Black and White Fine Art Street Photography: What is it?

Black and white fine art street photography sits at the intersection of disciplines. Some will say it's a new type of photography. Others will say there's nothing new, creative or highly talented about it.

Still others loosely toss around the idea that it's documentary photography with a touch of photojournalism, based outside on the streets, and with a hearty dose of old fashioned luck--finding subjects in the right place, right light and shadows, all at the right time.

But black and white fine art street photography is so much more.

A Beautiful Disaster

It's a photography genre at the intersection of disciplines– the intentionality and deliberateness of fine art and the rawness of the street–-really, it's a mega contradiction of sorts. It's photography that's often highly reflective and carefully calculated, but also often reactive and wildly spontaneous.

It is often precise, sharp, and distinctive, but also messy, blurry, and at times, out of focus or bathed in broken light.

The tension of this genre is real. And it's obvious in a fine art street photographer's work.

But still fine art street photography is more.

It also rests at the intersection of documentary photography. It chases unscripted moments and exposes raw truth in a frame. For me, it's the capturing of love unexplained. It's the asking of what happened--or what's happening here--but it's also the asking of what does this all mean?

Fine art street photography is not simply the act of pressing the shutter button. It is not neutral observation. It is showing up, witnessing, but also inserting authorship into the moment--pressing the shutter at the moment with the position, light, and framing all in mind. It's emotional intelligence paired with intuition and timing; it's noticing and expressing what is observed in the way a moment is framed in a snapshot.

"Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction." --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

It's also intentional, with the elements inside the frame, or in an Instagram square, purposely chosen--or purposely excluded. It's composition that builds something real, leaving the viewer to experience... and to feel it all.

It's photography of moments meant to be experienced and felt deeply.

Black and White: The Case for Stripping Color

Shooting in black and white, stripping away color, removes the noise. It shifts the focus to the critical point of it all.

It's deliberate. It's chosen.

It signals interpretation. It signals timelessness. It adds distance and space to show the emotion of the moment–giving all the feels–allowing the capture to resonate with the viewer.

The absence of vivid colors, except black and white, and intentional and purposeful focus on emotional weight of experience and presence, distinguishes fine art street photography from the ordinary--or casual street photography

What Fine Art Street Photographers Are Really Chasing

If you ask fine art street photographers to define what they're after, you'll probably hear some version of the same thing: it's the unexplainable.

I call it collecting moments that refuse to be explained.

For me, I'm not seeking geometric perfection. I'm not seeking manicured or fabricated moments.

I'm chasing something quieter, which might also be obnoxiously loud to the subject actually experiencing the moment.

It might look like...the moment a partner lets go of her hand--or her hand reaches for something it will never touch. The way she looks at him, hoping to be noticed. The moment she looks away– searching the room for someone safe. The moment when a woman walks confidently down the street, as if she's choosing herself for the first time and can no longer be bothered with what's no longer enough.

These moments don't ask to be explained.

They ask to be felt.

Love Unexplained: A Case Study in Black and White Fine Art Street Photography

My own passion project — The Love Unexplained project — grew out of a specific obsession: the way love expresses itself without always announcing itself. The way love should never need to be explained.

A man and woman walking down the street with arms around each other. Two people wearing cowboy boots facing each other in the same frame. A quiet moment on a kitchen floor. A pair of hands laced together just at the edge of the frame.

Love Unexplained is a curated gallery, shot entirely in black and white, featuring the work of new, emerging and renowned photographers. They are collected observations, not performances.

I collect moments that refuse to be explained. Always in black and white.

My photography collects moments and pulls out what's universal, what's necessary. Raw feeling, emotion, and a point of view.

All that is said and unsaid in a frame.

It's authentic moments caught on camera, which combine intention and the goal of creating art with natural, raw and unscripted street moments that powerfully resonate with emotion and human relatability.

How do you start a fine art street photography practice?

Begin by identifying your emotional obsession — the feeling, theme, or human experience you return to again and again.

For me, it's love unexplained.

Let this emotion become the centerpiece of your project. Shoot in black and white to force and shape your compositional decisions, locations, and subjects. Share your work. Be fearless about showing up as a photographer– both on the streets with your camera and online, on social media with your photography.

What cameras do fine art street photographers use?
Use what you have. If you're just starting out, you don't need to make a big investment in equipment or gear. While some fine art street photographers opt for Leica —quiet shutters and compact size--others choose more traditional and readily accessible camera brands, like Sony, Fujifilm, OM Systems, or Canon, like the EOS m200. The camera matters less than the eye behind it.

The Journey

When you find an image that refuses to be explained — that holds something real and unresolvable inside its frame — you'll know why fine art street photography is and demands so much more.

Black and white fine art street photography... these images worth making...worth collecting.

They are the ones that last.

Julie Tower is a fine art street photographer and a brand strategist based in the USA and France. Follow her on Instagram at @tower.noir & explore her curated passion project, Love Unexplained on Instagram @LoveUnexplainedOfficial.