Street Photography and Roman Inspiration

Street photography is a distinct genre of photography with a long history of changes and developments across time and place. Perhaps one of the “earliest’ styles of photography, street photography is simply the practice of photographing the everyday in an authentic, public space. With the invention of the portable camera in the early 1920s and the moving on from bulky camera equipment, street photography flourished in the subsequent decades. Most popular in urban areas, street photography functions as a way to capture current cultural climates and everyday life. 

In the pursuit of capturing an essence of a specific, organic moment, street photography mimics the artistic pursuits of prior generations of artists before the invention of the camera. Before the camera, the practice of painting still-life portraits reflected a desire to capture a raw, natural moment in the everyday. A plate of fruit resting on a table or a desk piled with items; these artists depicted the mundane. The camera facilitated the advancement of this desire, allowing for a truly candid documentation of human existence in the minute, day-to-day.

The history of street photography is relatively long and complex, with its continual development seeing the rise of new subgenera as well. The facets of street photography developed alongside the advancement of camera technology and socio-cultural changes. For example, street photography became increasingly popular in America post-World War as a way to document culture. 

Cities are often the muse of street photographers where endless possibilities of subjects exist on every street corner. Rome is no exception to this with never-ending bustling roads, sidewalks, and monuments home to a wide variety of individuals with different style and personality. There is a lot to capture on the streets of Rome, no matter the time of day. In this way, street photography flourishes in the city, offering not only countless subjects, but stunning backdrops as well. 

Sources: 

https://www.britannica.com/art/street-photography/After-World-War-II 

https://art.art/blog/art-history-101-the-history-and-evolution-of-street-photography  

-Samantha Wolfe