Street Photography

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Throughout the City of Los Angeles and every city in America, a phenomenon exist of used furniture discarded along the curb; free to anyone willing to stop, look, and take. The furniture that is left out no longer has any personal attachment, it is thrown away as one would throw away a bag of garbage. The photographs transcend explanation, the cleanliness of a white love-seat surrounded by scattered remnants of someone’s remodeling, or a graffiti written garbage bin and the bright color of a 1970s era chair. The photographs depict the true essence of American identity without meaning or purpose, a simple act of discarding what one no longer wants, even when the item still has a useful life. Each piece of furniture sits quietly in its element, waiting patiently for its next owner. Each piece beckons to have a look as you pass by, maybe stop, maybe load it up without shame or hesitation. All of the photographs in this project were taken on the streets of Los Angeles between 2009 and 2011.

With Gently Used: Furniture Found on the Streets of Los Angeles, Jeff Moreno's photographs transcend explanation. A lonely piece of furniture waiting for its next owner creates a static geometric composition for the viewer. All of the photographs in this project were taken on the streets of Los Angeles between 2009 and 2011. This book is a must have for any street photography fan.

There is a sense of intimacy being close to photographed subjects, yet it leaves the viewer to gather the visual information needed to describe the very subject before them. Each subject in this project allowed the camera to enter their personal space of comfort, the smiles, the frowns, the projected inner sadness that the closeness provided. Isolation becomes self-referential of being homeless and unknown. There is no hidden compositional pattern, the camera moves in, the shutter is pressed and the camera leaves behind the truth of reality. Being up close, the view of the subject is devoid of the elements that formalistically contribute to the idea of what a homeless person is. 

With Faces: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Jeff Moreno purposefully left the identify of each of his subject's blank, to close off any social norms between the viewer and subject. All of the photographs in this project were taken on the streets of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and Francisco in 2011. This book is a must have for any street photography fan.

Along Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles, between Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Studio City, and Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, is a rich tapestry of incidental art that goes mostly unnoticed. Thousands of people walk along the sidewalk throughout the year, but few take notice to the words written underneath their feet. The strange and subversive scribble of some unknown passerby whose thoughts and feelings are etched into cement for all to see. The identity of the artist is marked by their initials or by their name, and sometimes a date, as if to tell the world that they were once there. 

With Sidewalk Art: Ventura Boulevard Los Angeles, Jeff Moreno's photograph's may appear to be just happenstance images of anonymous cement etchings, but a deeper look reveals words etched into the cement that flows in time, forever in place to view for generation after generation. All of the photographs in this project were taken on the streets of Los Angeles in 2011. This book is a must have for any street photography fan.

What is Street Photography? In reality, it is whatever you wish it to be. It is by definition, photography that is non-manipulated, simplistic, the capture of raw material of ubiquitous subjects in an everyday social condition. One may never consider the act of walking down a city a street photographic art, but art can be found virtually everywhere. To stand on a city street holding a camera at one’s side does not cause alarm, does not illicit emotion, does not break the paradigm of privacy even inextricably in a public setting. However, point a camera in one’s direction, it instantly becomes apparent, provocative, the center of attention. The camera is the catalyst that creates the emotion, the stare, the annoyance, the curiosity of the anonymous person that is the identified subject. Most subjects are completely anonymous, they just happened to be in front or behind the camera as the shutter is pressed. There are no explicit details in street photography, no do-overs, no retakes, only the assumptions of identify. It is the cathartic power of the facial expressions, the body movements, the attire and the city backgrounds that provide the needed details of what is photographically art.

With People In Motion: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C., Jeff Moreno's photograph's captures ubiquitous subjects doing nothing more than walking down a city street on their journey of life. All of the photographs in this project were taken on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C., in 2011. This book is a must have for any street photography fan.