When you have finished the critique of the Design of a street photography image, often your work has just begun. I find the Design critique to be something of a piece of cake. Either an element of design is present, in which case kudos are in order, or it is not. If it is not, it quite possibly does not matter. In fact, I believe that a street photo can be reasonably compelling with no remarkable Design at all. However, that is not true very often. It is certainly should not be a goal.

The second part of the critique is about the story potential. I am not 100% certain you can even critique a story potential, but I suspect that you can. I am tacking toward understanding what that might involve. There was a big breakthrough for me when I ran across Craig Semetko’s DIET model for producing creative street photography. D is for Design. That is rather unrelated to the story potential for me. I is for Information. E is for Emotion. T is for a timing. Information and Emotion have become the benchmarks for me to evaluate story. The jury is still out on whether Timing is a part of the story for me.

Let’s start with Information. I think it is likely that if you look at the picture below, your mind is going to be able to make sense of some story. Your impression of the flag and the driver will probably connect in your mind with the recent national elections in the U.S. In case you are not quite certain which team is up to bat here, the Maga Baby sign seals the deal. What happens after you connect the Information is really very personal. You may feel elation or relief or anger or even numbness. You may or may not go off in a tangent thinking about some of your experiences around this volatile aspect of American life. This event is universal enough that even people living outside of the U.S. may well get the Information and make their own story.

Here is another one, which is perhaps less universal in its reach. When I saw that there were window washers on this building, I had the time to rush over a couple of blocks and get an unobstructed view of them at work. I have taken such pictures before. I made the decision to stay where I was and get the shot with enough information for practically any viewer to realize that this was a city with a robust entertainment district. Probably a lot of people will be able to identify it as Nashville. It may make them think about how strange their year has been with the pandemic restrictions. Perhaps they will think about a visit they have made to the area. Perhaps they will think about how scary it must be to be a window washer. There is at least the potential for a story for some viewers.

Emotion is another way stories are born. I looked through a good number of my photos and it became clear to me that I am not taking enough photos with Emotion. Here is one. Have you ever felt excitement like that? I have, although that was, for the most part, when I was around her age. I think I seek out pictures like this as a reminder of the part of my life story that has truly passed.

This one is a whole lot more subtle. I am rather interested in the musicians that are off work. It is pretty easy to identify them because they are toting around guitars or sound equipment. What I like most is when they stop to listen to other musicians. I would guess that many times they are their good friends. Can you see the visiting musician smiling? Can you see there is a smiling drummer inside? Maybe some viewers will move into one of their good music times.

To sum it up, when I am looking for story component I am evaluating information that is given and emotion that is shown. I am also evaluating how universal the information or emotion is. The more universal, the more the image will touch the viewers.

Dedicated to Street

As I See It - Critique of the Story