As we all know from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding everything was invented by the Greeks. Well, ok we left some trivial things to be invented by the Chinese as well. What you may not know is that Street photography was also invented by the Greeks before Photography itself was even invented.

Seriously now:
Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment or "the supreme moment". The Greeks believed the concept of Kairos is achieved when such a moment is grasped for otherwise the moment is gone and cannot be re-captured.  According to ancient Greeks, Kairos was the god of the “fleeting moment.”
Interestingly the ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.

Does the above remind you of the "Decisive moment", the essence of Street Photography?

Street Photography - a brief history show

better viewed in full screen

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Street photography stems out from another type of photography called documentary photography. Documentary photography was once known to be the most honest and truest to life picture taking. Street photography reflects society in its untainted natural state. This accounts for many photographs we see on the Internet and magazines that reflect what was happening at the time.

When Street Photography Started?

The genre of street photography started between the end of the 1800s. One of the assisting inventions of street photography was the 35-millimetre film. The 35-millimetre films were first introduced towards the late 1800s. Photographers of both Europe and North America spread the popularity of the genre and developed the art behind it. Some well-known street photographers of that time were Henri Cartier Bresson of France and Robert Frank of Switzerland.

Photography first emerged in the first half of the nineteenth century, but it wasn't until roughly the 1880s and 1890s that film speeds became advanced enough for a normal street scene to be captured (without having to use a long shutter speed that would normally result in blurs). Also around this time, the flash was developed, allowing the photographer to venture into areas that were once too dark for exposure.

Art Becoming History

As time passes on, street photography goes from being a piece of art to a historical document. What might seem like ordinary street photography today will eventually become a window into the past, and that's what makes it great.

Links

www.dsexls.com/photography-str…
www.steves-digicams.com/knowle…
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edph…