Rexer: Street Photography: Where the Sidewalk Ends

Another complicated genre of photography is street photography which Rexer defines as "images made in urban settings specifically to reveal something about the character of social life" (Rexer 59). At the beginning of this chapter Rexer introduces this idea of the boulevardier, "usually a male, making pictures as he goes" (59) as a type of street photographer. This reminds me of the term flâneur used in the Impressionist era of art history to identify an observer of modern, urban life. The flâneur observes the same things as the boulevardier, but in a much less spontaneous way–or so it would seem. This suggests that there has always been interest by artists to observe everyday life. Because photography could show the world in a more candid way, that made it the prime medium to tell the truth and "be used to call attention to society's ills" (Rexer 60). I think this aspect of photography is definitely still used today. It is so interesting that a medium such as photography can be so versatile to encompass pleasure and social media, but also as a tool to expose these societal ills.