Our Street Photography Under Review
Some of our recent series of photos which are part of our running #pedestriansofreno #humansofreno series have gotten angry comments from residents of the community who otherwise say they like our Instagram.
Our Instagram started as Our Town Reno with just street photography and then changed to Biggest Little Streets following similar comments.
We now still still feature street photography but less so than we used to. We still believe in its value though as the purpose of Our Town Reno is to be an ongoing multimedia documentary about Reno and those who live here, micro story by micro story, post by post, photo by photo, video by video.
We also value public space, and those who still exist within this collapsing realm, from those attending festivals, to running errands, to skateboarding and sitting on stoops, or pushing a cart. As public space disappears and people live increasingly behind their screens, in their cars and places of work and shelter, we believe it’s important to document what’s left of what’s in the open, candid, warts, style and all.
According to wikipedia street photography, also sometimes called candid photography, is “photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places.”
Street photography can also act as an authentic and transparent opposite to selfies or as one street photographer Jamie Windsor put it “our dysmorphic self-image that we perpetuate through our social media platforms,” where everything is staged, made up, asepticized, and the authentic is lost while allowing delusions to spiral.
Street videography seems to get much less criticism, but one interesting documentary series did. It was called “Surveillance Camera Man,” and was initially published on YouTube about ten years ago. In it a man walked around what many identified as Seattle, behind fast food counters, alongside cafe tables and cars, inside illegal betting parlors, outside banks, at parks and on the streets, just training his camera around and being asked why he was filming to which he would respond “why not?” and carry on.
There were many people full of rage, and the nicest people were often those wanting someone to talk to. His explanation when pressed further was that we are being filmed constantly by surveillance cameras, both from homes, businesses and the government, so why should we be angry when a human being is doing it for no other purpose than documentation?
Our Town Reno has always believed that all of us within our community are celebrities worthy of attention and a snap, showing our humanity, living and breathing right now while we still can on the streets of the Biggest Little City.
Given the new comments, we will discuss whether we will continue street photography going forward with our new team of reporters in the fall, but a few of the photos we already took this summer but have yet to publish may still pop up in our feed for the reasons stated above, as part of our documentation of #keeprenorad, another hashtag we also use.
If you enjoy our other feeds, including our podcast, won’t you vote for us? As we wrote: “We have weekly, never miss a week during the year, interviews from the frontlines of union and activist protests, heroes and sheroes of Reno, local musicians and artists, the unhoused and those struggling with higher rents, #keeprenogreen and #keeprenorad initiatives, Ukrainians seeking a new life and fifth generation Nevadans, every middle of the week, every week of the year, so why don't you vote for us and as our motto says #helpeachother?”
Voting for the Best Local Podcast takes place at vote.renonr.com in the Culture section.
Over on our main website, we had a feature about Dan, a master recycler often seen in downtown Reno but very rarely heard from.
Recent social media posts (including on our TikTok below) have featured mini documentaries on the local punk scene. Always check back across our channels for more and keep the comments coming, including the critical ones. We appreciate the feedback.
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Thanks for having this conversation. When I first encountered this ethical issue in my own work, I turned to youtube to find some opinions. May I recommend “Being a Non-Creepy Street Photographer” by Josh Katz or “Is Street Photography WRONG? | The ethics and rules of street photography” by Marco Serventi