Fine Art Street and Urban Photography

What makes street photography fine art

Street photography records what happened. Fine art street photography says something about it. The street is still the raw material, but the picture is interpreted rather than simply taken: the way the light, the movement and the layers are handled carries the photographer's own point of view.

"Whether I am working with slow shutter speeds, multiple exposures made in the camera, black powder transfer or subtle blending, my focus is always on interpretation rather than mere documentation. Many pieces carry on into mixed media, where photography meets painting.

I see the camera as a versatile instrument, an extension of intuition and curiosity, used to translate atmosphere and human stories into visual impressions. I am drawn to the contrast between architectural form and human presence, and to the unpredictable poetry of urban life."

The collection holds five bodies of work: Downtown, Urban Design, Medieval City, Heartbeat of the Mother City and Démodé.

The camera is a versatile instrument, an extension of intuition and curiosity.Martin Osner

The facts

Medium

Fine art photography, signed limited and open editions

Made

From 2006 to today

Where

Woodstock, Salt River and Kalk Bay in Cape Town, and London

Works shown

Prints and originals from this series are sold through Osner Art Gallery, not on this site.

See prints of this series

Five bodies of work

Downtown, the city broken into pieces

Downtown No.3, the Brass Bell changing rooms in Kalk Bay in a cubist style, by Martin Osner

"Downtown is photographed mainly in Woodstock, Salt River and Kalk Bay, my favourite places for this kind of work. The pictures combine multiple exposures made in the camera with high dynamic range blending, intentional camera movement and the movement of the people themselves. It breaks the scene into small outlined segments, a cubist style that echoes the fragmented way we take in city life."

Some of what it recorded has already gone: one of the Downtown prints was made on the corner outside the Cassiem Shop, a long standing general dealer in Woodstock, and the mural behind it has since been painted over. The picture here is the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay, where one blue changing room door serves "the boys" and "the ladies" alike.

Each limited to 20 prints, whatever the size, hand signed with a certificate of authenticity.

See Downtown in the gallery

More series

Four more series, four more ways of seeing the city

Heartbeat of the Mother City by Martin Osner

Urban Design, Medieval City, Heartbeat of the Mother City and Démodé

Urban Design

A familiar residential building in Cape Town, turned into a study of pattern and repetition. From across the room it reads as a clean, structured grid; up close every window is different, and each one hints at a story of its own. One of the most popular prints in the collection.

Limited to 50 prints, recommended at 90 x 120 cm.

See Urban Design in the gallery

Medieval City

"Captured in London in 2006, while I was preparing to exhibit the Abandoned and Faceless Society series. To steady my nerves before the opening, I spent the quiet hours walking the city with my camera." In Medieval City No.3 he waited at a subway entrance for the light, felt the picture needed something more, and heard footsteps: a man dressed head to toe in black walked past and down the stairs, completing the composition exactly as he had imagined.

Each limited to 20 prints, whatever the size.

See Medieval City in the gallery

Heartbeat of the Mother City

Made mostly in Woodstock and Salt River by combining multiple, slightly misaligned exposures in the camera, so every photograph becomes an energetic abstract impression of the street. The colours, textures and movement carry the character of Cape Town, the Mother City, and the everyday rhythm of its people.

A signed open edition, from 100 x 77 cm.

See Heartbeat of the Mother City in the gallery

Demode No.1, a lone figure crossing an empty London street, a black powder transfer by Martin Osner

Démodé

A nostalgic collection made with a black powder transfer technique, which gives the prints a grain like vintage film, as if a long lost photograph had been found again. The picture here is a solitary figure crossing an empty London street early one morning, while a traffic light glows faintly.

Each limited to 15 prints, whatever the size.

See Démodé in the gallery