Eyeshot 50mm #49 | David Campany on Street Photography, Rules and the Limits of Images

David Campany joins Eyeshot 50mm to discuss why photographs suggest more than they explain, and how context shapes contemporary street and documentary photography.

A woman rests her head on her arm in the open window of a car, her hair falling forward, in a black-and-white photograph.

David Campany, creative director of the International Center of Photography in New York, writer, curator and theorist, joins Eyeshot 50mm to discuss street photography, documentary photography, photobooks, interpretation, and why photographs are better at suggesting than explaining the world. In this conversation, Campany reflects on the limits of the photographic image, the difference between looking and understanding, and the role of writing, captions, sequencing, and context in documentary photography. From the idea that street photography is not really about โ€œthe streetโ€ to the tension between ambiguity and over-explanation, this episode opens up some of the most important questions around contemporary photography today.

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An Eyeshot conversation series

Eyeshot 50mm is a long-form conversation series with photographers working across street and documentary photography. Each episode is recorded in dialogue with a guest, expanding on the questions that move their practice. The series is part of the editorial work of the Eyeshot team in Italy.

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