5 Journal | Issue 1 | Street Photography

ISSUE ONE

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March 2017

FEATURING

Roy Baizan @ roybaizan

clay benskin @clay_benskin

Kholood eid @kholoodeid

Giacomo Francia @rtfice

nina kahn @ninastreeter

HERIBERTO SANCHEZ @atraves_del_lente

Jon santiago @jonwsantiago

Rhynna M. santos @ rhynnasantos

Edwin J. Torres @edwintorresphoto

Osaretin uigabe @osaretin.ugiagbe

Michael young @mgyoungphotography

5 Journal Founders David “Dee” Delgado @Dee_BX KAtie Khouri @katie.khouri Contact: Hi.FiveJournal@GMAIL.COM Follow: @five.journal Cover Image: Jon santiago

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The street photographer is like no other.

They confront an uncontrollable scene - everyday life in all its unpredictable action, pageantry and drama.

Street photography is an established art form that boasts a diverse body of artists and work. Masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Joel Meyerowitz, Elliott Erwitt, Mary Ellen Mark, Bruce Gilden and Jamel Shabazz are notable for their powerful depiction of urban life and culture.

Today, cell phone camera technology and popular social media apps like Instagram, have created new possibilities for amateur and professionals alike to expand the range of street photography.

An exciting new artist like Devin Allen (Instagram: @dydvnlln) came to national attention with his Baltimore protest photography. One of his images, published on Instagram, became the cover of Time magazine in May, 2015. Similarly, Sheila Pree Bright (Instagram: @shepreebright), merges photography with social media and street murals. Her project titles frequently incorporate hashtags related to police brutality and social justice. With over 50k followers on Instagram, and 46k subscribers on YouTube, photographer Eric Kim has become an online guru for street photographers.

To delve deeper into the art of street photography check out the highly acclaimed documentaries “Everybody Street”, “Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York” and “Finding Vivian Maier”.

For books start with Magnum Contact Sheets, Back in the Days

by Jamel Shabazz, Subway by Bruce Davidson, The Last Resort by Martin Parr and A Beautiful Catastrophe by Bruce Gilden.

But the most important part of street photography is to just go outside and shoot.

rhynna M. santos

Photographer, co-curator of @everydaybronx and Bronx Photo League member.

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Edwin J. Torres

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MICHAEL YOUNG

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roy baizan

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Giacomo francia

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HERIBERTO SANCHEZ

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NINA KAHN

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NINA KAHN

What’s your background?

My parents were both born in India and migrated to Pakistan. My father worked for the American Embassy in Pakistan and was given the opportunity to move to America.

We moved to Yonkers, New York in the mid70’s. It was quite a culture shock for me and my three sisters. I was the youngest till my brother was born. We were raised in Yonkers and I still reside there to this day.

What was your first camera?

I never thought much about photography when I was young. However, I was the official photographer for the family without knowing it. Having three older sisters, I was asked to take their pictures at family gatherings, weddings, and parties. I didn’t realize it then but this was really the beginning for me. My family loved capturing every moment, there was always a camera around, Kodak, Minolta, Polaroid, etc. I didn’t have a camera of my own till I got older, my first real camera was a Nikon D90.

What was your first introduction to street photography?

My first introduction to street photography was from Clay Benskin - my boyfriend, who ironically enough I met on an Instagram walk almost 4 years ago. Before that, I took pictures of bridges, buildings, and sunsets. I knew my passion was definitely growing for photography but when I met Clay and saw his

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“You can’t force street photography because when you do..it shows. ”

images of people, it struck a chord in me. Clay made it look so easy and effortless and I have grown to really love this type of photography more than any other type. Once the street photography bug bites you, it gets into your soul and you want to capture the emotion, the struggle, the joy that people go through.

It makes me feel connected to everyone and it is an exhilarating and scary feeling all at the same time - I guess I’m hooked.

How is it having a partner that is also a photographer?

It’s good and bad. First and foremost I would not be doing street photography if it wasn’t for my boyfriend. I have the highest respect for his work but there are times we’ll take a similar shot and fight about who captured it best. We try to be fair and give it to the person who took the best shot (most of the time, it’s Clay.) We’re brutally honest with each other if a shot doesn’t work and have great respect for each other’s opinions. I think this helps us to grow not only in photography but in our relationship as well. It’s definitely a plus to have someone in your life that fully understands your passion.

Who influenced you the most in street photography?

Aside from my biggest influence – Clay Benskin, I get a lot of inspiration from Robert Frank, Saul Leiter, Vivian Maier, Garry Winogrand, Alex Webb, and our personal friend, Matt Weber. I don’t know how much they influence my pictures but they are definitely the ones I admire most.

Anything else we should know?

There are times I don’t feel like anything I take is good enough. I go through different phases and moods. You can’t force street photography because when you do it shows. Street is, in my opinion, the rawest type of photography. Some people on IG and Facebook snap anything and everything that passes them by and call it street – it turns me off at times but I know this type of photography is not going to let me go anytime soon. Till then I’m taking it as it comes. I don’t do it to make money, I already have a job, this is purely for the love of it.

How would you describe your own work?

I’m merely learning. I don’t see myself as a street photographer or even a photographer for that matter. I have a camera and I take pictures of people that have some sort of emotion and if and when I capture that emotion, it makes me happy.

What do you shoot with now?

I shoot with my iPhone and Fuji x100T and I love it. Most of my pics were taken with the iPhone in the beginning – that’s where it all started.

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Jon Santiago

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“I’m always looking out for what’s going on, and I’m absorbing as much as I can, so my tastes are always changing.”

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JON SANTIaGO

explore a number of social issues and personal questions. From the effects of climate change in Bangladesh to a project on my grandmother that explores questions about death, to a project in the Caribbean where my goal is to have no story at all.

What’s your background?

I was born in Queens. We lived in Woodhaven but I spent a lot of time in the Bronx, I’ve got a lot of family here. I became very comfortable in this borough [Bronx]. My family moved us upstate when I was around 12 years old and I came back to New York City after dropping out of college. I started photographing around this time.

What was your first camera?

It was a Canon Rebel series, an XSi I believe. I broke my kit lens within the first month. Best thing that ever happened.

What was your first introduction to street photography?

I’d admired street photography for a while but the first photographer who’s work really stuck to me was David Alan Harvey, particularly his Divided Soul projects. I was in Nepal at the time where the reception to being photographed was the complete opposite of the Bronx. I had a real freedom to experiment with my work. I bought a 28mm lens and really started thinking about composition.

What do you shoot with now?

Who influenced you the most in street photography? David Alan Harvey?

That everything I just said could change by next month [laughs]. There's certain photographers out there where you'll ask them 'who are your influences' and they'll name three people and they'll be like ‘alright that's it’ and they just figure shit out on their own, but I'm the type of photographer where I feel like I'm always looking out for what's going on, and I'm absorbing as much as I can, so my tastes are always changing.

I have three cameras. Lately, I’ve been carrying a little point and shoot, a Fuji X70. I like that it fits in my back pocket. I also have a Fuji XT1 and a Hasselblad 500cm, both of which have been collecting dust on my shelf.

I’d like to change that soon.

Anything else we should know?

Initially, but since then I’ve been absorbing work like crazy, I jump around constantly.

Josef Koudelka’s Gypsies has been an influence for a long time. Lately I’ve been into Jacob Aue Sobol and Antoine d’Agata.

I’ve also started shooting in color, so photographers like Miguel Rio Branco and Laura El-Tantawy have been big inspirations.

How would you describe your own work?

I’m not too sure. I believe I’m only now starting to find my voice. I’ve started projects that 5 Magazine

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Clay benskin

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CLAY Benskin

What’s your background?

I work as a full-time building superintendent in TriBeCa. I have held that job for about 25 years.

I guess you could say I’ve always had the creativity bug. I have dabbled in just about everything from writing a children’s book to starting a fashion line called Dirty Red. I even sponsored a skateboarding team and now my new obsession is street photography.

What was your first camera?

The first camera I seriously took pictures with was the iPhone 4. One of my son’s classmate didn’t like the phone so she gave it to him. He couldn’t use it so I switched the chips and fell in love with the camera.

What was your first introduction to street photography?

I don’t consider myself a photographer I’m not into other types of photography, I really don’t get photography. I wasn’t inspired to take pictures. For me, it was a totally competitive reason. About four years ago one of the tenants where I work started to get serious about his photography. He purchased all the best equipment money could buy.

After he showed me a few of his shots, I bet him I could take a better pic with my iPhone.

I started off shooting things I found in the basement at work. A few of the pictures came out really cool. I even participated my still lifes in a group show with him. After awhile I realized that type of photography was boring to me. Eventually, I found my way outside to people. He explained to me that what I was doing was called street photography and the rest was history.

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“I realized that you had to sorta be like an actor on the streets”

Who influenced you the most in street photography?

Well after I was introduced to street photography, of course, I had to google the term. Two things really stood out and caught my attention. The first was an article by Philip Greenspun Street Photography a guide from Photo.net. It was called The best thing about street photography: serendipity. I read about three or four lines from the article, I saw a few pic examples he posted. One particular picture stood out and something in me clicked. Somehow I understood (in my mind) what he was trying to say. The other was a video of Garry Winogrand, I believe he was being interviewed in Los Angeles. It wasn’t his pictures that fascinated me, it was his awkwardness and the way he took his pics.

I realized (once again in my mind) that you had to sorta be like an actor on the streets.

How would you describe your own work?

are usually cheap, there is always something to do if we get bored. Also, it’s really easy to get shots when we’re together, most of the time everyone is focused on her. Luckily for me, she takes street photography less seriously than me. I think because she has a real love for photography her eye is way better than mine and I would have stopped taking pictures a while ago.

A very very fun hobby, I don’t take it too seriously.

What do shoot with now?

Fujifilm XT-2 F23 2.0. And the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. I thought by getting that phone it would stop me from shooting with the iPhone. Of course, I had to take a few pics with it and realized it has a better camera.

Anything else we should know?

How is it having a partner that is also a photographer?

Thanks again for the opportunity to share my work. I think since I have this great new camera I may try to take street photography a little more seriously and see where it might take me.

Although I really enjoy shooting alone it’s really great to have a partner that shoots except when we’re fighting over shots. Dates

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kholood eid

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kholood eid

doesn’t necessarily equate to satisfaction. The uncertainty that comes with film—especially with a Holga. The total lack of control when shooting with a Holga is both frustrating and freeing. But sometimes, it’s nice to get lost in the unknown.

What’s your background?

I was born and raised outside the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri and am a first-generation Palestinian-American.

What was your first camera? What do you shoot with now?

What was your first introduction to street photography?

My first camera was a Pentax K1000, but I dropped it after only shooting a roll or two with it. I then got a Canon Rebel. Right now, I shoot most assignment work with either my Nikon D700 or Nikon D750 and personal work on whatever Hasselblad I can get my hands on as well as a dinky little Holga. I don’t really stress the gear too much because it’s just a tool—a means to an end. That said, I have my reasons for shooting with particular equipment. For instance, with my person work, I’ve been gravitating towards film because I miss the magic that comes with that. This instant gratification culture 5 Magazine

Pulitzer Prize-winning [now former] Chicago Sun-Times photographer John H. White was my first exposure to photography overall. I was a senior in high school, the editor-in-chief of the school paper and set on being a writer. We took a trip up to Chicago for a high school newspaper convention and, by chance, I happened to sit in on a presentation he gave. I was so moved by his images, from the first shots of Nelson Mandela after his release from prison to everyday life on the streets of Chicago, that I silently wept throughout the slideshow. After that, I went back to St. Louis and enrolled in my first photography class.

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“The total lack of control when shooting with a Holga is both frustrating and freeing. But sometimes, it’s nice to get lost in the unknown.”

Who influenced you the most in street photography?

other roles photography can play. For some, photography is a way to tell other people’s stories. It can also be a way to learn about and engage with the world around you. Or it can be a form of self-expression—an extension of oneself. I’m trying to find a way to incorporate all of the above. I’m a pretty emotional person, so I need to really connect with what I’m photographing. Otherwise, the quality of work will suffer. I have to admit, I don’t think I’m a very good street photographer. When I am making photos on the streets, I think there’s a sense of distance to them, partly because I may be timid but also because it’s probably how I’m feeling at that moment.

When I’m making photos on my commute to work or walking my dog or exploring a deserted Coney Island in the winter, it’s a stream-of-consciousness type of shooting. I just react to what I see, and it’s not until I’m developing the film do I start to gauge my emotions at the time and the patterns that appear in my work.

Although John H. White was the reason I became a photographer, Henri Cartier Bresson’s images resonated more with my taste for street photography. I’m a sucker for meticulously arranged scenes filled with graphic elements.

That’s changing a bit more. Something Garry Winogrand once said has been implemented in my current philosophy and approach to photography for the last two years or so. He once said that he’d rather have his photos raise more questions than answers.

How would you describe your own work?

Going back to what Winogrand said about making images that raise more questions than answers, I find myself drawn to work that’s a little bit more obscure and a little less literal.

Like him, I started from a straight journalistic background. While there’s such a strong need for that kind of storytelling, I’m exploring 5 Magazine

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osaretin ugiagbe

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“I like some kind of a moment happening in the photograph. I like my image to be quite simple but very effecive. To be able to touch you, for people to look at it and be touched by it, that’s my overall goal.”

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osaretin ugiagbe

it looks simple yet challening. I decided I’m here in the Bronx, I knew the Bronx was going to change. I’m going to document this and during my lunch break, I would start photographing.

What’s your background?

I was born in Lagos, Nigeria. I moved from Lagos to New York, the Bronx, when I was 16. At my current age I’ve spent an almost equal amount of time both in Nigeria and the U.S. I moved to 174th Street, and I remember just wanting to be so American the baggy clothes, you know, just trying to fit in, that’s what teenagers do. At the time I also applied to Hostos Community College, my goal at the time was to work with computers. But I started hanging out with cool, artsy friends, that’s how I slowly got into the arts. Then I took a painting class at Hostos. That just changed everything. The first thing I ever painted I won an insane award for it. Won $100 dollars for it. I think it’s been me trying to prove myself ever since. It kept me away from trouble.

Who influenced you the most?

As far an influence, once I got into photography I started looking at Magnum.

Eli Reed’s work I really enjoyed. Eugene Richards, seeing his work, again a photograph.. but it’s just magic. Abbas.

Those are my initial inspirations.

What was your first camera?

It was a Canon G11, I’m hoping to return to it. Then I upgraded to Fuji.

What do you shoot with now?

What was your first introduction to street photography?

Fuji x100s, and my phone.

I went to see Gordon Parks, at the Schomburg Center and I think it was the first time, ever that I saw photography, and I was like you can do this?! There was this image of kids playing in the fountain, and it was just live action! Prior to that, I hated photography. I’d go to Chelsea and think ‘this looks posed’, it seemed very pretentious. But seeing Gordon Parks work it just felt natural, things are just happening. In my head, I was thinking no way! So you can actually do this. During that time Vivian Maier came out also, and again, I though this is amazing. I saw Maier’s work and I thought this really speaks to me, this is something I can get into, this looks challenging...

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How would you describe your own work?

I like my photographs to look like photographs asthetically. Meaning it doesn’t seem over processed. With my workI want you to have the sense you’re looking at a photograph. But that said I like a little bit of magic too, I don’t think I’m there yet fully, I like some kind of a moment happening in the photograph. I like my image to be quite simple but very effective. To be able to touch you, for people to look at it and be touched by it, that’s my overall goal.

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