Street photography can mean many things in a city where life is fast and cameras are affordable. However, New York's undisputed kingpin of the streets has to be iconic Brooklyn-born shooter Bruce Gilden, the man who has spent a career getting up close and personal—often uncomfortably so—with the people and places of America's most mythologized city. 

In a special edition of Photographers in Focus, commissioned for the launch of Magnum Learn, a new online learning platform for photography and visual storytelling from the world-leading photo cooperative—courses are for beginners and practitioners alike—we get a closer look at Gilden's thoughts and process, courtesy of filmmaker Joppe Rog.

From Coney Island to Manhattan (though he's often trod beyond the five boroughs), Gilden's approach has always been upfront, first using flash and momentum to snap people caught between hurried flight and glacial contemplation. Later he turned to color, working on a long-term project, and book, collected together as Face, featuring people not always represented in the public eye. Gilden's work is testament to the idea that a great photo doesn't have to be easy to look at—it canbe raw, and uncompromisingly honest.

Discover Magnum Learn's first online course, The Art of Street Photography, featuring Bruce Gilden and others at learn.magnumphotos.com