Taking It To The Streets

Street photography was historically the original subject of many of the first photographers who working with the most primitive of cameras and ancient wet-plate technologies to produce some of the most iconic street images of all time.

So how do you become a street photographer?

The simple answer is, of course, you take your camera with you when walking the streets of your town. But it’s much much more than that.

Street photography is one of the hardest forms of photography to learn. What I mean by that is to paraphrase an old quote that says everyone can look but only a few can really see. Street photography isn’t easy to get “right” but it can be learned if you can see it.

It’s that ability to see which can’t be taught but can be developed which separates one street photographer from another. But there’s also another element to great street photography and that’s the ability to feel something about your image. Without feeling or purpose your street images may well be vacuous and uninteresting to others.

Why does one image move us and another leaves us flat? It’s more than just composition although composition is a key ingredient to street photography.

So where to begin?

I’d highly recommend YouTube where there are hundreds of really excellent videos about street photography which will show you what I am talking about.

Here’s a few of the great sites to get your started:

Tatiana Hopper has over 150 videos of top-notch quality in both production values and photographic understanding. Highly entertaining there’s a lot here to digest. (Tatiana Hopper’s main link did not work for me so use this link to access her entire library of videos.)

Paulie B interviews some of the best street (and magazine) photographers currently working in New York City. I personally loved the interview with Daniel Arnold and was challenged by the brashness of Trevor Wisecup and loved the quirkiness of Poupay Jutharat.

Street View with Rupert Vandervell’s video My Top Five Street Photographers is a very good overview of street photography and it will help you understand how to approach your own street videography.

Don’t wait for warmer weather and if you’re in the Toronto join the Toronto Film Shooters and come walk with us.