Street Videos

The Oakville Camera Club is offering members an opportunity to learn a little bit about street photography in a few weeks. We’re thinking of starting at a local coffee shop for a little chat about street photography and what it is and what it isn’t and then we’re hitting the sidewalks of Oakville, Ontario.

In preparation I am going to be posting several posts about street photography. Today’s videos are going to be a list of some of my favourite YouTube street photographers’s videos:

I love graincheck. Taylor Pendleton is someone I’ve followed for months. All of her videos are quirky and funny and she is a very talented photographer. My pick of all her videos on street photography is this one shot a year ago starting in New York City. Why? Because when she talked herself out of a shot – she talked herself into returning to shoot the image. That’s how street photography works. You follow your heart and not your head.

I like Paul Reid’s videos on street photography. He’s a UK photographer and his videos about street photography are like a university course on how to do it right. A good place to start is his video of fine art street photographer Mark Fearnley. Pay attention to Fearnley’s images. There are a lot of them you can find right in your own town.

So do you need to have confidence to be a street photographer? How do some of these street photographers get the intimate images we can see posted online? Gary Lashmar “The Street Thief” is an amazing street photographer and educator. There’s something of value in everyone of his amazing videos. One of his best is this one about confidence when you’re shooting street photography. If you’re unsure about street photography then let Gary help find the confidence you need to succeed. On the same subject here’s Gary talking about being scared of street photography. This isn’t so much about photography but who you think you are and who you could be. It’s 20 minutes of worthwhile talk.

I’ve mentioned Paulie B’s Walkie Talkie videos in previous posts. Paulie has a whole series of videos where he interviews street photographers on the street. The variety of different street photographers is astounding. There are lots of “in-your-face” street photograhers and then there’s this guy. Tyler Woodford in episode 42 of Walkie Talkie is a photographer who shots in the New York City suburb of Howard Beach right next to JFK Airport. If you thought your neighbourhood has nothing photogenic to shoot then you haven’t seen Howard Beach. But Tyler finds images that work in an environment where he says nothing ever changes. But I find his images compelling. He’s been shooting the same small town for two years making “normal pictures of nothing”.

Finally I saved the best for last. I love Tatiana Hopper and I’ve watched a lot of the almost 200 photography videos she has posted on YouTube. An educator and entertainer Tatiana has a lot to say about photography and street photography and some of the very best photographers. One of my favourites is this one about the very strange but very very talented Vivian Maier. This IMHO is a must watch for anyone contemplating doing street photogapher.

We will talk about gear and other topics to do with street photography in future posts.