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Michael Ernest Sweet is an award-winning Canadian photographer and writer. He is the author of two books of street photography, The Human Fragment and Michael Sweet's Coney Island, both from Brooklyn Arts Press. A recipient of both a Prime Minister's Award and a Queen's Medal from Canada, Michael currently lives and teaches in New York City.

Michael Ernest Sweet

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Michael Ernest Sweet is an award-winning Canadian photographer and writer. He is the author of two books of street photography, The Human Fragment and Michael Sweet's Coney Island, both from Brooklyn Arts Press. A recipient of both a Prime Minister's Award and a Queen's Medal from Canada, Michael currently lives… view more.

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Street Photography Has No Clothes

Street Photography Has No Clothes I originally wrote the following essay for HuffPost back in 2015. At that time, street photography was exploding. The digiverse was drowning in street images, and a lot of them were not great. I proposed [...]

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Schon DSGN Pen – An Essential for Serious...

Schon DSGN Pen - An Essential for Serious Street Photographers This is part one of a four-part series I will be writing about auxiliary gear that I find indispensable to my street photography practice. Each article in the series will [...]

THE NEW STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

The New Street Photography Recently, I began to look over my rather vast archives of street photography. The question in mind: Is anything here actually worth saving? That may sound a bit melodramatic, but allow me to explain. Now that [...]

Has The Dust Settled?

Has The Dust Settled? Michael Ernest Sweet If you’re not sure what I am talking about, I’m referring to the dust storm of activity that has characterized the street photography world over the past few years. I dare say it [...]

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The More Thing Change, The More They Remain The...

The More Thing Change, The More They Remain The Same Michael Ernest Sweet As street photography grew in popularity, more and more camera manufacturers responded. Cameras were designed in an attempt to be more responsive and agile, as well as [...]

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Photography During the Pandemic Part 1

Photography During the Pandemic Part 1 By Michael Ernest Sweet The virus gripping our world has ushered in a lot of change in short order. It seems like almost nothing is the same, even though many things are more stable [...]

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Photography During the Pandemic Part 2

Photography During the Pandemic Part 2By Michael Ernest SweetIn this second installment of this three-part series on photography during the pandemic, I want to take a look at two more areas where you might make good use of your at-home [...]

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Photography During the Pandemic Part 3

Photography During the Pandemic Part 3 By Michael Ernest Sweet In this, the final installment of this three-part series on photography during the pandemic, I want to discuss one last thing - making photographs! Let’s not forget this is still [...]

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Street Photography Contest Guide

Street Photography Contest Guide By Michael Ernest Sweet When it comes to street photography contests, there certainly is no shortage of options to choose from. It seems like each passing week brings yet another contest to the table. In this [...]

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The Phoblographer Fails To Heed Its Own Advice

The Phoblographer Fails To Heed Its Own Advice By Michael Ernest SweetDan Ginn recently wrote a blog post for The Phoblographer all about the haters in street photography. The essence of the post was the following: There is a lot wrong [...]

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The Art of Critiquing Street Photography

The Art of Critiquing Street Photography By Michael Ernest Sweet Over the past decade I have judged more than a dozen street photography contests. In those contests, I looked at thousands and thousands of photographs. And yet, with all of [...]

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Leica May Have Missed An Opportunity With Their...

Leica May Have Missed An Opportunity With Their New Film Camera By Michael Ernest Sweet It is rumored that Leica will release a new film camera this autumn. Digging around, I also see that more detailed rumors suggest an October [...]

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Will There Be Another Garry Winogrand?

Will there be another Garry Winogrand? The answer, no. No matter how hard some eager, young, naive, film-shooting, Chinon-wielding street photographer tries, they will not become the next Garry Winogrand. This is not to say that someone can’t achieve success [...]

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Hints On Survival In Street Photography

Hints On Survival In Street Photography I’ve called this “Hints On Survival In Street Photography” to pay homage to the essay “Hints on Art”, which I will quote throughout this piece. “Hints on Art” was originally published in 1889. You [...]

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Famous Classic Cameras and the Street Photograp...

Famous Classic Cameras and the Street Photographers Who Used Them By Michael Ernest Sweet A camera is a tool - a means to an end; the photograph. That said, it is still a tool that is intimately connected to the [...]

Maurizio Zanetti, via Wikimedia Commons

Was Cartier-Bresson Really That Great of a Stre...

Was Cartier-Bresson Really That Great of a Street Photographer? By Michael Ernest Sweet Once again, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment is set to re-release in a new version this September from Thames & Hudson. The new edition is smaller, more affordable, [...]

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No More Of These Street Photographs!

No More Of These Street Photographs! I get it, it’s hard not to copy. Making art is often about copying. However, we also need to push ourselves beyond merely copying. We must push boundaries and visual paradigms and innovate if [...]

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Is It Worth It To Shoot Street Photography with...

Is It Worth It To Shoot Street Photography with Film in 2024? By Michael Ernest Sweet I’m sure we have all noticed by now that analog photography is experiencing a real renaissance. I say real because it has turned out [...]

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Jill Freedman And Everything That’s Wrong With ...

Image credit: Jill Freedman When I recently sat down to watch the exclusive Jill Freedman interviews, available here on StreetPhotography.com, I was not really prepared for what followed. Not only did I end up realizing that I absolutely love Freedman’s [...]

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What is street photography?

Introduction Street photography is on fire, to say the least. But, is any of it actually any good? More importantly, is any of it of any consequence to the art world? Can street photography survive as a genre in a [...]

A Brief History Of Street Photography

Many people run out and buy a camera and then hit the streets. This is okay, and you might even get lucky and make some great photographs, but know that being an artist, at least in the traditional sense, is [...]

Rules of street photography

Street Photography Rules Are Dumb One of the unfortunate side effects of the street photography craze is the plethora of people trying to make a living from “teaching” the genre to the never-ending train of newbies. The problem is most [...]

Hitting the Streets And Being Unique

Discouraged? Don’t be. Street photography can be a lot of fun and there are still unique and distinctive photographs to be made. However, you’ll want to steer clear of the clichéd aesthetic, costly workshops, and constricting rules. In order to [...]

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Street Photography Tips

Pay no attention to street photography rules. Shoot intuitively and live with your photographs for a while before showing them to the world. Your work will be better. Buy a 35mm disposable camera and hit the streets for an afternoon. [...]

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Candid Candy: Learning From The Found Photograph

Many of us may be familiar with the concept of found poetry. It is a common enough phenomenon in literature, but for those who are not familiar it’s the idea that one “finds” groupings of words and rearranges them into [...]

Creating Versus Collecting In Street Photography

There has been a lot of celebration in street photography in the past decade. Let’s face it, the genre is on fire. There’s also been significant discussion regarding the issues and shortcomings faced by street photography, including in my own [...]

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Is A Formal Education In Photography Worth The ...

The answer to this question may not be easy to pin down. Generally speaking, no, it is not worth the investment. However, a lot depends on why you are pursuing a degree in photography and what you hope to gain [...]

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Street Photography Has No Clothes

Street photography has become such an ambiguous term in the photography world that it nearly lacks any meaning at all. The brilliant and time-honored work of great photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Vivian Maier, Robert Frank, Joseph Koudelka, [...]

The Death Of The Camera

The Slow But Sure Death Of The Camera

The camera is dead. No, I don’t really believe that statement, but let us continue with this sentiment as a “thought experiment”. To be clear, I am not talking about the long-proclaimed death of the compact camera. Surely that corpse [...]

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Access Not Excess Is The Key To Great Photos

Access Not Excess Is The Key To Great PhotosThe key to great photography is a great camera, right? Wrong. Legendary photographs are surely made with technical perfection, right? Wrong again. Despite the fact that we see many serious amateurs buy [...]

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Film Cameras for Street Photographers

Street photographers love their gear! We all know that as fact. But what gear is best for the genre? With so much to choose from, I’ve narrowed it down a little for those of you who are just joining this [...]

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Our Affinity to Camera Brands: Justified or Jus...

Camera brands inspire great passion in photographers and we street photographers are no exception. We all have our beloved brand, don’t we? In some ways I am a devoted Ricoh GR user - as most of my well-known work was [...]

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iPhone Street Photography: A Novelty for the Ma...

iPhone Street Photography: A Novelty for the Masses or a Game Changer for Everyone? The iPhone has forever changed photography. This is a fact. Today, everyone has a camera in their pocket all the time. Everyone is a photographer. The [...]

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The Two Schools of Street Photography

Consistency is good in photography. When I see poor photography, one of the elements that always seems to be missing is consistency. Your work should look like your work and no one else's. One of the ways to achieve consistency [...]

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AIPAD – To Go Or Not To Go?

I’ve written elsewhere about the benefits (and drawbacks) of attending photo events and, generally, I believe it is advantageous to attend. Photo events can be a great place to see what kind of work is trending, make new friends and [...]

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The Masters of Coney Island Photography

The Masters of Coney Island PhotographyBy Michael Ernest SweetPhotographers have been flocking to Coney Island, New York City’s iconic urban beach, since the late 19th century. Robert Bracklow, known as “daylight Bob” because of his fear of the dark, was [...]

Interviews

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The Sociology of the Camera: An Interview with ...

I was immediately drawn to Alberte’s work because his photographs are almost paintings – they are clean, simple, yet also visually rich and powerful. I like it when a street photographer can make good clean shots and show me just [...]

An Obsession With The Close-up: An Interview Wi...

(Interview originally conducted in French) I love the work of Charles Petit and not only because it reminds me of my own work. Yes, we both have an obsession with the close-up. Yes, we both love to shoot stray hands [...]

Jonathan Higbee

Jonathan Higbee and his street photography have been on the rise for the past few years.

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Juan Cristobal Cobo Brings Cinema to Street Pho...

Juan Cristobal Cobo was born in Cali, Colombia and moved to New York as a teenager. Following thirty years of work as a cinematographer and director, Juan found himself drawn to the still image. He particularly revels in the act [...]

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Five Decades of Making The Street Photograph: A...

Robert M Johnson’s street photography is some of the earliest street photography I remember, aside from the wildly famous stuff. I discovered his work early on and remember being fascinated by the nostalgia of it all. As Susan Sontag tells [...]

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The Woman Who Took Ginsberg’s Apartment: An Int...

New York photographer Sally Davies is a bit of an anomaly. She’s a woman in what many see as an overwhelmingly male “game” and, if that weren’t enough, she’s a street photographer too, well, sort of. That’s the other side [...]

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Expecting the Unexpected: An Interview with Spy...

Spyros Papaspyropoulos has been at street photography for several years now. His work, although constantly evolving, is solidly good work. I see a lot of Bruce Gilden, a hint of Roger Ballen, and even a dash of Robert Frank, from [...]

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An Interview With Stuart Paton

My dear friend, Jonathan Higbee, first brought Stuart Paton to my attention a couple weeks ago. In the days since I've become somewhat captivated with his images. Just take a look for yourself - ah, see, I told you. Great [...]

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TEN QUESTIONS FOR MARK COHEN World Exclusive

Ten Questions for Mark Cohen For StreetPhotography.com Exclusive By Michael Ernest Sweet If you’re a street photographer and you don’t know of Mark Cohen, be a little bit ashamed. Just a smidge. He’s a true unique and immensely important to [...]

Siegfried Hansen

10 Questions for Siegfried Hansen, Exclusive to...

In this article, I pose ten questions to renowned German street photographer Siegfried Hansen. Siegfried has been on my radar for several years now. We are both curators with the World Street Photography Organization, but I’m a fan too. I [...]

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A Conversation with Carl Corey

A Conversation with Carl Corey By Michael Ernest Sweet How did you get started in photography? I got my first camera in 1963 at age 9. It was a Kodak Brownie I still have. I liked to collect pictures. Why [...]

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In Conversation with Gil Rigoulet on Street Pho...

“I have always known that total freedom was key to achieving an authentic and deep photographic dialogue.” - Gil Rigoulet Gil Rigoulet has spent some forty years behind the lens of his camera and the results are nothing short of [...]

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In Conversation With Peter Ydeen

How did you get involved in photography, initially? My formal education was in painting and sculpture. I did teach myself to develop black and white while an undergraduate and had many friends who were photographers in grad school, but I [...]

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In Conversation with Street Photographer Matt W...

In Conversation with Street Photographer Matt Weber By Michael Ernest Sweet Matt Weber came of age in New York City in the 1970s. In the early 80s, barely in his twenties, he drove a NYC “yellow” cab. Both of these [...]

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Meryl Meisler & Vintage Street Photography

Meryl Meisler & Vintage Street Photography Meryl Meisler has been making photographs since the age of seven. Her parents, Sunny and Jack, gave her an “Adventurer” (made by the Herbert George Company) as her first camera. The Adventurer [...]

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