Japanese Realism Photography vs Street Photography

リアリズム写真運動 / ストリート写真

Japanese Realism Photography comes from Photography Movements and Street Photography from Photographic Genres. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Japanese Realism Photography

Japanese Realism Photography — 土門拳《銀座のシューシャンボーイ》1951年頃 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainJapanese Realism Photography — 土門拳《浮浪児とグラジオラス》1951 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainJapanese Realism Photography — 土門拳《路傍》1954 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The postwar Japanese movement Domon Ken led under 'absolutely unstaged, absolute snapshots.' Hiroshima and Children of Chikuho faced society directly, drawing amateur monthly contests into the reconnection of photography and life.

Street Photography

Street Photography — アジェ『ストラスブール大通り（コルセット店）』1912 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStreet Photography — アジェ『ストラスブール大通り』1926 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainStreet Photography — スティーグリッツ『冬の五番街』1893 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Catches accident, gesture and the city's relations on the fly, in streets and public space.

Japanese Realism PhotographyStreet Photography
Era1950–1958late-1800s–
FamilyPhotography MovementsPhotographic Genres
KindStyleStyle
CuesThe unstaged principle / Social subjects faced directly / Close wide-angle work / Coarse-grained printsPublic space / The decisive moment / Chance arrangement / Everyday figures
Best used forReporting on social issues that requires staying close to the people involved · Setting a shooting standard for open calls and staff-made photographyRecording the daily life of a city over time without staging it · Editing a series about a place out of chance arrangements
TypeHeadlines name the subject plainly, with no metaphorUse the signs already in the street as elements, adding none later
CompositionMove in wide and keep hands and feet inside the frameGo wide and close, keeping two separate events in one frame
MaterialPush the film, keep the grain, print on the hard sideLight gear, fast film speed, focus distance decided before raising the camera
CautionThe unstaged principle is proclaimed while the subject is pressed to stay as they are, and the relation between photographer and photographed goes unexamined.Hunting for unusual looking people turns the work into spectacle and leaves the photographer's gaze rather than the city's relations. Weigh the ethics, the place and your distance from the subject.

Put these two together

Photography Movements ／ Photographic Genres

IndexStyle