Street Photography in Illinois: Nineteenth-Century Beginnings
NW view of Lockport Street 1868. Circa 1868. Plainfield Public Library. Plainfield Public Library District Collection.
Paris is often viewed as one of the earliest places where street photography took place, but people from many different countries took their cameras into the streets in the mid-to-late 19th century. Charles Nègre and Eugene Atget, who captured mid-1800's Paris via daguerreotype, are seen as highly influential in this area of photography. Nègre and Atget notably photographed architecture and deserted spaces that retained the evidence of people, as well as people themselves. Street photography around the world showed some of the earliest and most honest depictions of the poor, the working class, and even children.
In the work of those who followed in the footsteps of Nègre, Atget, and other early street photographers, one can see the impact they had in terms of technique and style. Even today, when cameras are able to capture the vividness of a street, some still choose to present their work in black and white. Blurriness in photos is also not shunned in street photography – it can suggest the life of the subjects and the energy of the moment.