Ed Wojtaszek loves street photography and has been doing it since 2016. Since then, he has spent many hours in Boston capturing life in the city with his camera. Selections from his collection of Boston photos are in his solo show, “Love That Dirty Water”, at the Arts League of Lowell Greenwald Gallery. The show runs from April 28 through May 23.
The name of the show comes from a refrain in the 1965 rock and roll hit, “Dirty Water”, by the Standells. The song was mock homage to the city of Boston, but the refrain “Well I love that dirty water; Oh, Boston, you’re my home” reflects the appreciation that Ed has for the city despite imperfections. All of the photos in the show have that positive spirit.
Ed’s street photos range from playful to empathetic and from portraits to anonymous silhouettes. Each is intended to convey a story or a message in a unique and spontaneous way. Street photos are often not the polished final compositions found in studio or posed images and Ed enjoys the challenge of making composition decisions in the moment. In street photography, editing is limited to cropping and color correction without the luxury of being able to add interesting objects or delete distractions. All of his photos feature people.
Color or black and white is an artistic choice that Ed makes based on the importance of color to the story. Ed prefers black and white when the colors of a photo are either drab or discordant, feeling that poor colors can distract from the story. Most importantly, it takes hours of walking in the city and observing people to capture images that satisfy Ed’s characteristic style.
