In 2021 I dived into street photography with everything I had. After three books, dozens of columns for national publications and our podcast 30 Minuten Sluitertijd, I am not doing too badly, am I? But the real heroes deserve to keep being sung about. Street photography is more than a snapshot; it is an art form that makes the everyday remarkable.
So it is a pleasure to share this top 25 of well-known street photographers. Would you like to dive into street photography yourself, perhaps to take better holiday photos? Then do have a look at my street photography workshops.
Here is a list, in no particular order, of 25 well-known street photographers:
Henri Cartier-Bresson is regarded as the founder of decisive-moment photography and a co-founder of Magnum Photos. His work has had a lasting impact on street photography and is still studied and admired. His ability to capture spontaneous moments and his strong sense of composition make him an influential figure in the genre. His black and white images have a timeless quality and catch human interaction in a subtle but powerful way.
Robert Frank became world famous with his photo book The Americans, in which he recorded the United States in an unpolished and critical way. His work broke with the traditional, polished style of photography and showed the raw reality of post-war America. With a loose, almost cinematic approach he caught the everyday scenes that reflected the soul of the country. His images showed a society with sharp social contrasts and gave an intimate view of the lives of ordinary Americans. Frank’s influence on documentary and street photography is enormous, and his visual language keeps inspiring generations of photographers.
Garry Winogrand was known for his energetic, chaotic style, with which he captured the raw dynamic of street life. His work bursts with movement and spontaneity, often using unusual angles and unexpected moments. He had a sharp eye for social interaction and documented a changing American society in a visual language of his own. His work is playful and full of life, which is why he is still regarded as one of the most influential street photographers.
Diane Arbus was known for her bold, penetrating portraits of people outside the social norm. She photographed people with dwarfism, circus performers, transgender people and other marginalised groups with an unprecedented directness. Her work was both sensitive and confronting, showing her deep fascination with identity and human vulnerability. Through her distinctive style and empathetic approach, Arbus has had a lasting influence on documentary and street photography.
Saul Leiter was known for his innovative use of colour and reflection, with which he created a dreamlike, painterly atmosphere in his city photography. He often used windows, rain and shadow to make layered compositions that evoke mystery and melancholy. His work departed from traditional street photography through a subtle, impressionistic use of colour, inspired by painting. Leiter’s images remain a source of inspiration for photographers experimenting with colour and abstraction in the urban landscape.
Joel Meyerowitz was a pioneer in the use of colour in street photography, at a time when black and white was still the norm. His work is characterised by a rich palette, natural light and carefully composed scenes. He caught the atmosphere of urban landscapes with a cinematic quality, playing with shadow and reflection. His photography is both documentary and artistic, and his influence on present-day street photography is unmistakable.
Vivian Maier was a mysterious photographer who never published her work during her lifetime. Only after her death were her archives discovered, which led to worldwide recognition. Her street photography is intimate and timeless, with a particular attention for light, composition and human interaction. Her images give a unique view of daily life in the twentieth century and keep inspiring through their honesty and emotional power.
Bruce Gilden is known for his raw, confronting style, photographing at close range with a powerful flash. His work shows human expression in its purest and sometimes most brutal form, which makes his images feel direct and unvarnished. He has a unique ability to catch the unguarded moment, often using strong contrast and direct eye contact with his subjects. His photos are marked by a rough, unpolished quality that emphasises the hard reality of street life.
William Klein was known for his unconventional, dynamic approach to street photography, combining graphic elements with a raw, sometimes provocative style. His work was revolutionary in the way he caught movement and chaos, often with wide-angle lenses and bold framing. Klein photographed with an aggressive, energetic approach, which gave his images an almost explosive force. His influence reaches across fashion photography, documentary photography and modern street photography, where his style is still a source of inspiration.
Trent Parke is known for his cinematic approach to street photography, playing with light, shadow and dramatic composition. His images often have a dreamlike, almost surreal atmosphere that evokes mystery and emotion. Parke experiments a great deal with overexposure and hard contrast, which gives his photos an aesthetic of their own. His work offers a deep view of Australian street life and combines documentary photography with an artistic interpretation of reality.
Alex Webb is known for his complex compositions in which several layers and colours come together ingeniously. His work is a masterclass in using natural light and shadow to create a sense of depth and narrative. Webb’s images are full of energy and life, capturing the interaction between people and their surroundings in a distinctive way. His influence on modern street photography is enormous, and his work remains a source of inspiration for photographers worldwide.
Helen Levitt recorded daily life in the streets of New York with unrivalled subtlety and a feeling for composition. Her work covers both black and white and colour photography, and she chose children and street life as her main subjects. She caught the poetry of the everyday and had a sharp eye for humour and spontaneity in the urban landscape. Her photos have a timeless charm and remain an important source of inspiration within street photography.
Mary Ellen Mark was a leading photographer who recorded street life with a deep social engagement. Her work focused on vulnerable groups, including homeless people, street children and addicts, and gave them a face through her empathetic, intimate approach. She photographed all over the world and brought out the complexity and dignity of her subjects. Her striking documentary photography has helped raise awareness of social inequality and keeps inspiring through the pure humanity she managed to capture.
Walker Evans was a pioneer in documentary and street photography and is known for his restrained, timeless images documenting American society. His work, often made with a large-format camera, focused on the raw reality of daily life during the Great Depression. Evans had a sharp eye for architecture, advertising hoardings and social class, and recorded the American landscape and its people in a subtle but powerful way. His work has had a deep influence on generations of photographers and remains an example of visual storytelling in its purest form.
Lee Friedlander is known for his complex, layered street images with their unique sense of humour and structure. His work is characterised by the use of reflection, shadow and unexpected composition, which creates a playful interaction between people and their surroundings. He turned everyday urban scenes into visual puzzles in which the boundaries between subject and background blur. Friedlander’s experimental approach has had a lasting influence on present-day street photography.
Julie Hrudova is known for her playful, often surreal street images, in which she captures the city in a distinctive way. Her work balances between documentary and art photography, emphasising unexpected moments in city life. She plays with reflection, shadow and abstract composition to create an almost dreamlike atmosphere. Her images show a sharp eye for human interaction and humour, which makes her work distinctive and approachable within modern street photography.
Matt Stuart is known for his humorous, light-footed approach to street photography. His work is full of playful compositions, unexpected coincidences and subtle visual jokes that he catches in the street. He has a sharp eye for ironic and absurd situations, showing the interaction between people and their surroundings in a light way. Stuart’s images show how humour can be an essential and powerful element in street photography, without losing sight of aesthetics and composition.
Nick Turpin is known as one of the most influential present-day street photographers, with a strong graphic style. His work plays with light, shadow and geometric shapes, which gives his images an abstract, visual force. He often uses reflections and silhouettes to create layered compositions that are both aesthetic and narrative. Turpin is also the founder of iN-PUBLiC, a collective devoted to promoting and developing modern street photography.
Fan Ho was a master of black and white photography and made images with an almost painterly composition. His work combined dramatic lighting, strong contrast and carefully composed lines to create a dreamlike, timeless atmosphere. He recorded old Hong Kong in a visual language of his own that held both documentary and artistic elements. His photography is still admired for its aesthetic beauty and the poetic way in which he captured city life.
Jill Freedman documented life on the street with a deeply journalistic streak, focusing on social inequality and the raw reality of city life. Her work gave a voice to people on the margins of society, from homeless people to police officers and firefighters. She photographed with empathy and determination, and her images show genuine human moments that are both confronting and moving. Her documentary approach and her strong commitment to her subjects make her an influential photographer in street photography and photojournalism.
Michael Wolf was known for his minimalist, conceptual street photography, in which he explored the impact of urbanisation and urban density on human life. His work focused on the geometric structures of modern cities and the anonymous individuals moving through those landscapes. Through framing and the repetition of patterns he created a suffocating, intriguing picture of modern city life. His work shows the confrontation between people and the metropolis and offers a critical view of present-day urbanisation.
Daido Moriyama is known for his rough, grainy, high-contrast images that capture the energy of Japanese street life. His work reflects the hectic dynamic of urban surroundings, often marked by a grainy aesthetic and an experimental approach. Moriyama sometimes uses blur and overexposure to create a raw, fragmentary feeling, which gives his photos an almost hallucinatory quality. His influence on modern street photography is immense, and his work remains an inspiration for photographers who depart from traditional styles.
Eugene Atget is regarded as a pioneer of street photography and is known for his detailed images of Paris at the start of the twentieth century. His work focused on architecture, empty streets and urban transformation, creating a visual record of a changing city. Atget’s photos, originally intended as reference material for artists, later grew into a fundamental source of inspiration for the surrealist movement. His influence on documentary and street photography is enormous and his images offer a unique view of a vanished era.
Josef Koudelka is known for his powerful, often dramatic black and white images capturing nomads and street scenes with an aesthetic of his own. His work focuses on the emotional and sometimes desolate landscapes his subjects find themselves in, and he manages to catch timelessness and melancholy in every image. His most iconic series, Gypsies, documents the life of Roma communities in Europe and is regarded as a masterpiece of documentary photography. His characteristic style, with dramatic light and high-contrast composition, has had a deep influence on street photographers and documentary makers worldwide.
Robert Doisneau was a master at capturing the charm and romance of Parisian street life. His work is characterised by playful interactions between people and by a nostalgic, poetic style. He was known for his ability to catch spontaneous moments, turning the everyday into timeless images. His most famous photo, Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville, is an iconic symbol of love and spontaneity in the city.
One of my favourite Dutch street photographers is Ed van der Elsken. He is often regarded as the most influential Dutch street photographer. His work was raw, direct and personal, often with a cinematic streak. He had a unique way of capturing his subjects close up and played with the boundary between documentary and autobiography. His books, such as Love on the Left Bank and Amsterdam!, show his fondness for the spontaneity of street life.
What set Van der Elsken apart was his ability to tell a story within a single image. His street portraits are full of character and emotion, and his use of light and composition gave his work a distinctive dynamic. His influence is still felt today in the way many photographers approach the street as a subject.
Van der Elsken received several awards for his work, including the Dutch State Award for Photography in 1988. He died in 1990 at the age of 65 of cancer, but his influence on Dutch photography is still felt. His work is exhibited in museums all over the world and remains a source of inspiration for young photographers.
More information: edvanderelsken.nl
An endless source of inspiration for me: YouTube. The platform is full of videos by street photographers, and here are ten of them (again in no particular order):
Samuel Lintaro Hopf – @samuelstreetlife
Sean Tucker – @seantuck
Pierre T. Lambert – @pierretlambert
Roman Fox – @snapsbyfox
Faizal Westcott – @faizalwestcott
Jamie Windsor – @jamiewindsor
Curtis Padley – @curtispadley
Samuel Bassett – @opticalwander
Niels de Kemp – @nielskemp
Chris Geurtse – @brobuust