Street photography is a misnomer. In "Street Photography Now," the authors describe street photography as "the impulse to take candid pictures in the stream of everyday life." An actual street is not required. But we ignore the street at our peril. Even an empty street describes the life of a city past and present. An old building speaks of urban decay while a store window reveals the latest fashions. Signs advertise Broadway shows or what was once entertainment on New York's 42d Street. A city is the sum of its people and places. This is how I see the streets.
Once I wanted to be Ansel Adams, a reach, especially for someone who lives and photographs in New Jersey. But even when I went out into real wilderness, I never felt at one with these places. My introduction to street photography was "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work". I was hooked immediately. My first attempts at street photography were in New York. From the beginning, I knew this was where I belonged. Even in neighborhoods that were new to me, I felt that these were my streets. I have photographed in the US, in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. They are still my streets.
