Street Photography, Comfort Zone and the Zen approach
You know, I am an old street photographer that continues to propose things that are not common nowadays. And this is why this blog goes in a direction that is completely different from any other blog.
DowntownZen - Mexico City, 2021
Canon EOS REBEL T3 + EFS 24mm f2.8
f/8 1/500sec. ISO 100
OK, I am a good blogger putting, for once, the EXIF data.
Which perhaps sound provocative. How dare you propose a 10-year-old camera?
Many times street photographers talk about getting out of the comfort zone. But what does it mean? And above all do they really apply it?
Talking about cameras that are our work tools, essential for charity, but always and only instruments I gave up on DSLRs in 2010, when a lot of photographers said me that I was crazy. Instead I not only predicted where the camera market would go but I also made a conscious choice that helped me a lot in my way of photographing. The choice to go back to photographing with cameras that today are considered, especially by street photographers, obsolete and not responding to certain solicitations required by street photography is a choice definitely out of the comfort zone. Yet with some reasonable reasons: a combact reliable camera for the barrios, with a huge (compared to mirrorless) battery life. Then, if I have to say it all, compared to certain mirrorless cameras that in the end have the shape of a DSLR (see the XT10 I'm selling) even with the ridiculous fake prism (please stop to make fake things), then I prefer t work with this old Canon that weighs very little with the 24mm pancake.
To work with gear considered outdated today is not just to choose to stay out from the comfort zone. In fact it is a considered choice, compared to what I want from my photography. There is not a perfect solution in photography but there may be the perfect solution for you. And for me. Are there any cons in my choice? Sure! But I have to know how to live with it and get something positive out of these difficulties too. Also through this attitude I have grown and continue to grow as a photographer.
Zen in this case is reflected in the image you see shared for this post. Zen understood as mindset. A particular one. Many times I remark how my way of photographing is characterized by an immediate and therefore instinctive reaction. I haven't had many opportunities to write about how much getting into a certain state of mind, special focus while doing street photography, is key in my wandering with the camera.
Street Photography can be a walking meditation. Think about it.
