Old Age and Street Photography

I just watched Paulie B’s YouTube video featuring Matt Stuart. Matt is one of the best, and most prolific, candid street photographers of our time. In the video, he said that street photography is a young person’s game. I didn’t need to hear that. I already see it on the streets of New York City, at festivals, and in videos.

It was also mentioned that women have become much more prominent in street photography. That’s certainly true. And women street photographers often seem a bit older than men, perhaps because some began shooting seriously after raising a family and/or building a career in something unrelated to photography.

I’m eighty-eight years old now, and I suspect I’m among the oldest street photographers still around. That happened quickly, because I didn’t begin until I was in my seventies. Lately I keep wondering if I’m finished. I hardly shoot at all anymore, and I no longer carry my camera full-time. If I do shoot, it’s usually close to home, just a few blocks, and only for a short time. I don’t feel up to traveling at all, not even beyond my immediate neighborhood.

Am I finished? Probably. Most of my photography activity now consists of searching my archives for previously overlooked photographs. And as I do that, something becomes painfully clear: images I once dismissed as not good enough to show are often better than what I’m making today. That may be the clearest sign that it’s over for me.

Most activities and careers come with a clear stop sign. Athletes can’t perform and are cut. Airline pilots have a maximum age, as do many other professions. But when do street photographers stop? There are no rules. Still, when I look at what I’ve written here, I realize I’ve pretty much already stopped—without fully admitting it to myself. Maybe that’s how it happens.

It feels like a big loss.