Google Street View Photographers

Came across a very interesting article in the Observer's New Review section ( 15.7.12 ) by Geoff Dyer about artists using Google Street View  to create provocative work. I had never heard about the work of Michael Wolff, Doug Rickard and Jon Rafman and this struck me as an unusual but somehow an obvious take on street photography, a genre that really interests me. Michael Wolff entered work taken from Google Street View in every category of the World Press Photo awards achieving a honourable mention in the Daily Life category for photographing,cropping and blowing up images from Google's Street View.  Looking at his website ( http://www.photomichaelwolf.com ), I was intrigued by his use of Google..in some respects the voyeurism opens up a very 'naked' view of street life...no one is aware of the Google camera driving past. The quality of the finished images ( blurred and meshed ) also lend to the anonymity ..it is a very striking way of exploring street photography. His Street View Portraits  are a curious selection of faces that are really colour and texture which I can respond to at that level but which leave me slightly unsatisfied and wanting to know and see / read more in each image. However, It was his telephoto images in 'The Transparent City' ( 2007)  that really drew my attention. Locally we do not have that many tall urban buildings of the kind that have sprung up in Chicago but the few we have are eyecatching visually in their night time appearance. More so in down town Chicago which is the area Wolf  chose to concentrate on when invited to capture the significant construction the city had undergone. This was the first body of his work to address an American city and it is very exciting...beautiful , structured and pattern photographs capturing urban design and those who live there. Again there is an element of voyeurism as the occupants of these buildings are oblivious of the camera lens but some how it doesn't feel that intrusive and lends a significant human quality to the images.