Genesis of Street Photography in the Context of the Specificity of Digital Age

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the development of the genre of street photography in the context of the digitalisation trend. Research methodology. The logical-analytical, subject-analytical, system-analytical, typological and historical-cultural method, as well as the method of cultural analysis, were applied in order to comprehensively and objectively study the problems of the development of the genre of street photography. Scientific novelty. The genre of street photography is studied through the prism of the features of digital photography; the influence of surrealism, documentary cinema and humanistic tendencies of photo art on the genre of street photography is analysed; the development of the genre of street photography is traced in historical retrospect and at the present stage in the context of the digitalisation trend; little-known foreign language sources of a cultural nature were introduced into scientific circulation. Conclusions. The main characteristics of digital photography are plasticity (the ability to integrate with other media, close connections and interactions between the camera, mobile phones and social networks in the context of the photo sharing process) and the ubiquity of mobile devices (the ability to easily take a photo with a mobile camera), which the specifics of the creative thinking of a modern person and affects the transformation of the genre of street photography. The study found that the main factors influencing the development of street photography in the digital age are: the emergence of smartphones, social media and online sharing, mirrorless cameras and additional functions, artificial intelligence and computational photography. The ubiquity of digital devices and their relationship with various media significantly transforms the genre, which throughout its history has been characterised by a significant reaction to internal (documentary style, surrealism, humanism) and external interventions (for example, consumer culture, popularisation of other genres of photography, lack of control). At the current stage of the development of the genre of street photography, the main influencing factor is the ubiquity of digital photography – access to the camera and urban space create prerequisites for creativity in the genre of street photography, which gradually leads to the levelling of boundaries between professional and amateur photography. The gravitation of the genre of street photography to documentary or art is determined by the author's approach of a particular photographer, the style he follows, the specifics of the environment and technical means. Thanks to the huge amount of photo equipment, the digital age is changing street photography, creating new trends and influencing the organic development of traditional features of the genre, and its adaptive nature allows us to talk about further transformational processes, in accordance with the development of the socio-cultural space.