I find the wider perspective of how crazy the scene has become outside of the major fashion shows brings up three big issues for me as a more traditional type of street style photographer:

1. This isn’t street style.

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To me, street style is photographing real people in their everyday fashion, in everyday surroundings…ON THE STREET. It is spontaneous and unexpected. It’s about personal style, personality and individuality. My short time with someone on the street is a unique and complimentary exchange, where I often share a moment and learn about my subject. The ‘street style’ photography depicted in this video is devoid of connection or any exclusivity. People show up in wacky over-the-top outfits for the sole purpose of being photographed… repeatedly. Someone needs to teach Anna Dello Russo and Nick Wooster to say no to a photo. I personally have zero interest in standing amidst a gaggle of photography wannabees all taking the same photo of the same person. As a photographer, what possible appeal is there in photographing someone that will stop to let anyone shoot them? Which leads into point 2…

2. This photography style borders on paparazzi lunacy.

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People at these events with cameras run about like idiots, cutting eachother and their subjects off mid-stride. They crowd entrances much like paparazzi and shove cameras aggressively towards anyone in a silk blouse or funky hat. I wonder how anyone can get a ‘decent’ photo with your subject surrounded by cameras, photographers and looky-loos ruining the frame. Paparazzi tactics are ridiculous and shameful when its a celebrity they’re chasing… but bloggers, journalists and fashion editors? Who gives a shit? I’m certainly not tripping over another photographer through traffic to take a photo of ‘who the hell are you’, or worse, one of the dozens of camera whores that show up at every fashion show and walk circles for all of the cameras. No thanks.

3. This has become a bandwagon genre.

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EVERYONE is shooting street style or attempting too. Fashion brands, non-fashion brands, individual bloggers, random blogs that have nothing to do with fashion or style, photographers looking for web traffic, you name it. Vancouver, widely viewed as a non-fashion city has 56 street style sources at the moment. 56. I’m sure there are more I don’t know about. Now that you know that, name two, not including StyleQuotient.

If you noticed, I stopped shooting over six months ago. I simply felt street style was being over done. Every magazine was adding a street style section, local malls were trying to harness the popularity by launching their own street style sites, and random bloggers started trying their hand at stopping people on the street or just shooting them from a distance. Problem is, most if not all of these examples missed the three key elements I focused on when I decided to start StyleQuotient. 1. Design a beautiful user-friendly site to feature the photography. 2. Shoot beautiful photos. 3. Pick the best and most unique style I could find in Vancouver.

Unfortunately, almost every other Vancouver source of ‘street style’ fails miserably to hit these three marks. That’s how it is. That’s why I’m evolving StyleQuotient and have stepped back from shooting street style for awhile. As for the video, I was never interested in shooting street style at fashion events. Even less so now. I find the pretentious peacocking known as Fashion Weeks to be mostly ridiculous from the street to the runway.

Let me know your thoughts.

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