Street Photography/Willa and Bob Friedman
Wikipedia says “ Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places”. We have been doing that for a number of years. The key word in the definition is: “public”; it need not be on the street.
Our presentation will explain what you can do legally in public spaces, as told by lawyers and court decisions. You do have the right to photograph in public places.
The “decisive moment” will be explored as shown by Henri Cartier-Bresson and other photographers, famous, not so famous, and us! It’s not always what it seems.
Also, getting over the reluctance to take street photos or fear of getting punched in the face will be discussed including safe and friendly places for street photography. There are interesting places where you can practice street photography, sometimes even with the cooperation of your subjects.
Bob and Willa Friedman
As a teenager, Bob started his photography journey with a darkroom in his parent’s basement, which he inherited from his brother. The first thing he did when we bought our house was to build a darkroom in the basement.
Willa first became involved in photography as an instructor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where she photographed wildlife in city parks for the NYC schools, and her images were published in a fourth grade text book.
If selling a few photos makes us pros, then we are pros. Otherwise we are advanced amateurs. We have taken courses and workshops at Photoworks at Glen Echo, and with Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant in New Brunswick, Canada, We have also had extensive courses in Photoshop. We have been members of NVPS for many years.
Our subjects are varied, but Bob does street photography and Willa finds reflections everywhere. Both use Fuji cameras with various lenses.
Our work is currently on display at the Art League in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. We each have an image in the permanent collection of the Joseph Miller Center for Photographic Arts and have had images published in the Northern Virginia Review and District Lines.
We have multiple images in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and have prints on display in various professional offices in the Metro DC area.
Our current job is retirement — it doesn’t pay very well but it is a lot more fun then the “W” word.
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