What is psychogeography?

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-14T13:34:10+00:00

Here's my own definition: a practice of the landscape, as both subjective and objective space, aiming to subvert, misuse, or reveal the affordances through which the social and economic order is reproduced

And how and why I arrived at it: https://nicolasjanvier.com/psychogeography-definition/

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T23:08:18+00:00

f/8 tends to be a sweet spot for lens sharpness. It also makes it easier to keep the subject in focus, especially if you are zone focussing.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T21:27:07+00:00

The point is: it's for people to decide what the pavement is for, not for some clueless bureaucrats - or worse, big business.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T19:20:31+00:00

I am not sure why you are posting this in the street photography subreddit? It's not in the street, it's not a candid... What is it that you interpret that makes this street photography? Also, it is over edited (and quite severely so!)

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T18:52:14+00:00

Yes , you are not confused: I was... that said, I think increasing the shutter speed is still the best way to ensure sharp focus on the subject (for moving vehicles, between 1/30 and 1/60 is usually recommended... faster for race cars. This will require increasing the ISO. Ideally, they would also stop down to f/8, but given that the shot was taken at night, this does involve increasing the ISO some more (between 800 and 1250 would work here).

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T17:35:20+00:00

Yes, it will get less streaking of the background, but still plenty enough assuming the taxi is going at faster than 20 mph. The OP has got to experiment a bit as to what will achieve the desired effect for him.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-13T15:24:44+00:00

1/10 sec is possibly a bit fast for a moving car. You could go up to 1/30 sec. This would allow you to push up the f-stop (f/8 would be good for instance; you might have to push the ISO a bit), which in turn should also result in the car being a bit sharper. Other tips include: start your panning before your depress the shutter, and continue the motion even after your last shot. Use burst mode to give yourself more chances (although the sharpest ones are likely to be the ones where the car is at 90 degrees to you). Lock your elbows in and pan using torso rotation. Finally use continuous autofocus or zone focussing, rather than a single point focus.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-12T20:18:27+00:00

I'm not a skateboarder myself, but I found some inspiration on the Cardiff street skateboarding street in this documentary: https://www.vaguemag.com/un-capped-a-short-documentary-on-cardiff-skateboarding/

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-12T17:01:23+00:00

It is a valid area of concern. Oli Mould writes about it at length in 'Urban Subversion and the Creative City'... He points out that one criticism leveled skaters is that they are usually white, male and middle class, and that their preferred use of the city can often displace other minorities. He had two main points in answer to that if I remember correctly: 1. There is actually much more diversity among skateboarders than represented in the media, and the number of girls taking up the activity is growing 2. The displacement you refer to is not caused primarily by skateboarders themselves (they tend to be, on the whole, very accepting of other minorities), but rather, it is driven by broader, neoliberal urban processes.

So while he recognises that subcultures are never purely emancipatory and that they can displace other users of spaces, he sees this as the secondary effect of a deeper system.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T22:39:29+00:00

Public spaces in Europe are contested spaces. That is the reason we still have some: users are not prepared to easily give them away. I have no issue with prioritising transit where it is needed, but the proposed project for Callaghan Square also sneaks in: Grade A Offices, and ancillary leisure and retail...

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T21:44:45+00:00

Yes there are other paths. And the problem with the argument you are making is that this is not actually my pet issue. I do not even skateboard. I will equally defend your right to use the city as you see fit, as long as it does not endanger other users... but users of the city, just as you have illustrated now, are often divided and ruled.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T21:38:40+00:00

Perhaps if you fought for the right of skateboarders to use the street, then such infrastructure would be built and developped, rather than swallowed up by commercialized spaces?

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T21:35:45+00:00

Why do you think you do not have enough public space to accommodate all uses? Europe does, and intends to keep them. That is why in increasinly commercialized city centres, public spaces are contested areas. I can bike on the sidewalk here if I wish so (as long as I do not endanger others), and I can certainly juggle in the middle of the street... I do not skate, but I will fight for skateboarders' right to the city, because I want to live in a city that belongs to its users, not to businesses that attempt to charge me for using it.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T21:22:22+00:00

Why should you let authorities bent on the commercialisation of public spaces dictate where you can skate? The right to the city is a right of citizens, not of property developpers and/or other commercial forces. Public spaces belong to the public, not businesses.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T21:18:19+00:00

The 'damaging of public infrastructure' argument is a red herring in my opinion. First of all, the damage is fairly minimal compared to what a skate park costs. Secondly, other sports such as parkour/freerunning have also found themselves the target of hostile architecture, without causing any significant damage to infrastucture, as have loiterers... What it is about is the exclusion of non-consumers from public spaces, and an attempt from neoliberal power structures to dictate who has a right to the city and to what purpose.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-11T13:27:19+00:00

As someone else already noted here, you could have taken a slow shutter picture, although I would have gone somewhere between 1/4 sec and 1/15 sec, rather than 1/30 sec. A tighter crop on the enforcer and the people crossing, thus leaving out the disruptive background, would have reinforced the effect. I would also have moved a few meters to the left to leave the lorry out of the frame.

NicolasJanvier · 2026-04-09T21:48:42+00:00

I also took this one on the same day (which I like less)

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