Street Photography: A History in 100 Iconic Photographs

This is a brilliantly put-together anthology superb, sometimes really surprising, street photography. Dave Gibson has picked a really great and representative selection of street photographers... although no Martin Parr or Nick Turpin. He has not always chosen their most typical or representative photos, but the images are always intriguing, often really instructive. And Dave Gibson's (one-page) commentaries are really interesting, often revealing, sometimes profound... always a really good read. I was genuinely surprised that the author had produced such valuable book so original and so different from his previous two, The Street Photography Manual and 100 Great Street Photographs.

I really like that one of Jeff Mermelstein's photos makes it to the front cover. I think he is one of the less heralded NYC street photographers. Everyone knows the likes of the ubiquitous Meyerowitz, Winogrand, Arbus, Frank, Davidson etc. Mermelstein's book Sidewalk has some really great images, as does this book of course.

4 Stars as its a high quality book , very reasonably priced too. Do not get me wrong - this will please any fan of street photography. My only quibble is that rather than show a history of street photography in 100 images - its really "100 street photographers". A lot of famous , some legendary , street photographers are also entirely missing ( Parr , Moriyama , Gilden etc ). The selection of photographs is not what you would normally expect either , when a photographer is highlighted , its not their most famous "iconic" shot that is shown ( perhaps only the ones for Arbus and Bresson ) - this is both refreshing and disappointing at the same time. Overall though a very good book , despite some strange omissions and selection choices.

This is a lovely collection of a hundred photos by a hundred different photographers, each of which is accompanied by a brief biographical sketch of the photographer, making connections to other photographers, and sometimes providing context around the selected photo. In that sense, it's a great introduction to the work of a wide range of artists, and definitely opens the door to seeking out more of their work. As one might expect, it's almost all American or European photographers, with a handful of Japanese and Indians represented, and of course, heavily male. And while the book rewards careful perusal (I recommend just a few pages a day, in order to let each photo sink in), I'm not sure it quite does justice to the title. My understanding of "street photography" is that it seeks to capture everyday life in a public setting, often without the subjects being aware of it -- but is slightly different from documentary photography, which has a particular project and point of view driving it. The compiler of this volume seems to more or less agree with that in his two page introduction, but the contents are hardly faithful. There are some photos that are quite abstract, there are photos without people, and most confounding of all, there are photos that are staged. I guess he found some of the images too irresistible, but as "a history" it doesn't quite work. That said, it is a really well-produced book -- the scale and quality of reproductions are nice, and definitely a worthy addition to any photography-lover's coffee table.

I got this for my son he was delighted and inspired

I probably buy too many books on street photography, but I guess I'm a sucker for the genre. I bought this book because I have another David Gibson book on the technical aspects of shooting street images that I like a lot. This book is about the photos. There are no discussions about cameras, lenses or techniques. This book has 100 images from a very broad range of photographers from many periods and from many continents. It is one photo from each photographer, so someone with hundreds or thousands of famous photos is only represented by a single image. The photos are laid out chronologically and with no attempt to cover each year, so there are gaps, and then multiple photos from a single year. On the facing page of each image is a short bio, DOB / DOD, and testimonials from other photogs that were inspired by the artist. It would have been expected as someone that has dozens of books on street photography that I would likely have most of the hundred images in other books, and indeed I have many. But I was pleasantly surprised to see rare photos from the likes of say, Robert Frank (not a shot from "The Americans") and David Alan Harvey. Also, while the usual expected photographers are represented, so are lesser known but highly talented ones that I might not have encountered if not in the book. Again, this book is about photos. If that is of interest to you, it is well worth the price.

Interessante.

A history in 100 Iconic images that takes you through street photography from 1904 until 2017. This is a very nice selection of work by different photographers. I am not an expert and I go by what pleases my eye visually. This book may work as a reference to discover/look up in detail specific photographers. Book arrived in perfect condition.

Ein sehr schöner Bildband, der viele facettenreiche Inspirationen enthält.

Es un buen libro, más como un catálogo de fotografías que nos dejan ver a través de otros ojos las situaciones urbanas del dia a dia captadas por diferentes personas. Ojo: este no es un libro para aprender a tomar fotos.