A Look at This Recent Shot
Hey, fellow street photographers! I wanted to share a little insight into this recent photo I captured.
At first glance, it might seem like a messy composition, almost claustrophobic, like there’s no room to breathe. But that’s exactly what I was going for. Follow me in this analysis…
In street photography, one of the things I’ve always been drawn to is the idea of immersion. I don’t just want to capture a scene; I want to throw you into it. That’s why I framed this shot so tight. It’s like you're in the middle of this bustling crowd, surrounded by people, and there’s no easy way out. You can’t see their full faces, you’re forced to focus on details, like the shiny strands of hair or the slight glint of the earring. It’s raw, in your face, and doesn’t leave much room to escape.
A little note here: I recently proposed as an analysis a photo that goes to the opposite with a subject very far from my lens. And this is an invitation to think: there are no universal solutions or approaches to photography. It all depends on the moment and the scene in front of us. It is not about always photographing at close range or far away but to take the best photograph we can of the scene in front of us. Photography is solving problems where the problems are the compositions.
For me, this close-up composition is a way to create tension, but also intimacy. You might not know these people, but for a brief moment, you’re right there with them. And in that tight frame, there's a narrative, you wonder what’s ahead, where they're headed, or maybe what's happening in the rest of the street, just out of the shot.
The fact that the main subject in the foreground is out of focus works perfectly to give this sensation of imponderable and helps create narrative tension, to make you feel like you are there and the person is quickly passing you by. I feel it and you feel it.
It’s all about the energy of the moment. I was in this busy street in Mexico City, and it was packed. The sun was hitting just right, casting strong shadows, and there was this constant flow of movement. Instead of stepping back to show the full scene, I went the opposite direction and entered in. Sometimes the story isn’t in the whole view but in fragments, little pieces of a larger puzzle.
That is where the camera in zone focus works great. I don’t believe that anything needs to be in focus, and I love when a when a passerby crosses the street right in front of me. I already know that that is a distance where I will find her out of focus. By photographing with a 28mm lens (the 14mm on my Olympus Pen) to get close that way is also a funny experience that which gives a lot of satisfaction when you manage to fill the frame like in this case.
I encourage you to play with proximity in your compositions. Don’t always go wide and "safe." Get uncomfortable, both for yourself and for your viewers. Get close, and you’ll find that you’re not just capturing a photo; you’re creating an experience.
