Garry Winogrand, American, 1928 – 1984. Beverly Hills, California 1978 – “Women Art Better Than Men. Not Only Have They Survived, They Prevail”
Edition: 31/75. 1978-1980. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/28143046
This photograph by Garry Winogrand is a textbook example of the ‘run & gun’ style of street photography. This implies that the photographer prioritized an interesting subject over a meticulous composition when taking the photograph. It is most likely ‘shot from the hip’, which means the photographer just pointed the end of the lens towards the subject, range focused & pressed the shutter button rather than using the viewfinder to frame the photo & then focusing according to the subject’s distance. Range focusing is the process of using the depth of field lines on a fixed focal length lens to focus in the range of the subject. Winogrand shot a Leica M4, which is a rangefinder camera with lenses that allow the ‘range focusing’ method to be executed due to the design of their focus throw. Therefore, the range focus & hip fire method leads to an image like this; where the subject is the highlight of the photo & the composition is an afterthought, leading to an ‘observational’ photo.