Street Photography at Viewpoint

Photographs by LeClair on the left and Hernandez on the right, side by side to show different
approaches to street photography 

John Hernandez and Casey LeClair

Viewpoint Photographic Art Center on 2015 J St. Sacramento had a reception for photographers Grounded: The Street Photography of Casey LeClair and John Hernandez and Mark Coggins: Street Scenes Around the World. To show the different approaches to street photography, Hernandez worked in color while LeClair emphasized contrast in black and white. Coggins' approach to black and white street photography with his razor sharp narratives and more neutral contrast enhanced that sense of variety in not only the subject of street photography but in the varying qualities of black and white photography. Both exhibits are available until March 4.

LeClair worked in many different sizes,
experimenting with square format versus rectangular
and the effects each brings to the work

LeClair's work hangs like a mystery novel

Casey LeClair started his explanation of his work with the question, "What is street photography? I don't know." He explained about the spontaneity of street photography and how you only have one second to capture that moment. When asked about the usage of high contrast within his photographs, he explained that it leaves the viewer room to interpret and place oneself within the photo. He liked the feeling of not having complete ownership of the photo. In order to display these photos, he had help narrowing down from thousands of photos down to around thirty. This shows how in street photography as with photography in general, the more photographs that you take, the better chance you will capture that perfect moment. His photographs have that sense of mystery in which the people in the photos have barely visible facial features. Although the contrast is pushed so far within his photographs, LeClair maintains a wide variety of mid-tones in between, easing the harshness contrast gives to the immediate eye.

Untitled has an astounding repetition as well as
play on color. The person entering
the frame also gives the image an increased
sense of depth without the person being
overwhelmingly distracting.

Three smaller untitled works by Hernandez.
Each photograph has geometric elements and plays on color
that are dynamic and visually stimulating

John Hernandez was the only photographer who worked in color. When asked about not having a title, an artist would usually talk about leaving it up to the viewer but he was very honest and said that he was just too lazy to do so. His work speaks wonders with the brilliant hues he plays around with compositionally so titles are not really necessary to begin with. It's amazing how his work has this balance of color and shape with so much information and narrative. Patterning occurs in many of his photos. He said that street photography is something that he would always do despite the many other forms of photography that he works with. When asked about how he got to where he is in his career as a professional photographer, he enthusiastically went on about using film cameras until you know them inside and out. From there, once you understand how light works and really focus on harnessing color and composition then you can really experiment with framing the shot when it comes to street photography. Hernandez holds photography workshops at Viewpoint occasionally and invited everyone to attend. Information on upcoming events at Viewpoint can be found on their website
https://www.viewpointgallery.org/

Great turnout at Viewpoint's reception!

Mark Coggins' series in the back room titled Street Scenes Around the World included twenty two photos from many different countries and cities from rural areas to more urban cities. Street Scenes Around the World at Viewpoint was his first show. Although his photos are also black and white, they differed greatly from LeClair's. As an avid reader and writer, his subject matter had a great narrative and personality. Each image
was crystal clear with an interesting usage of light and shadow to create thin lines, creating a razor sharp edge to his photographs. A great diversity of textures and tones were captured as well with a large variety of grays. There existed a sense of life and captured motion like a true snapshot of someone's life. His compositions create commentaries about each situation with his witty titles. (photos of Coggin's work will be added later due to how crowded the gallery became)

John Hernandez is the older brother to OGfam's Jayson Hernandez
Here are three of the fam's finest representing in support