slide series.

On any Monday evening at eight o'clock between now and December 14, you can go to the Student Union and be treated to a look at some excellent photographs taken by the country's leading photographers. Whether you're interested in photography or not, you will find the experience fascinating.

The show itself runs for about forty minutes after which there is a rather involved discussion about the particular photographs shown and the field of photography itself. Those who don't know much about photograph, other than knowing what type of pictures they like, this banter may prove to be quite interesting.

The main point argued on October 19 was whether or not street photography is becoming over used. Louse Faurer, whose photographs we had just seen, insisted that it was and he felt more creativity was needed in the field. Mr. Faurer's dilemma over street photography was puzzling, since all of his pictures were in the genre. People do change, but it seemed odd because so much of his career has been spent working as a street photographer. Faurer's photographs have been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, the Lunn gallery, The Museum of Fine Art in Houston, Texas and the University of Maryland Fine art Gallery.

While no one seemed to be able to agree on whether or not street photography is becoming to commonplace; one thing was for certain: Faurer's photographs were anything but common. Spanning for the 1940's to the 1970's, they showed a broad range of street life. Every cultural and economic group was represented. There were rich people dressed in furs, emerging from expensive hotels, and there were poor people who probably wondered where their next meal would come from. One photograph that stood out was a line of three or four black Cadillacs. It was a simple, but very intense photograph. But the photographs that were by far the most touching were those taken of the physically challenged; it almost seemed that fifty or sixty years ago, they were treated as less than human, without the respect due them.

For some people walking down the street and suddenly being photographed is a compliment, while for others is an invasion of privacy.