Helen Levitt was an American photographer and cinematographer. She was particularly noted for her street photography around New York City. David Levi Strauss described her as "the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time."
1963
Cover art for Levitt's book Crosstown (2002).
Cover art for Levitt's book Slide Show (2005).
Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places, usually with the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by careful framing and timing. Although there is a difference between street and candid photography, it is usually subtle with most street photography being candid in nature and some candid photography being classifiable as street photography. Street photography does not necessitate the presence of a street or even the urban environment. Though people usually feature directly, street photography might be absent of people and can be of an object or environment where the image projects a decidedly human character in facsimile or aesthetic.
"Crufts Dog Show 1968" by Tony Ray-Jones
Louis Daguerre: "Boulevard du Temple" (1838 or 1839)
Charles Nègre, waterseller
Window cleaner at Kottbusser Tor, Berlin, by Elsa Thiemann c. 1946