Street Snap

Shooting on street must be a challenging yet fascinating experience. It's challenging because the photographer needs to cope with many kinds of people, to get their permit and avoid from offending them. On the other hand, streets are places where everything might happen at anytime, so photographer have to be prepared at any moment. Meanwhile, that's also why street snap is fascinating. Thousands of people pass by a street every day, and there must be a number of interesting and attractive scenes, as well as trivial stories.

I love many pictures by David Snider, while I dislike some of them. Many of his works do not conform to the rule of thirds, and perhaps not in the best composition and light, but, they are natural. They bring me visual enjoyment, even spiritual shock. In these pictures, I prefer the Vaison la Romaine, and Outside a Train Station in Tours, which were shot in France, since they are extremely natural. The sleeping man, the boys' innocent smile, with their background, really attract my eyes.

However, I can see a few artificial traces in some other works, such as the Rockefeller Plaza. It's beautiful, but not natural. Admittedly, artificially shooting does not necessarily means less worth. In many cases, it can better express the photographer's opinion, or bring more visual enjoyment for readers. But it loses the most precious feature of street snap, the natural feature, in my own opinion.