Being Almost There

Phenomenology meets street photography

Knut Skjrven
knut@skjaerven.com

Just a few words.

The term virtuality has different meanings. For me it means something that is
almost there and it has nothing to do with what can happen on the Internet or
with a computer. Street photography is being almost there compared to real
life.
It has turned into something very real. In doing phenomenology, I do
photography. More precisely: I do street photography.
Street photography is the random, visual description of living moments with
as little technical interference as possible. Nothing staged. Nothing posed.
Reality in the flesh.
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) would have called it small coin photography.. As
he urged his students to do small coin investigations. Street photography
plunges directly to the core of phenomenological thinking.
What you see is what you get. But not in a primitive way. You sense volumes
of absence in the presence that each photograph offers. Cropped in squares or
rectangles any photographic moment leaves stories untold. It is in these stories
untold that the secrets hide.
Street photography is all about capturing moments. Even decisive moments, as
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) would have suggested. He is to street
photography what Husserl is to phenomenology.
In moving from a natural attitude of photography to a more investigative
mode, you need to break a barrier. I call it doing Itching Images. Creating
images that linger on. You need to spur a visual arrest that stops the world and
takes you beyond practical doings. The way I do this is often with a touch of
humour. Other times with form. Even with both. For me enjoyment is the key
driver. Photographs are no longer random snapshots. They are deliberate
moments and the result of careful planning for luck.

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No words are needed to explain them because thousands have already been
spoken. More words are beside the point, anyway. Words narrow down, while
visuals open up.
Here are a few terms that suggest the affinities between phenomenology and
street photography: moments in phenomenology/decisive moments in street
photography; perspective in phenomenology, point of view in photography;
bracket in phenomenology, capture in photography. There are plenty.
By the way: Husserls distinction from more than 100 years back are still the
walking ground for street photographers. Even if most dont know it. It is in
this universe, so well suggested by Husserl, that street photography unfolds. At
the distance of a camera.
Being almost there.
Good luck with viewing the photographs shown here. You figure them out.
There are lots of stories untold. Just as in phenomenology. Like being almost
there.

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Red Tango ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Dirty Dancing ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Dancing in the Rain ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Borsalino Sisol ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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K-damn Couple ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Bike and Beetle ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Long Tall Sally ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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The Kiss ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Biker's Bride ( 2014 Knut Skjrven)

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Knut Skjrven
Knut Skjrven is a Norwegian photographer, writer, and researcher. He lives in
Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 2010 he has been doing street photography.
He runs numerous sites on street photography rounded of a basic occupation
with phenomenology. In 2013 his pictures were selected for a large project
under Council of Europe: Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters.
Redefining street photography he calls his project: New Street Agenda.
He is presently working on a ebook bringing street photography,
phenomenology, and other areas together. In words and in pictures. See On
The Go: Workbook for New Street Agenda.
His first exhibition of this type of photography opened in Copenhagen, July
12, 2014.
For further information, please send email to knut@skjaerven.com. Or see his
site on street photography and other life changing events.

Metodo. International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Vol. 2, n. 2 (2014)