How to shoot? (part I)

Street photography is a very broad term and covers a lot of ground within the realm of photography. Some are using a mobile phone to make their street photographs; others are using expensive gear like a Leica. What works for someone else, maybe doesn’t suit your kind of photography (or wallet). There are different styles of shooting, and I don’t think you can learn street photography from workshops that some street shooters out there offer. If anything, street photography is very personal and it deserves a personal style of shooting. Sure you can learn about composition and the rule of thirds, the golden ratio etc, but you most probably don’t have to spend your hard earned cash doing so. There is something called the Internet…and by a simple Google search you have access to a vast amount of knowledge. This being said, workshops are of course not only a source to learn, but also an opportunity to meet other people with the same interest in photography. So if you want to meet other street photographers a workshop would probably be a great idea, but for educational purpose I would say it is a bit overrated.

For me at least, the best way to develop my skills as a street photographer (or any kind of photography) is just to go out and shoot as much as possible. I prefer to walk the streets alone; I want to be stealthy so I dress in a way that doesn't stand out in a crowd. I prefer dark clothes and black cameras. I walk slowly and I try to not make any fast sudden movements. When I think of it, it is a bit like dancing in slow motion. The most important thing of all is to observe, really observe. I pretend I am an alien from some distant civilization that crashed on planet earth with a Fuji X100 in my hand (or the preferred camera of the day). The most ordinary things are put into a new light and you start to see things you would have missed otherwise. I am a nature person that loves to be out in the wild doing bird watching, swimming in a lake or the ocean, hiking or mountain climbing etc. So when I enter the crowded streets, it is like going to the zoo with a camera, shooting pictures of the animals. Sometimes I have a theme or a task that I am shooting for, but every street session is a practice run. Just like an athlete has to train regularly to stay in shape and get better, a street photographer has to do the same. For me right now, it’s all about training my eye, my composition, my distance determination, when to shoot and when not to shoot.

The most important thing of all is to learn the camera you are using. The best thing is probably to just use one camera and one focal length, and to get really familiar with that set up. Try to really learn every little thing about the camera, how it behaves in a certain situation and how to control the camera with muscle memory rather than your brain. Use all your brain power to analyze your visual input instead of fiddling with the camera. Here I have done it difficult for me; I use a lot of different cameras and focal lengths as I find it refreshing to use different cameras and approaches to my street photography.

To be continued…