New Objectivity Photography vs Street Photography

新即物主義写真 / ストリート写真

New Objectivity Photography comes from Photography Movements and Street Photography from Photographic Genres. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with different intent, which is the fastest way to tell them apart.

New Objectivity Photography

New Objectivity Photography — ブロスフェルトの植物写真 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNew Objectivity Photography — レンガー＝パッチュ『鉄と鋼』装丁 1931 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainNew Objectivity Photography — ブロスフェルト『芸術の原形』1928より — Wikimedia Commons / CC0

Steps back from sentiment and records the structure of people and things coolly: sharp focus, frontality, typology.

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.

New Objectivity PhotographyStreet Photography
Era1920s–1930slate-1800s–
FamilyPhotography MovementsPhotographic Genres
KindStyleStyle
CuesSharp focus / Frontality / Repetition and types / Material detailPublic space / The decisive moment / Chance arrangement / Everyday figures
Best used forPhotographing trades or buildings under one condition to make them comparable · Showing the detail of a product or a part precisely and without sentimentRecording the daily life of a city over time without staging it · Editing a series about a place out of chance arrangements
TypeNo headlines, only the subject name and conditions in one fixed formatUse the signs already in the street as elements, adding none later
CompositionFrontal, level, centered, with the same background every timeGo wide and close, keeping two separate events in one frame
MaterialDeep depth of field, even overcast light, fine grained printingLight gear, fast film speed, focus distance decided before raising the camera
CautionOne frame is no typology, and without matched conditions it ends as a pile of expressionless pictures. Do not trust the pose of objectivity, and read the bias that classification and viewpoint produce.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