The Sauce of Street Photography

You know I live in Mexico and I love sauces…spicy sauces!

We are used to think Street Photography is essentially to go on the street and taking pictures. And yes, reduced to the substance of this it is, but there is obviously much more and the ingredients for a good sauce, er, a good street are many. The ones you see written on my moleskine give a good idea.

Many Street Photographers consider, for example, today that the best focal range is the 35mm and others will go with the 28mm…we tend to forget that Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed mostly with a 50mm lens. But hey, the 27mm lens by Fujifilm is a good one for street photography, in my opinion and is an equivalent to a 41mm in FF! The lens that I am using currently on my Fujifilm XPro2 is a 25mm that is equivalent to a 37.5mm…the photographer needs to make his own lens, his vision. Because any photographer looks and frames in a different way.

Another commonplace is about getting close. It can’t be a rule, guys. This just depends by the situation, the subject, what you want to highlight…The only rule that I know is that there are not rules. So…you guys need to learn to make your own sauce. This is the secret.

Returning to those notes written in the notebook, take them for what they are: notes to myself, notes for my students ... sometimes they help me to condense. They are mind maps. Street Photography is easy and difficult at the same time. As I said, there is not a rule, or better…you make your own rules. And you can change them.

The sauce.