Book Review: Weeks, C. (2006). Street Photography – For the Purist.

If you're perhaps interested in leaning something about street photography, this is not a text you'll wish to consult.   It is neither investigation, explication, nor reflection, but more manifesto.  The title gives a clue as to what to expect, a "pure" form of street photography embodied in a set of a canonical images, makers, and practices.  The masters are largely French photographers of the first half of the twentieth century who shot in black and white and often with range finders.  Author Chris Weeks believes that "real" street photographers maintain this style of practice, furthermore eschewing artificial light (Weegee is singled out for his deviant use of flash), street portraiture (which no matter how well done is always contrived), or urban landscape (as street photography is always about people).  There is no marshaling of evidence in service of argument, only a list of tenets to which one must subscribe, presented in one-sentence paragraphs intended to impress the reader with the author's authentic, "raw edge," hipster essence.  The book, as it were, also features a collection of the author's images, few of which were inspiring enough to convince me to give up my digital compact.

Weeks, C. (2006). Street Photography – For the Purist.  [ebook] Available at: http://blog.papirontul.hu/photobooks/street_photography_for_the_purist.pdf [Accessed 12 Mar. 2016].

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