Mr Bruce Gilden

After seeing a short Youtube video of Bruce Gilden, I decided to look into him and his work a little further.
From an early age, he was fascinated by the street. Looking out of the window, and watching the hustle and bustle of the Brooklyn human traffic.

A man who's view on Street Photography is: 'if you can smell the street by looking at the photo it's a street photography', is definitely worth researching for inspiration and guidance.
It's very clear that Bruce has a unique style. He's intrusive when creating his work. Quickly jumping in front of people. On the majority of his photographs. The subject is looking at the Camera but hasn't had time to react to his presence. This shows just how quickly he gets into the action for his shots.


He says the people he takes pictures of aren't random people that walk past or that he walks past. It's more as if they're drawn to each other.

His subjects are always a little out of the ordinary, They may be dressed a little (or lot) different or just be doing something that would be deemed as strange.

Gilden likes to use a Flash because He says it helps him visualize his feelings of the City and draws out the stress and energy in the photograph. This gives the close up subjects extra exposure. Making them stand out from the rest of the image and bringing out all of their features.

One thing that Gilden has done over the years that caught my attention, Is he worked the same streets in Manhattan since 1981. This has created a photo blog for him/us to understand the changes in the type of people, fashion, even down to the class of people that frequent the streets.
He say's the streets lack character these day's. Everyone looks and dresses the same. He refers to it feeling like Disney World.

An earlier quote from Bruce Gilden, which works across almost every genre of photography is:
 'If I can't allow the viewer to look at the Photograph and make up a story about it, then it's not a strong Photograph.'




Credits:
Images taken from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/08/09/askmagnum-video-interview-with-bruce-gilden/

(All photos copyrighted by Bruce Gilden / Magnum Photos)