The Art of Street Photography

Street photographers - at least here in Vancouver - were a big fixture of Granville Street (the hottest part of downtown) in the 40s and 50s. Almost everyone who walked Granville in those days had their picture taken and those who could afford it, got a copy.

This is my mother - probably a year or two before I was born - strolling down Granville with a friend.

There are thousands and thousands of pictures just like these from cities all over the world and what I like about them is that they're so specifically of their time - the clothes, the shoes, the bags, the neon on the street.

I wasn't around on Granville Street in the 40s and if I was there in the 50s, I don't remember it. But I did spend time on Granville in every decade since then - and I've watched it change and change and change.

But this photograph? This is Granville Street as I want it to be - this is the Granville Street I still (in small pieces) recognize. I recognize it in the Vancouver Block, in the Yale, in the Commodore. It's the Granville Street I want to write about, a place just barely out of my lifetime, just out of my memories.

Kate