Men and women, when we see them outside their private sphere, are almost always intent on doing something, either for work or for fun. These are activities that are carried out with seriousness and concentration, regardless of the fact that to an unfamiliar eye, perhaps even armed with a hint of good-natured mischief, certain postures, rather than some random juxtapositions, may appear slightly surreal, amusing or out of context.
It is clear that each of these activities has its own reason, which, if followed as it unfolds, becomes evident and explains and justifies its apparent strangeness; but street photography, provided it is handled with a light hand, in isolating and blocking a single instant, a single immobilised movement, and therefore rendered without end, removes all justification and diverts a story that in its unfolding in time and space would have been clear towards a suspension that emphasises its surreal aspect.
And it forces the viewer of the photograph to make the effort of inventing a possible story, starting from some shaky assumption.
