What Is Street Photography? Definition & Influence on Film Style

What Is Street Photography Definition and examples featured image
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Published: June 6, 2020 | Last Updated: June 6, 2025

What is Street photography? Definition & Meaning

Street photography is a genre of photography that captures candid scenes in public spaces, focusing on everyday moments, human gestures, and the visual rhythms of urban life.

Origins and Key Traits of Street Photography

Early photograph of a man standing on a cobbled street with water-carrying equipment
Charles Nègre captured this Parisian worker candidly as he paused in the street, making it one of the earliest examples of unposed, observational photography. The image reflects the roots of street photography long before the term existed.

Street photography emerged in the late 19th century when small cameras gave artists the freedom to document people without staging scenes. Early figures like Eugène Atget, Charles Nègre, and Henri Cartier-Bresson built the foundation for the genre by focusing on timing, composition, and natural behavior in public places.

The approach depends on being fast and discreet. Photographers stay alert for brief but telling interactions, moments that say something real about city life. The subjects are never directed. They’re just doing what they would have done anyway. The best photographers capture it before it passes.

Legal and Ethical Boundaries

Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm is great for street photography
A street photograph, I shot in a small Spanish village. I often shoot people from the back, in strong backlight, or blurred out of respect for their privacy.

Photographers can usually shoot in public spaces without asking for consent, but rules vary. In many countries, commercial use requires permission from recognizable people.

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Street photograph I shot in the evening sun in Copenhagen.

It’s also important to be cautious near schools, hospitals, or government buildings. Children and vulnerable individuals deserve extra care, even in public. Being legally allowed to take a photo doesn’t always mean you should. Respect matters as much as rights.

Notable Street Photographers and Their Styles

Several artists helped define the visual style of modern street photography:

  • Henri Cartier-Bresson: Captured the “decisive moment” where people align perfectly with space and structure
  • Vivian Maier: Photographed strangers and self-shadows with quiet intimacy
  • Garry Winogrand: Used tilted frames to create energy and disorientation
  • Daido Moriyama: Shot grainy, high-contrast images that feel raw and unfiltered

Street Photography’s Influence on Film

Street photography has shaped film aesthetics through its observational style. Neorealist directors like Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini used natural light and public locations to build credibility in postwar cinema.

Ingrid Bergman embraces George Sanders in a crowd of men during the final scene
Roberto Rossellini stages this moment to feel spontaneous, blending neorealist techniques with emotional release. The crowd reacts in real time, echoing the candid texture of street photography. Image Credit: Titanus.

Later, directors such as Martin Scorsese and even Sophia Coppola carried that gritty realism into modern narratives. Taxi Driver (1976) uses handheld shots and crowded street scenes to reflect mental states and urban pressure.

Street scene at night with people standing outside a theater showing "Sometime Sweet Susan"
Times Square in Taxi Driver is shown as gritty and fluorescent, with candid groupings that resemble real-life street photography. The composition balances light, shadow, and human behavior without staging. Image Credit: Columbia Pictures.

Sofia Coppola filmed the famous Shibuya Crossing scene in Lost in Translation (2003, Focus Features) without permits, capturing real crowds in motion.

Scarlett Johansson stands with a clear umbrella in a blurred Tokyo crowd
Sofia Coppola filmed this scene at Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing without permits, blending into the crowd like a street photographer. Johansson moves through real foot traffic, creating a moment that feels both accidental and intimate. Image Credit: Focus Features.

Like street photography, the scene depends on spontaneity, i.e., people move naturally, unaware of the camera. The result feels observational and authentic, matching the film’s themes of isolation in public space.

Their visual language feels pulled from the same instinctive rhythm as a good street photograph.

Summing Up

Street photography captures people as they are, e.g., in transit, at rest, reacting, or unaware. It’s about timing, observation, and restraint. The gear is simple, but the skill lies in patience and quick judgment. From quiet portraits to chaotic intersections, street photography remains one of the most honest ways to document public life, and its influence on cinema proves just how far that honesty can reach.

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By Jan Sørup

Jan Sørup is a indie filmmaker, videographer and photographer from Denmark. He owns filmdaft.com and the Danish company Apertura, which produces video content for big companies in Denmark and Scandinavia. Jan has a background in music, has drawn webcomics, and is a former lecturer at the University of Copenhagen.