History and Exhibitions
Observe was established in June 2013 by photographers who had participated in the online Street Photography Now project, as well as other online street photography-focused critique communities. In 2014, the collective was featured at the Miami Street Photography Festival, where members Chris Farling and Danielle Houghton served on the competition jury.
The collective held its first group exhibition at the Städtische Galerie Iserlohn in 2015. The exhibition presented approximately 100 works and was accompanied by the international Under Construction competition, whose shortlisted entries were curated by Observe Collective members and were shown in a separate exhibition. Independent local reporting subsequently recorded more than 1,500 visitors to the collective’s exhibition.
In 2017, the gallery and collective cooperated to organize Observations 2017, described as Iserlohn’s first international street photography festival. The event presented more than 400 images at seven venues, including exhibitions of invited photographers, students and photography collectives. A second international festival of the same name was held in 2022, with more than 350 images exhibited at five locations.
Street Fight!
Observe operates Street Fight! as an open street photography competition and critique platform. Street Photography Magazine identified Street Fight! and the related Street & Repeat group as forums through which the collective encouraged discussion and critique among photographers.
In collaboration with Eyeshot, the collective produced Street Fight #9, a limited-edition publication featuring selected photographers from the competition. Eyeshot states that copies were reserved for Observations 2022, where a selection of the work was exhibited.
