Street photographer research

Bruce Gilden

Bruce Gilden was born in 1946 and is a extremely famous street photographer who is still alive today and is mainly known for his work in New York. The work Bruce creates is very unique. He goes out of his way to make the character of a person stand out in his work and he isn't afraid to be confronted in situations to achieve exactly what he wants from a shot.

The main way he does this is by getting right into the subjects face. As close as he could, catching them of guard. This technique is the main thing i would say that makes these photographs so unique. 
The act of catching someone of guard, shocking them makes them show weird expressions and unusual stances and i think that looks really good in a photo and sets you and your work apart from the normal street photographer. This is something i really want to work towards experimenting with. 
But first I'm going to have to build up my confidence in taking photographs of strangers and just not be scared of what they think or might say. 

Below are two examples of Bruce Gilden's work:
Both of the images were taken by getting really close to the subject/s.

 I really like this shot, i love how the main subject (the old lady) is lit up because of the bright flash being right in her face and the women in the background is slightly darker, so the contrast looks really extreme in both the background and the foreground. The brightness on the old women's face also makes the creases and wrinkles on her face more defined and i also really like that because not only does the expression of the subject portray the character but i believe the wrinkles and creases do that too. I also like how it looks kind of distorted as thought they were trying to move away from the camera when he was taking this shot. 

This is very different from the previous shot but i do like it all the same. The shots Bruce usually takes I'd say are mid shot or from the shoulder and above but i like this one because it's full length and you can see the lady from the top of her head to her shoes. In this photo i think the main way you can get a sense of this women's character is through what she is wearing because she has quite a neutral face and hasn't really got an expression other than the fact she appears to be frowning. I think her stance makes it appear that she was a bit taken back by the fact he took a photo of her as she looks like she has taken the top half of her body backwards.