Google Street View

It highlights something about photography that really separates it from other mediums and that’s the role that chance plays. Look through the Pullitzer recipients for photography and many of those names belong to people who just happened to be there when everything came together at just the right time. They aren’t always press photojournalists or career photographers- sometimes they’re just chance witnesses to something powerful or compelling- proving Chase Jarvis’ theorem that “the best camera is the one you have with you”.

The same applies to the men and women hired to drive the panoramic cameras mounted on Google’s army of Street View vans. If you spend that much time out there in the wide world, constantly shooting, chances are you’ll come across some scenes of real beauty and some wonderful moments where everything just comes together. Hard to know whether the moments captured below make up for the hundreds of hours spent painstakingly recording, meter for meter, every suburban street in Melbourne for example but they are impressive.

You can see these shots at a proper size on Hobson’s portfolio.