So you don’t wanna be seen on Google Street. Wear stuff with a lot of faces on – they’ll blur you out.
The forest was dense and large. I heard a strange noise coming my way. It was the Google camera car.
If street photography was about streets, Google Street View would be the ultimate.
Let’s see now, big leaves, enclosure, vague light in the background. A scene from childhood when you were still smaller than most plants around you. Close to water, maybe, you’ve seen such plants there, and there’s that light… On the photograph is just an imprint of what was before me, before the camera as Garry rightfully said… No more than that… Can’t show what’s not there. Light on surface. You have your thoughts, lookthink. You may think: this looks like rhubarb, right, maybe you think this is from a dream you were once in. You may think: no rain on your face under the big leaf; find shelter together with the insects on the moist ground, the light gets less because it rains, home not far, safe. Take four: now you touch the leaves as you stand up and look at the trees beyond. It’s all valid. It’s there if you want, here’s the picture: the image is of another day under a different sky. I can’t reach you, you can reach yourself, you make the connections, you make it work. I just give you the image. Look… And think.
House parties is the first series on the renewed site Tom Stappers|Photographer www.tomstappers.com . These photographs were taken during the heyday of the house scene in the Scheveningen dance Club Exposure between 1994 and 1998. The club, “.XPO…” for insiders, soon acquired legendary status because of the extravagant side acts and the chemistry of that special mix of visitors, and by now seems to have reached mythic proportions in the collective memory of a whole age group.
To me, as a photographer, the whole scene was not just the usual boy-meets-girl, but a concentrated version of life with all the exuberance, desire and rejection that were acted out right in front of me. Fortunately I was readily being accepted, which enabled me to identify with the regular visitors – in spite of the differences – and not feel an intruder. I enjoyed the music and the people, careful not to outstay my welcome, while managing to take many thousands of photographs. I like what came out of it. These are respectful photographs.
My redesigned photosite is online, and the first two series presented are house parties and vegetation. The very up-to-date design chosen by |r|ocketclowns allows for the photographs to be shown on a surprisingly large format, and I like the navigation, that is both transparent and logical. To enable some explication, the occasional comment and a few necessary notes, I will add texts (aimed at photography insiders as well as interested newcomers to my photography) by means of this blog. The choice for the separation of words and images was made so as to not interrupt the flow of photographs. The blog which replaces the texts of the original site will be all the more versatile for it, hopefully more readable, and certainly more informative because searchable. I sincerely hope you will enjoy all of it, so do take a looooong look, and come back as often as you like for images and texts. I’m sure the website will get ever more interesting as it grows…and I’ll try to keep in mind what I myself would like to see and read about, trying not to repeat myself. Just in case, if you haven’t found it yet, www.tomstappers.com .
When I was young I used to work in a photo archive. It was an archive with thousands of images of Dutch landscapes, windmills, national costumes, folklore, old buildings etc., etc., to which I had proudly contributed. All of these photographs were just “material” for publications by the tourist industry, and the photographers were paid very little. We used to charge only administrative and actual replacement costs to those customers who never returned the lent material after use. Some even had the nerve to send back an envelope with the cut-up prints, snippets and all, or otherwise spoilt photographs with paper pasted on, texts written on the back that showed up like relief on the front, as more signs of utter disrespect for the photographer’s work (and remember, I’m talking about the darkroom, not the computer). Captions reattached to the prints after use by means of a stapler, small creases or scratches were no real problem! “You can’t see that in printing.” When the stock was almost gone for very popular images (yes, you guessed right, the inevitable windmills, tulips – in black&white – and wooden shoes) we just ordered another batch from the photographer, who didn’t mind… When a particularly nice picture came by, it was more than once confiscated and pinned up to the wall. There were some with well-known photographer’s names.
Ed van der Elsken said to me once that he regretted he had disregarded the uniqueness, and indeed value, of his old (vintage) press prints from his Paris, old Amsterdam and Sweet Life periods. He had used them to create a unique intro to his exhibition at the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum: by gluing them to the walls, the floor and the ceiling of the entrance hall. Very hip and contemporary at the time maybe, but what a pity in retrospect !!!
It is a strange thought that in fact, even the photographers themselves had to be taught the value of a lot of their old, and often forgotten prints. The scarcity of good (often vintage) prints, not caused by limited editions, but simple lack of interest in those days, has not escaped the attention of the collectors. They already know that a work of art “signed all over” needn’t necessarily be signed to be collectible.
“When I’m photographing I see life, that’s what I deal with.”……….”I frame in terms of what I want to include, and naturally, when I want to snap the shutter.”……….”If I’m at the viewfinder, and I know that picture, why take it? I’ll do something to change it…”……….”I get into situations where there’s a lot of activity, more things can occur to me to try.”……….”Reality is the photograph itself…”
(Garry Winogrand interviewed by Bill Moyers on tv show, © 1982. Read more: navigate by clicking red tags below)
These are some alternative Winogrand quotes for you. The usual quotes (and misquotes!) can be put into a greater perspective, I think. Being a longtime street photographer myself, I have selected those words in which I recognize the approach that has inspired me, hoping to show that his ideas, though often provokingly formulated, were much deeper than some people seem to grasp.
Whoever is confused about the definition of street photography, may be inclined to look it up in the pages of Wikipedia. I personally was shocked to see some less-than-mediocre color photographs, having nothing in common but the fact that they were obviously taken of people outdoors, and a meaninglessness next to non-existance. These uninspired photos were intended as illustrations for a short, imprecise attempt at defining street photography, followed by extended ramblings about overcoming shyness !! [shy?- don’t even try!] , being invisible, tricks, the “right” equipment [can you imagine paints, brushes, or canvas being mentioned in an article about, let’s say: impressionism], and endless legal considerations, all of which reads more like “photography for dummies” than a serious article about photography (as art). This would put off and discourage anybody ever wanting to take a picture that might include (oh, the horror…) a complete stranger.
Could somebody (with more patience, and more knowledge of Wikipedia than me) please take the time one of these days to update this Wikipedia article about street photography, and balance its various aspects in a way that makes more sense. I think of a serious photographer rather than a legal adviser… Some Garry Winogrand quotes would fit in fine, I think, as would a few real street photographs for a change!
For my readers in the Netherlands and Belgium who read Dutch here’s [was, TS] a link to the article from P/F Vakblad voor Fotografie © 3/’99, written by the late Herman Hoeneveld, about my house parties series done in the famous Scheveningen Club Exposure during the 1990’s. This well-published series is the first batch shown on my new website, designed by |r|ocketclowns webdesigners from The Hague.
The link is [was] to my agent’s website [this link no longer exists, TS 11/16/2009]. Several more series of photographs are due for web exposure in the near future, making my photography site grow bigger still. The bulk of my street photography is yet to come!