How to be a good Street Photographer
Over 16 years making Street Photography. I have some experience to be able to write this post for the benefit of those who start.
First of all
This is a basic handbook and they are not tables of laws. In fact, forget about the rules and indulge in what your seeing and feeling the world is. These are my tips based on my experience as both a street photographer and a photo coach. You can take everything, just part or nothing. The choice is yours, just like on the street.
Choose the best gear for you
Street Photography is not about the best camera or the last one released on the market. Choose a camera allowing to work on the street at the best. Street Photography can be made with film and digital cameras. It can be made even with a smartphone. With an automatic point & shoot or a camera with a slow autofocus to the point you will decide to work in manual focus.
My tip: to have full control and to create your personal photography better a camera where you will use the zone focusing technique. If you go in partial AUTO exposure use the triangle method by leaving only one of the 3 settings (Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO) in AUTO mode. Example: ISO Auto, Aperture and shutter Speed manually. for the lenses I recommend the classic focal range of 28mm and 35mm. In any case, do not go beyond 40mm.
Fill the frame
So many decalogues recommend to get close to your subjects. I don’t agree. What about a shy person? And when you start you will not get close to subjects. Also for me that advice doesn't make much sense: I believe that every situation is different and requires you to be near or far depending on what you are framing.
My tip: focus your attention on what is really important to make it evident in the image and try to clean the frame as much as possible so that you get only what really matters to make them understand what you wanted to show.This operation of cutting out what is not interesting at first will be difficult to do directly in the shot, so I recommend reviewing your images and seeing where there are negative and absolutely irrelevant parts. Some can be tolerated, others definitely not. You have to educate your vision. Studying other photographers' books is recommended.
Take your camera everywhere
Street Photography can’t be an hobby. Street Photography needs to be part of your life constantly. When I started I had to understand that having the eye as a viewfinder is a fundamental requirement for those who do this type of photography. As street photographers we are not like other photographers who carry the camera bag only in front of a project or an assignment.
My tip: Choose a camera that won't bother you wherever you are. It can be an old camera, the least expensive, the least flashy and bulky, it can be your mobile phone if you use it to take pictures (I don't). When i shoot film film I prefer to think less and focsing my attention on composition so I love the automatic point & shoot. But this is up to you.
No rules are written
Stop to think on what they say. Henri Cartier-Bresson didn’t crop images and Garry Winogrand never shot from the hip. Street Photography is about you and what you have so special to communicate through your images. The only thing to count is the result. And anything justifies the make the goal that in our case is: to have the photo we wanted.
My tip: Shoot by framing through the viewfinder is the best option you have, but sometimes, certain situations and to have the photo we want is not possible so shooting from the hip needs to be in your bag of skills. It is not just about how you frame, of course. Let’s forget any imposition because there are not rules to observe. Only the result matters.
Street photography is legal and ethical
This is the most controversial and probably the most debated issue when it comes to Street Photography. To make street photos is legal most of the time.With that said we have to consider how our society changes constantly and the world is closing in an oppressive grip of fundamental rights that are less and less guaranteed, even threatened when not already violated. Let me say a thing: there is not an ethical Street Photography and an unethical Street Photography. There are persons, individuals who behave ethically and others who do not. And this can be seen through the photos they take.
My tip: I have no problem photographing certain categories of people. I don't have a blacklist of what I shouldn't photograph. And I also find it an immensely stupid code, among other things never respected by the greats of photography. The only thing that interests me is to take a good photograph and, if successful, propose it to those who like to see photographs. That's all. Street photography is all about showing the world as it is. Leaving children, homeless, or light poles outside is portraying a world that is not complete and therefore not real. If you are a respectful person who loves people and the world, this will show in the photos you make. Otherwise you will notice exactly the opposite.
Be part of the street
One of the things I most recommend is to really live the street to tell it. No story can be sincere if you feel in some way a foreign body to what you intend to tell. If you don't connect with the places where you photograph, how do you pretend to represent them? Also remember that the street has its own rules, rules which among other things change from one place to another. This can also save your neck.
My tip: If your street photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not living the street enough. It is my statement,borrowed from a famous phrase by Robert Capa, that I publish in any issue of THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHER NOTEBOOK.
Be a better individual
This is the first thing. The better you are as a person, the better the photos you take. By this I mean both spiritually and culturally. I have been able to see how certain readings have improved me as a photographer. I study texts on sociology, cognitive psychology, essays on oriental spirituality and all this in a certain way flows into my photographic research.
My tip: Maybe I'm getting old but in personal improvement there is growth not only as a person but also as a photographer and this is why even if some disagree, photography does not lie about the essence of the person. I am not talking about a single shot but in the calculation of all the images it is possible to decipher what kind of person you are. Whether he/she is respectful or not at all. Being in harmony with the universe and with myself helps me to understand the world more and this results in undoubtedly better images.
Conclusions
If street photography can be a pleasant obsession, certainly we as human beings are complex and multi-faceted. In addition to photography, I have many other interests. I exercise my body with weights and ride a bicycle, I watch a lot of cinema and read a lot of books. I write and I am interested in politics. I try to understand the world also by completely reviewing my positions with respect to a given theme. I am an open and extremely curious person. I pursue rationality and logic and this especially in these times, dark times, can represent a problem.
Cooking is undoubtedly another great passion and I assume I'm a decent one at the stove. All my interests, from music to reading, converge in my visual research as a street photographer. I have never seen, not even at school, the individual activities divided into watertight compartments.
I really hope you enjoyes this piece for you, guys. Stay tuned with this blog because I will share more.
