Street Photography - Getting Started

The Go Club

Street Photography is about capturing something that occurs in moments that vanish almost as soon as they happen. It's not like landscape photography where you have time to set up your camera to get the shot exactly like you want it. It's not like portrait photography where you have control over everything from the lighting to the pose. Street photography is capturing moments in urban or suburban settings, often in the midst of chaos. Scenes are often moving and changing, people are acting and interacting and reacting, even when they are sitting still. In the time it takes you to figure out the proper f stop and shutter speed, focus and compose, the moments will be gone. So it's important understand the "technicals" of your camera, and have your camera pre-set so that you're prepared to catch those moments as they happen.

"The best camera is the one you have with you." - Chase Jarvis

That's 100% true. It doesn't matter if you use a "point and shoot" or an expensive DSLR or a camera on your phone. What matters, in the end, is the photograph. A great image can come from any camera because what makes a great photograph isn't just technical quality. What makes a photograph great is mostly how it affects us. Does it tell a story, does it "touch" us, does it awaken a memory, is it inspiring, or whimsical, or shocking, or dramatic, or romantic? That's how it is with street photography. It's not just people walking down the street. Great street photography can tells us something about life, or fill us with an emotion, or make us curious, or give us an insight. It's the moment that matters, the camera is just a tool to preserve that moment.

 

Waiting For A Treat

Reflection

"Point and shoots" and phone cameras do a pretty good job of getting the right exposure. Camera phones are becoming more sophisticated and allow more control over shutter speeds and exposure. Up-to-date point and shoots even have modes that allow you to change aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. You'll want a fast shutter speed to "freeze" movement, along with a small aperture to achieve enough depth of field to have the scene in focus and add context. When in doubt, there's nothing wrong with setting your camera in "P" or "Program" mode and letting your camera make the technical choices for you. With street photography, you need to be able to get that camera to your eye, focus, compose, and shoot, before the moment is gone forever. Don't get me wrong, image quality is important, but a high quality photo without great subject, interest, story, and composition, is pretty useless if all you have is a sharp, well lit image with nothing to see. As far as lenses go, a "purist" street photographer might insist you use a wide angle lens between 20-35 mm that forces you to get close to the subject. If you feel more secure and less noticeable with a longer focal length, like an 18-135mm, giving you more of a "safe zone" to ensure that the scene and subject remains natural, that's fine.

Dress to blend in and don't carry a hundred pounds of equipment along with you. Choose your camera and lens for the day and leave the rest behind. The idea is to be discrete and unnoticed to capture what's happening "unfiltered" and unpoised. When you head into large, urban areas, bring a friend, it affords a bit of safety and may help you be less conspicuous. To keep from being noticed when photographing people, try not to make eye contact before you bring the camera to your eye, and don't make eye contact after taking the photo. Keep the camera to your eye and pan around continuing to shoot, or act as if you're photographing something else, before you take the camera down. If you are noticed before taking the photo, and someone objects to having their photograph taken... don't take it! If you take someone's photo and they notice, and they want you to delete it... delete it. It's not worth an argument or a confrontation.

Brisk Morning Walk On The Bridge

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” - Elliott Erwitt

Street photography isn't just a way of documenting, it's a way of seeing and experiencing life as it happens. It's capturing life without interrupting or influencing it, and it's not possible to do it with permission. For the beginner, this makes street photography terrifying, and you have to be willing to push yourself out of the boundaries of comfort to be successful at it.