Observe (collective)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (January 2018) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Observe" collective – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Observe" collective – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Observe is an international collective of street photographers. Established in June 2013, it brings together photographers who share the same principles, views and interests to produce projects, exhibitions, publications and events.^[1][2] Although mainly focusing on street photography, it is not limited to one specific genre and its members explore various genres and methods of photographic practice.

Observe’s mission statement on its website reads as follows:

“OBSERVE is an international photography collective focused primarily on the practice of candid street photography. Spanning four continents we are united by a common fascination with watching and documenting the diverse humanity that surrounds us. While acknowledging that photography is at its core an individual pursuit, our membership finds benefit in mutual curation and support, discussion, and other collaborative interactions.”

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In 2014, Observe was a Featured Collective at the Miami Street Photography Festival, and Chris Farling and Danielle Houghton were part of the jury for its competition.^[6][7]

From 12 June to 26 July 2015, Observe held its first group exhibition at the Staedtische Galerie in Iserlohn, Germany.^[8][9][10] The exhibition was linked to an international contest, themed Under Construction.^[11][12][13]

Two years later, the same gallery organised its first international street photography festival in collaboration with Observe, Observations 2017.^[14] The festival took place from 14–23 July and included various exhibitions at seven separate locations in Iserlohn.^[15] One of the exhibitions included the finalists of the 2017 Down by the River Competition, while another included the work of Observe members.^[16][17]

In August 2017, Observe's Jason Reed, Nick Turpin from In-Public, and Hoxton Mini Press organised Street London, a street photography symposium in London.^[18][19] The festival included talks by Siegfried Hansen, David Gibson and Dougie Wallace.

In September 2019, Observe was a featured collective at the Aussie Street Photography Festival in Sydney, Australia. In addition to a dedicated exhibition, four members of Observe (Danielle Houghton, Guille Ibanez, Kirstin van den Eede and Tom Young) acted as judges for the open call competition.^[20]

• Observations Vol.1 n°1 (2016): Personal Reflections on Photography
• Observations Vol.1 n°2 (2016): Personal Reflections on Fear
• Observations Vol.2 n°1 (2017): Personal Reflections on Home
• Observations Vol.3 n°1 (2018): Personal Reflections on Faith
• Observations Vol.4 n°1 (2019): Personal Reflections on Nostalgia

• 100 Great Street Photographs. Prestel, 2017. Edited by David Gibson. ISBN 978-3791383132. Included work by Ronen Berka, Ilya Shtutsa, Danielle Houghton, and Tavepong Pratoomwong.^[21]
• Street Fight!. Observe Collective; Eyeshot, 2022. Selections of winning photographs from Observe's Flickr-based street photography competition group of the same name.^[22]

• Official website