Street Photography Contests & Urban Photo Competitions

What is street photography?

So, what defines this captivating genre? At its heart, street photography is the art of documenting everyday life and human interaction in public spaces, most often urban environments, in a candid, unposed manner. It’s about observation, timing, and capturing moments that reveal something about the human condition or the character of a place.

Key elements include:

• Candidness: The subjects are generally unaware they’re being photographed, or at least not directed. This spontaneity is crucial.
• Public Spaces: Streets, parks, markets, transit systems, festivals – anywhere public life unfolds.
• The Human Element: While not always essential (e.g., an empty street can tell a story), people are usually the primary focus or a significant contextual element.
• The “Decisive Moment”: A term coined by Henri Cartier-Bresson, referring to that fleeting instant when all visual and emotional elements align perfectly.
• Urban Environment as Character: The city itself – its architecture, light, shadows, textures, and atmosphere – often plays a vital role, acting as more than just a backdrop. This is where “urban photography” strongly aligns, sometimes focusing more on the built environment with or without a direct human presence, but for contest purposes, the two are often intertwined.

While street photography inherently documents, it differs from pure photojournalism or documentary projects. Each of these sections has its own space in Deartline.