Friday, September 3, 2010

Street Photography

Consuelo, Maria Josefa, and Jose Garcia
on the streets of Madrid, Spain circa 1940

Several bloggers and geneabloggers have addressed “Street Photography” in some of their posts. Brett Payne, who writes from New Zealand blogged about sidewalk photographers here
http://photo-sleuth.blogspot.com/2009/03/sidewalk-photographers-bournemouth.html
and here http://photo-sleuth.blogspot.com/2010/07/spotlight-photos-ltd-walking-pictures.html

Sheri Fenley “The Educated Genealogist” did a nice job describing street photographers here
http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/2009/03/friday-from-collectors-sidewalk.html and wrote about some of the shady sides of the trade.

Cynthia Shenette, who blogs at “Heritage Zen” wrote here http://heritagezen.blogspot.com/2010/08/follow-friday-walking-pictures-ancestry.html about “walking pictures” and I recognized the style right away. Some of my mother-in-laws photos from Spain looked like they were done by sidewalk photographers. Her photos were taken in Madrid in the 1940s and 50s. She told me the reason they were taken on the street was due to strict regulations about solicitation during Franco’s regime. Photos already taken and sold as displays avoided street solicitation, and remind me of the overpriced photos sold on cruise ships or at tourist attractions. A photo snapped of your family as you embark on a cruise is sold later, and of course you buy it as a remembrance of your vacation, even though you don’t remember anyone taking your photo.

2006

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

4 comments:

  1. Fun! And that's for the links to the other posts for me to look at!

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  2. Heather, thanks for mentioning my post on "walking pictures." I enjoyed seeing your photo and reading your post on the topic. It's funny, I had the same thought about all of the tourist attraction photos I've had taken over the years. I will say I like the old style of "walking pictures" better. Everyone always looks so elegant. I always seem look my worst--bad hair, sweaty, and holding a giant soft drink cup.

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  3. You actually read my articles Heather? I am thrilled to know that someone finds them useful. Actually I rather enjoyed writing the sidewalk photographer post. Thanks for the mention.

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  4. Thank you Heather for sharing your family "walkie." A great example from a location that's new to me, although I'm sure they were as common there as in the US, Canada and England. Thanks also for the mention - it weill get the word out, and hopefully we'll see plenty more of them posted.

    Regards, Brett

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