Street Photography

This week I want to talk about a subject that probably makes many of you nervous, Street Photography. Many new photographers cringe at the thought of shooting street, but if you are a photography student, then I am sure you have had a professor or three tell you that you need to learn to start shooting outside your comfort zone.

College student taking a catnap on the steps in Centennial Olympic Park downtown ATL

 Street Photography doesn’t have to be scary and there are some tips I am going to share with you this week to hopefully make you more successful at it. The key to doing Street Photography is being discreet. You don’t want to be out there with your biggest telephoto lens, trying to avoid human contact because you will make your subjects nervous. Take your camera body and a prime lens like a 35mm or 50mm, these lenses will require you to get more up close and personal, but that is the whole idea. Don’t take a flash with you or anything else that will be intrusive or invasive to your subjects, for Street Photography you want to be a minimalist.

Woman walking and texting on her way to bus stop

 Mirrorless is a good camera to use for Street Photography as most of these models are extremely small and light weight, yet make amazing images. Get up close to your subjects and interact with them, talk to them, get a little bit of their story, build some rapport and you will find that Street Photography is not so hard to pull off.

If you are someone like myself who is fairly sociable to begin with and can build an instant rapport with people, then Street Photography will be easier for you. If you don’t have this natural knack, then take it slowly and don’t try to force the issue with your subject. Be respectful of them and their personal space, you don’t want to drastically interfere with their routine or whatever they are doing, but you do need to interact with them enough to make this process easier. Talk to them about the weather, the local sports team, how terrible the traffic is (especially if you live in Atlanta), or anything else that strikes your fancy. Stay away from HOT topics like politics or religion, I don’t want you getting into a hostile debate or getting attacked by some nut.

As you get more and more experienced at shooting Street Photography and become more comfortable, you may find that you really enjoy shooting it. I know I did during the last two years I worked in downtown Atlanta. Also when you become more confident, some people will actually approach you and ask to be shot as part of whatever you are shooting for, I have had this happen numerous times and it can be a lot of fun!

Rodney here is one of the many people that have stopped me and asked to pose for a street portrait

 The important things I want you take away from this week’s blog post is that Street Photography doesn’t need to be scary. If you keep your gear to the bare minimum and take the time to talk to your subjects you will find that this style of photography is not nearly as frightening as you originally thought.

Comments/Questions

Scott Kelby's WorldWide PhotoWalk

This week I want to invite everyone to participate in the Scott Kelby WorldWide Photo Walk.

Scott Kelby puts on this photowalk every year for the last few years and it’s basically a chance to get together with other photographers, walk around a downtown area and just shoot. It has a secondary purpose of raising money for The Springs of Hope Orphanage in Kenya.

The walk generally starts at 10am and lasts just 2 hours and then the photographers usually have lunch at a local restaurant or pub. I personally feel it’s a great opportunity to shoot and socialize with other photographers in my area and many of my photo club’s members are participating this year.

After the shoot, you can upload your best photo to the Photo Walk site and have it judged for possibly winning a prize and you can share all your images on the Walk’s Flickr page as well.

The walk in my area is lead by a local pro photographer in the Covington, GA area and is the only one really close to me as they only allow 50 photographers per group and the ATL one always fills up fast. Since the Covington group is getting to be fairly large as well I am contemplating signing up as a Walk Leader for next year.

It just a great way to socialize and raise money for a good cause as well. He only asks for a $1 donation and hopes to raise $50,000 this year to help the children in Kenya and I am sure you can probably use some of the shots for your class assignments.

You can find out more at Scott Kelby WorldWide Photowalk

Comments/Questions

Night Portraits

   Since photography is literally “painting with light”, one of the greatest challenges in photography is having enough light to do your work. Many photographers buy cameras especially made for high ISO with low noise like the newer Nikons. Other photographers learn and hone their skills using off camera flash like Canon or Nikon Speedlights and still others just avoid shooting in low light situations all together.

    I am personally the kind of photographer who is not afraid of new challenges and always willing to try something new and leave my comfort zone. Yesterday I went out and shot for my personal project as well as my Professional Portfolio class. In the evening, I met with my new photo club to shoot Christmas lights in Conyers, Ga. I have not done a lot of night shooting other than night time long exposures but wanted to try something new, so in addition to shooting Christmas lights around the city, I played around with some night portraits.

    I used one of the clubs member’s son, who was with us and frequently becomes his mom’s modeling guinea pig and made him my victim as well. I did two portraits of him standing in a partially lit alley with only a street light above him and using my iPhone 6 Plus on “torch” mode with it’s LED flash on continuous as a catch/fill light. I am posting them here in both color and B&W as I think the image works either way. I am not saying they are perfect, but I think they turned out pretty good for a first time trying this.

    The point is, in order to grow as a photographer, we need to be willing to try new things and get out of our comfort zone. I know you’ve heard your professors tell you that a time or three and it’s true. To really grow and perfect your skills as a professional, you have to try, practice and experiment. Now get out there and make some awesome photos!
Comments/Questions

Beat Your Cold Weather Woes: Bundle Up with a Book!

Subzero temperatures do not make for the best shooting weather, even with electronic hand warmers keeping the camera battery nice and toasty and plenty of layers between us and the elements.  When it’s this cold out, there are plenty of ways to keep honing your skills.  If I feel like cooking or baking, I play around with food styling and photography (next week’s post will focus on food photography, so stay tuned!).  This weekend I’d rather curl up with a good book or two.  From my first instructional photo book purchase on concert photography to the wacky photograph collections my mom finds for me, I’ve amassed a bit of a collection and would love to share my favorites with you.

Books make great props, too!

My Top 5 Photography Books

1. Street Photography Now showcases photographers with eyes for the unusual like Raghu Rai and one of my favorites, Matt Stuart (the cover image is one of his).  The hours they spent scouting the streets for interesting compositions and moments that just scream to be photographed result in memorable and often humorous images.  Even if you’re not into the genre, you will appreciate the work that went into this collection.

2. My mother found Believing is Seeing (Observations on the Mysteries of Photography) for me and it immediately landed on my list of favorites!  Taking on issues of ethics in photojournalism, the filmmaker discusses some famous controversial photographs as well as how our beliefs affect what we see in an image.  It is a great combination of philosophy and non-fiction writing that includes informative interviews. 

3. I’m a sucker for biographies of people I admire, so it’s no surprise that Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography is on my list.  From his family life to his professional success, the book provides insight into how he became the father of photojournalism and how his down-to-earth approach to photography brought us so many iconic images. 

4. Learning how our gear works helps us make sure we can face any problems that may arise on the job.  If you’re like me, you may not love learning the science of it all, but books like Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital make it more fun and put our modern gear into historical context.  You may even find that you want to give an old Mamiya or vintage Kodak Brownie a go for the fun of it! 

5. National Geographic’s Photography Field Guide: Secrets to Making Great Pictures contains everything from compositional techniques to photographers' anecdotes and explanations of how their images were captured.  There are also a variety of other field guides, including topics like travel and portraiture.

Honorable mention: Scott Kelby’s instructional books are so easy to understand and provide incredible insight into photography and specific post-production programs.  The Digital Photography Book almost made it onto my top 5, and I swear by my Lightroom book! 

Has a photography-related book inspired you, or is there an instructional book you can't live without?  I would love your suggestions in the comments below.  Happy reading!

-Friday Ambassador

Works Cited:

Assouline, Pierre. Henri Cartier-Bresson: A Biography. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2005. Print.

Burian, Peter K., and Robert Caputo. National Geographic Photography Field Guide: Secrets to Making Great Pictures. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003. Print.

Gustavson, Todd. Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital. New York: Sterling Innovation, 2009. Print.

Howarth, Sophie, and Stephen McLaren. Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. Print.

Kelby Media Group, Inc., Scott. "Featured Books." KelbyOne, Online Education for Creative People. KelbyOne, LLC, 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://kelbyone.com/books/>.

Morris, Errol. Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.