Street Fashion Photography in Blogging

Street fashion photography is prominent in today’s bloggersphere. Unlike traditional media formats such as magazines and television that rely heavily on staged photography to communicate the desired image to the consumer/audience, blogging utilises street fashion photography (Crewe 2012). Due to similarities between street fashion photography and realistic snapshot genres the content of street fashion photography commands credibility and achieves believability as a result of its ‘realistic’ appearance (Engholm and Hansen-Hansen 2013). Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist, argues that, “while street-fashion photography is an easy world to join...it’s a tough one to stand out in” (Schuman 2011). 

Street fashion photography from FACEHUNTER

As included in The Telegraph’s ‘Top 10 must-read fashion and style blogs’ FACEHUNTER and STREET PEEPER remain two of the top rated fashion blogs. These blogs primarily focus on street fashion photography, capturing a single snapshot or a moment in time, and can be viewed as a documentation of life and style in today’s society. For a more polished approach Ben Trova and Fashion Photography Blog are credible fashion photography blogs, often underpinned by street fashion photography characteristics. Many similarities exist among these blogs, for example the subject is normally aware they are being photographed and posts often feature close-ups of key details. This provides the viewer with a comprehensive and holist understanding of the outfit, rather than a conceptual image type closely associated with fashion photography. 

Street fashion photography from STREET PEEPER

Street fashion photography inspired photographs seen on blog Ben Trova 

The Sartorialist is one of today’s most read blogs and has achieved the respect and admiration of the world’s fashion community. It is an influential source throughout the fashion industry and is arguably best known for its street style fashion photography of stylish ordinary people across the globe (The Sartorialist 2014; Davis 2009). 

Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist

Founded in 2005 by blogger and photographer Scott Schuman (above) The Sartorialist began life with the aim of “creating two-way dialogue about the world of fashion and its relationship to daily life” (The Sartorialist 2014). Since its humble roots The Sartorialist has gone onto pioneer street fashion photography in the bloggersphere (Davis 2009). This blog can be viewed as a document recording individual expressions of style as photographs focus on style rather than passing fashion fads. They capture personality, individualism, creativity and flair. Schuman beautifully captures the “varied sartorial tastes” (The Sartorialist 2014) of people he deems inspirational. This may be a man, a woman, a child, a pensioner or a celebrity; anyone who catches his eye.

'Art of the Trench' - Burberry

Arguably Schuman’s most famous photography project is the “Art of the Trench” for Burberry whereby he photographed people wearing the iconic Burberry trench across the globe as part of the brand’s rejuvenation strategy (Tokatli 2011). Once again street fashion photography is successfully employed by Schuman, strongly reflecting his photography style as seen on his blog. 

The Sartorialist 'blook' 

Inside The Sartorialist Closer

Complimentary to his blog Schuman has released a two ‘blooks’. The first under the eponymous title ‘The Sartorialist‘ and the second ‘The Sartorialist: Closer’. Both, like his blog, capture a variety of style from across the globe using street photography and the latter is said to “reflect Scott’s unique sensibility and vision” (The Sartorialist 2014).