defining photography

Having just read part of the introduction to the book Street Photography Now by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren (Thames & Hudson 2010), I am intrigued by the need to define street photography.

I photograph what I see on the street.

To me, that is street photography.

But no, now it has become a genre, a style, with specific criteria to be met before any consideration as street photography. I don't stick my camera in people's faces and take their portrait without their permission, I don't set up (contrive) my shots, I don't wait hours for the moment to be just right, it's not always dirty and scruffy, sometimes there are no people and no sign of street life (only what was) but the street itself, sometimes they are not on the street. Maybe I belong to another category until I am squeezed out of that by definition, hmmm, spontaneous urban architectural photographer using simple digital camera who sometimes photographs buildings, shadows, people and the occasional bird but not necessarily together. Oops, I am not even a photographer by definition as I have no formal education or qualification in the field. Where does it end and who are these self declared experts in the field?

Of course photography is constantly categorising its purveyors into such like as portraiture, landscape, fashion, wildlife, sports, photojournalism, etc. Perhaps the categories should be like music: classical, pop, jazz, alternative, etc. Or the categories should relate to photography itself - sharp, blurry, single subject, multiple subject, close, distant, light, dark, scary, happy. Photography is an expression of emotion, the image has been recorded and distributed because the taker felt something in doing so. Is it time to stop categorising and defining as tradition dictates by subject matter and identify through emotion?

So many photographs fit across several of the current categories, perhaps they are inappropriate and outdated.

It is early days for street photography, maybe we are yet to see the emergence of subcategories, further defining and limiting its practitioners.

Actually, I should be glad I don't fit the genre, or any genre, unmarketable as it is. I have the freedom to take what I want, where I want, with no demands or expectations on the result.