A small guide to Street Photography PT. 12
In this part 12 I propose you assignments.
Downtown, Mexico City 2021
When I prepared this list of assignments I put myself in the shoes of the reader and therefore no absurd things will be proposed. I'm not going to tell you to go to a certain place without a camera to study it. Because for me you should always have the camera with you.
I want to avoid also things that are not useful for a street photographer. Any assignment here focuses on the training for a street photographer, and I am sharing tasks that can be made from the beginner to the advanced.
Billboards
Level: Beginner
It is the first assignment I recommend to beginners. By putting yourself even in the other side of the street you can photograph avoiding to photograph in face of a subject. It is the ideal formula to begin and avoiding a bad experience at the first try with street photography.
Corners
Level: Beginner
Choose a particularly busy street corner. Pay attention to the flow of people. Get into the rhythm. Observe how light falls on subjects and on the walls. Change your position by even a few centimeters. With a wide angle lens like a 28mm you can effectively split the frame in two, creating an interesting dynamism.
Limitations
Level: Beginner
Photograph only JPG. Or shoot only 1 roll with your film camera. Other limitations useful to make you a more expert photographer can be shooting full manual or going in aperture priority or shutter speed priority. Any experience is fundamental to become a good street photographer, so try them all.
Work a scene
Level: Beginner
Choose a place and stay there. Observe. A lot. Observe again. Take camera viewfinder to your eye. Frame repeatedly but only shoots when the scene deserves.
Ask permission to interesting subjects for a portrait
Level: Beginner
OK, maybe this seems to be not street photography, but I recommended that to my students that need to overcome the fear to photograph on the street. This exercise is very effective to get confident and after photographing people without asking.
One camera, One lens
Level: Beginner
Actually I consider this condition a way to go most of the time on the streets. By carrying with you only your camera you will enjoy more your photo walk, you will feel yourself lighter and therefore freer in the movements, with the result that you will probably walk more and take a lot more photos.
Don’t think
Level: Beginner
Go for a walk where you don’t think so much to framing and content. Just photograph. Empty and busy streets, the floor, suddenly turn around and take a photo, no matters what is. Photograph in a quick way: the faster the better.
Provoke
Level: Medium
Act in a way to provoke a reaction from a stranger. Make it clear that you are taking a picture of that person. Make eye contact but still avoid being rude. Rather, in evidence, your shot could smile and say thank you.
Flash them!
Level: Medium
Go back to that corner or a particular busy street and with the built in flash of your camera or an external flash unit start to photograph people with flash. Just remember not being rude. Be gentle. In any case by using flash the possibility of confrontations is more likely so be prepared.
Flash him/her in a solitary street
Level: Medium
In secondary streets with few people passing by use the flash to photograph the subjects.
Gestures
Level: Medium
Yes, I consider this task medium level. Good photos with relevant gestures can lead you to realize great street photography.
Strangers in town
Level: Medium
Go to the local Chinatown, or Korea town or any neighborhood where there is a strong community of strangers. The goal is making a portrait of another country in your city.
Glasses
Level: Medium
Photograph people behind the windows of restaurants and cafes. Use reflections to create complex compositions. Provoke reactions that make the shot interesting.
Structures
Level: Medium
Learn to democratize your vision as a street photographer. There is nothing to avoid. Poles, traffic lights, billboards, cars, everything can and should be included in a street photograph.
Abstraction
Level: Medium
Now I propose the exact opposite. The proposal is to get so close to the point of subtracting any reference to the place where you photograph. It can be to photograph only a particular of the subject and a model of reference can be the close up photography of Mark Cohen.
A city portrait
Level: Medium
Photograph with the focus on making evident what is the city you are photographing: an inscription that indicates the city, a symbolic monument, any event of where we are and that makes impossible to be wrong with another city.
The wrong place
Level: Advanced
A place in downtown that it is not advisable to go to photograph because is notoriously dangerous. I recommend you to go with a cheap film or digital camera. Be vigilant when you find yourself there and avoid taking pictures unnecessarily.
In my neighborhood
Level: Advanced
Photograph your neighborhood with your street photographer approach. Please don’t take photos of buildings, you have to make street photography…in your ‘hood.
The popular
Level: Advanced
The popular neighborhoods are not often photographed by street photographers. The most prefer downtown because of the aesthetics but also for a personal security theme. Shareable, but I say that a true street photographer can also be seen in the fact that he/she is able to photograph anywhere. Is that difficult? Yes, in fact it is an advanced level assignment. Anyone is able to photograph in Coney Island and Venice Beach.
The forbidden place
Level: Advanced
Photograph where is forbidden: for example in certain countries is not allowed to photograph on subway. Supermarkets, commercial centers and parking lots are other places where the private rules count. Shoot there.
The assignments proposed as you can see are not focused on particular themes. I think all the assignments that propose themes are stupid when it comes to photography, that is a personal fact, based on your cultural background and who am I to say you to photograph hands or people eating: that is just stupid. And I know there are those publishing even books on that…well, me no. I just proposed you some useful exercises for your training as street photographers. Some easy, others are complicated and in some cases even dangerous.
I don’t want you to experience something bad and you know when is possible to make something. As a photographer and an individual I believe that sometimes we need to push our limits and also overcoming the fear if you want to achieve something important, in life and in photography.
Let me say something more. When I thought to write this guide for this blog I considered to give to my audience a different kind of stuff. To give you a street photography guide going against the usual and the common places. Also I want to offer a basic street photography guide very helpful to the most. In a way that you can say: now I really don’t need a basic street photography workshop. Indeed you don’t need it, especially after reading this guide.
My will is that photographers coming to me are already in need of an advanced workshop, and I can give it you.
Another thing, touching the theme of personal safety: most of the street photographers giving workshops are rich people, often dad's children, but you know: nice boys don’t play rock ‘n’ roll…I live in a popular barrio in Mexico City. And I photograph and I photographed in Cuautepec, Itzapalapa, EDOMEX, Tepito, even in criminal areas alone. I will never expose my students to danger, but I will give the elements and the training to photograph really in any place. And this is a big difference with the others.
