Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh | Tue, 09/27/2011 9:25 PM

The growth of digital camera technology has brought about a change in photography, as low-priced cameras and their easy operation have triggered snapshot fever.


Face of the town: JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

Even youngsters are now accustomed to taking pictures by means of cell phones, and common digital gadgets as well as expensive professional cameras have become a familiar sight.

This technological advancement has also spurned the emergence of groups of photography buffs. Once only practiced by professionals like photojournalists, photography is today even the pastime of laymen, with a growing number of enthusiasts going for new genres of the art such as street photography.

In Indonesia, street photography is a trend being pursued by hobbyists even though Dutch colonizers brought the art to the country over one hundred years ago.

It is widely believed that street photography is about taking pictures connected with public roads. Undeniably, this art is indeed closely related to the streets. Wikipedia defines it as a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public spaces such as streets, parks, beaches and malls, among others.


By the river: JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

According to Wikipedia, street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter, and often concentrates on a single human instant, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with.

In the 20th century, street photographers provided an exemplary and detailed record of street culture in Europe and North America, to a somewhat lesser extent elsewhere. Many classic works of street photography were created in the period between 1890 and 1975, and coincided with the introduction of portable cameras, especially small 35mm rangefinder cameras.


Noodle maker: JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

Street photography has developed for a long time in various countries in line with rapidly growing cities, with nearly all urban activities being connected to roads. It has flourished in metropolitan areas with diverse and cosmopolitan citizens, but the approach can also be used in rural areas.

For some, street photography is an approach to photography rather than a genre. This is also the view of Nick Turpin from the In-Public website. “Street Photography is not about the place the pictures are made, it’s about the approach you take to picture making.”


Street vendor: JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

In Indonesia, street photography remains a hobby rather than a business. Unlike painters and their works long immersed in the commercial arena, street photographers make virtually no money in comparison with their peers in wedding documentation or other photographic businesses.

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