Street photography has a long history of significance in Glasgow, as it does in many cities worldwide. In Glasgow, the art form has been used to document the city’s history of architecture, intellectual vitality, and cultural vivacity via a simple click. Throughout the decades, a host of Glaswegians have stood in front of the camera’s flash.
Take, for example, the street photography of Thomas Annan, a photographer commissioned by the Glasgow City Improvement Trust to document “slum areas” in Glasgow in 1886, before they were irreparably changed by urban development. His photography series Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow depicts narrow streets in Glasgow’s East End, a historically socially deprived area. These streets are interspersed with washing lines hung between neighbouring buildings, and most strikingly, photos of past Glasgow residents – mothers holding young children, and men captured in moments of stasis, caps dipped on their way to work.
The effects of long exposure photography at the time give the portraits a haunting, ephemeral air. Yet, the air of ghostliness now seems apt; these people and these streets are no longer fixed, living parts of Glasgow, but rather, are now no more than faded Glaswegians in long-since demolished streets, captured forever in a singular moment of existence on Annan’s film.
The effects of long exposure photography at the time give the portraits a haunting, ephemeral air.
Since the 1800s, it is more than just the streets and faces of Glasgow that have changed – street photography has developed dramatically. It is estimated that in 2025, 95% of people in the UK own a mobile phone, meaning the vast majority of us now carry a camera with us wherever we go. As our media has changed from rolls of film to smartphone cameras, and as these cameras have gotten clearer, the ethics around street photography have become more and more blurred.
Whilst it is legal to take photos and videos of people in public spaces in the UK, it feels as though street photography can impinge on our freedom. Is it ethical to take pictures of people as they go about their business, or is it merely exploitative? Would it be better to only take rehearsed, staged photographs, or does that negate the authenticity that street photography has always craved?
In a world where even walking down Buchanan Street can have you featured in a People of Glasgow TikTok, these questions become more pertinent with every gigabyte of imagery shared online. Whilst street interviews and photography can provide online entertainment, insightful social commentary and documentation, they also raise questions over privacy and personal boundaries, which are often ignored by content-crazed photographers who risk exploiting the public they wish to present.
As well as privacy issues, Glasgow street photography is not immune to social media trends that favour aestheticism above all else.
As well as privacy issues, Glasgow street photography is not immune to social media trends that favour aestheticism above all else. Under slick, curated photo slides of edited images tied together with a perfectly chosen song, commenters argue back and forth over the cherry-picking of “trendy” hotspots. A presentation of the city that predominantly features the West End creates questions over the “gentrification” and “studentification” perpetuated by street photographers.
It could be seen that this trend erodes the history of Glasgow away just as smoothly as the Glaswegian accent is softened to form, what has become known as, the “Glasgow Uni accent.” Does it boil depictions of Glasgow – a city that has historically been recognised for its vast social inequality and its unique working-class culture – down to its “aesthetic” West End, ignoring other sides of the city?
As a Glaswegian friend was keen to remind me, however, these upcoming and trendy places are also a part of Glasgow and its changing faces. Street photography, in all its many forms, represents the variety and complexity of Glasgow. We are reminded that we must view Glasgow with nuance – as a changing city with a deeply rich cultural and social history. Whilst opinions vary over whether these changes are positive for the city or not, as a source for looking at both Glasgow’s past and present, a source for history, and a source for the future, street photography has never been more important.
With the rise and changes of modern technology, the nature of street photography inevitably had to change, too. Our online world is a world that can now judge us by a single video or photo. We can instantly be susceptible to scrutiny and identification when media of us is posted online. As street photography has evolved in its nature, so must we in our photography practices. By being mindful of your subjects and your settings, the valuable trend of street photography can continue respectfully. The Photo Academy, a global teacher of photography, reminds us of the importance of respecting your subjects. For example, guiding us to:
“Maintain a reasonable physical distance to avoid violating personal space;
Avoid photographing moments of intimacy, distress, or visible solitude;
Respect a refusal, whether it’s verbal, gestural, or simply sensed through body language.”
Whilst some may argue that street photography is exploitative of its subjects, is the entire art world then, by this judgement, also culpable of exploitation, to some degree? After all, humanity has essentially always been the muse of artists – in literature, characters are created from old stories, from people around us, documentaries and films increasingly present biopics of people’s lives and their stories. Music is often foremost concerned with depicting human emotion. Street photography is no different.
As the famous saying, “People make Glasgow,” insists, Glasgow is not Glasgow without its people. Glasgow street photography is not authentic without depicting its people (respectfully, of course) captured forever in a moment of existence.
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