Theory & Practice

Watch: Susan Meiselas on Building Relationships With Subjects

A short film sees Susan Meiselas reflecting the randomness of making work in the street, and the primacy of building an understanding with subjects

Susan Meiselas

Magnum Photos’ first online education course, The Art of Street Photography, sees seven Magnum photographers with renowned and distinct practices exploring the breadth of street photography. The Magnum collective has a long history in the genre, with co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson’s seminal concept of ‘the decisive moment’ setting an early precedent for the collective’s exploration of ‘the street’. 

Through a curriculum of ten in-depth, on-demand video lessons Bruce Gilden, Martin Parr, Susan Meiselas, Richard Kalvar, Carolyn Drake, Peter van Agtmael and Mark Power share their advice to photographers of all levels, alongside focused input from industry experts.

To celebrate the launch of The Art of Street Photography, we collaborated with NOWNESS on a special series of three short films as part of their ‘Photographer in Focus’ series, exploring the practices of three of the course instructors: Martin Parr, Bruce Gilden and Susan Meiselas.

In this film Meiselas reflects on some of her best-known projects – from Carnival Strippers, to Prince Street Girls and Nicaragua. The photographer dwells upon the key role that relationship building plays in making work, whether in familiar settings or in war zones.

The Art of Street Photography course is available now. You can find out more, and sign up, here. You can watch the course trailer below.

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