Some creative minds get into street photography by accident, but for New Yorker Keith Goldstein, it seemed to be an inevitable progression of things. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Long Island, he has called New York City home since 1977. With his professional life rooted in photography, he has taken on various positions within the industry: selling darkroom equipment in a camera store, an exhibition coordinator for a photo gallery, darkroom printer, photo editor in various publications, and finally as a photo editor for various photo agencies. All these while he was also doing commercial freelance and editorial assignments, shooting corporate events, doing his own work, and setting up exhibits.
Still, Street Photography remains a big part of his daily routine. “I photograph almost everyday. Living in New York, I leave my apartment and am immediately on the street I just pick a direction or decide to take the subway to a different neighborhood.”
It’s easy to think that New York City, as a Street Photography haven, readily provides a specific set of scenes or subjects. But when Keith roams the city, he doesn’t really have any real specific subjects in mind. ”I just empty my mind, walk, and let my surroundings, the people and place, influence what I might react to,” he said. “I am always looking for those moments where people enter themselves, getting lost in their own interior thoughts. There is a certain kind of vulnerability within that moment that people usually don’t show.”
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Defining the qualities of the “ideal” street photograph
For many Street Photographers, there are certain elements or parameters that should be present for a photo to be considered a legitimate Ptreet Photograph. Keith, however, doesn’t subscribe to an “ideal” for the genre. Rather, he believes that those qualities are for each of us to define for ourselves. “Stylistic criteria should come from within you, not based upon some conventional or popular style,” he stressed.
“I can understand when a new photographer shows specific influence from someone else. We need to learn, but in the end, why copy or emulate someone else’s style? We are all individuals and each of us have something to say. We each should search, explore, and hopefully define our own ‘voice.’”
As such, he doesn’t think about a style or a specific compositional box to fit his work into. Instead, he looks for meaning in his surroundings, then reacts to what he sees, whether he’s doing street photography or another form of photography. “I am not completely sure what it is until much later. Sometimes, months later.”
In terms of technique, instead of choosing a spot to stop and “wait out” scenes to capture, Keith opts for a more active approach to Street Photography. He prefers to embrace an immersive “certain kind of physicality” wherein he walks, observes, and creates images as a drive-by, “as if one was in a moving car peering out to the scenes going by.” However, it doesn’t always lead to a successful photo. “I miss a lot of what I see. Usually, by the time I get there, what I saw from a block away is gone.”
Learning about the “vocabulary” of photography through the masters
When he was younger, Keith came across many of the classic “master” photographers and familiarized himself with their work. “Weston, Callahan, Adams — I enjoyed looking at their work, but I knew this ‘genre’ was not for me,” he shared. He also visited the small library near his childhood home, but it had a very, very limited selection of photography books. Through it, however, he also discovered the work of Austrian-American photojournalist Ernst Haas, with “The Creation” in particular making an impression on him.
When he moved to New York City to finish his education, he became exposed to galleries and was able to read about the history of photography. Only then did his awareness of other photographers expand.
“Tony Ray-Jones was the first photographer that just bowled me over. From there it was (Robert) Frank, though at first I did not know what to make of him,” Keith continued. “Frank in many ways is more cerebral to William Klein, who really smacked me in the face. The physicality of his image making. The close up wide angle imagery.”
From there, he immersed himself in the work of many other photographers, including Joel-Peter Witkin, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand, absorbing their imagery and techniques in image making. He likened this to the cerebral journey that writers embark on when they read so they can become better at their craft.
“It is important to look, the same as it is for a writer to read. To write well, one has to learn the vocabulary and go from there. It is the same for image making.”
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Searching for the “psychological moment”
While most Street Photographers spend considerable time chasing after the “decisive moment,” Keith confessed that he doesn’t really consider it significant to his creative process. To him, it’s an inefficient way to work, as more often than not, he is unable to get into the “moment” and find a connection between what he was seeing and feeling.
“There are many days where I am out and come home with nothing. I somehow did not connect with what I was seeing and feeling. I was just not in the ‘moment.’ Every press of the shutter is a miss. I can feel that ‘miss’ milliseconds before I release the shutter. On those days, I try to find a quiet space and try to reset.”
What works for him is not looking for images, but seeing and feeling them. He calls this searching for the ”psychological moment,” letting visual organization fall where it may. He found this effective in creating images that resonate to viewers in more ways than one. “I don’t want viewers to respond to just the visual, but I would like the viewer to connect with the imagery hopefully on a deeper emotional level.”
Through this mindset, he eventually gravitated to humans as his main subject, both people themselves and their mark or impact in the environment. He found the psychological moment not only in the presence of humans, but also in the various elements left in their absence.
“Human elements have always appeared somewhere within my imagery or alone, graffiti, discarded detritus, flowers, etc. But it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that these elements became more a focus as there were no people on the street. These elements become substitutes for missing people. Sometimes, elements can say much about the impact of man in the environment than the people themselves.”
Perhaps, among the most poignant manifestations of this psychological focus comes in one of his favorite images. “’Pork Delivery’ possibly speaks to me on many levels — commentary on the commodification of life, anger, beauty, or simply a document of everyday reality. It was just happenstance that I turned a corner and the scene just unfolded. I might have taken two or three images. This one I felt closest to. Obviously, the pig is deceased, but the look on its face shows it resigned to its fate.”
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Copyright ⓒ Keith Goldstein
Street Photography as a visual diary
Some of us may consider Street Photography as a straightforward record of a location at a certain period, or a legacy that they can leave behind. But for Keith, his work sometimes serves as a visual diary, a form of documentation more reflective and personal. Something that reminds him of his journey through life and his place in the world.
“For me, my photography defines who I am. My job just helps me support myself to be where I want to be. To be able to support my family, travel, eat in restaurants, see friends, and make connections. I never wanted to do anything else but express myself in some way for as long as I can remember.”
“I’m sure it had to do with my family situation and my childhood. I don’t want to get into too much, except I was brought up in a single parent household. Abandonment, being alone was an issue. Each image I make tells me exactly where I am in my life at the time the image was made. My work, my writings help me find my place within the world.”
Make sure to check out Keith Goldstein’s website to see more of his work.
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