Yes. Urban landscapes are a subset of street photography. Urban landscapes get a tough rap in the street photography circles because of their obvious lack of the human element. However, capturing an interesting urban landscape that qualifies as street photography can sometimes be more difficult than capturing interesting street photography that includes the human element. Confused yet?
Street photography features the human condition within public places according to Google definitions… There are hundreds of variations of the definition of street photography but one common factor is the presence of “the human condition”. No credible definition that I’ve come across necessitates that their must actually be a human being within the frame.
This is interesting if you think about it, there is a challenge to be overcome with urban landscapes. Can you capture eye-catching, interesting, urban landscapes that street photographers would appreciate. It’s harder than it sounds.
The urban landscape imagery that always jumps out at me are the photographs where I can visualize someone walking through the frame or interacting in some way with the environment without thinking about it. When I took the image above that is what jumped out at me.
If you disagree that is quite alright but do me a favor, give urban landscapes a week of your time. Try to capture urban landscapes without the humans but still retaining the human element… For a successful urban landscape street photography image it’s got to feel like there is human presence there, possibly right outside of the frame.
It’s often been said that what’s outside of the frame is just as important as what’s inside the frame or what you take out of a frame is just as important as what you include in the frame… Your choice. Either way, use that to your advantage and create some stunning urban landscapes.
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