In November 2022, an image of the Flatiron building in New York, created in 1904 by Edward Steichen, sold at Christies for $11.8 Million, making it the second most expensive photograph ever sold. It wasn’t the oldest street photograph, but it clearly ‘said something’ to the private collector who acquired it.
I appreciate that the amount paid is only vaguely indicative of how ‘good’ people consider the work of art, but it is at least one metric in a field of opinion that is otherwise exceptionally subjective.
The reason I raise this is that it could be argued that this image is also an example of the ‘street’ genre – at least, as it was practiced in 1904, when cameras were not sufficiently fast for more spontaneous work.
There is a perception that photographic club judges do not ‘like’ street photography, that their feedback is inconsistent, that the criteria that they apply should not be used, and so on. I wonder what they would make of Steichen’s Flatiron?