Street Photography: Is it for you? (Part 1)

The 99 Percent. Boulder, Colorado, 2011

Street photography is a very popular genre, but it can be quite difficult to get good results. The above image is one of my attempts at it. If you want a serious goal to shoot for, though, take a look at Henri Cartier-Bresson’s  (1908-2004) classic “decisive moment” work or the impressive images of Garry Winogrand (1928-1984). A current, lesser-known, photographer that I personally like is John Crosley, a guy who really should get more recognition for his work.

There are several techniques for shooting “Street” that you might try:

1) Use a long lens and shoot from a distance so that your subject(s) are not aware.

2) Use a shorter focal length lens, shoot from close in, but do it quickly so your subect(s) can’t react and are caught in natural poses. (To see this done to the cheeky extreme, check out Bruce Gilden’s  way of working the streets of New York in this video.)

3) Talk to your subject(s) first, then ask them to pose, or ask if you can photograph them doing whatever they were doing when you arrived.

4) Spend time over days, weeks and months getting to know an area of your town/city and its people. Gain their confidence, then start your photographic documentation.

There are good photographers who use any one or all of these techniques. The important thing is to create an image that has impact–something that shows strong emotion, strange juxtaposition/composition, and/or an unusual moment in street life. A master street photographer’s image will show many layers of interesting content that reveal themselves only with time and careful scrutiny, for example, in this image by Gary Winogrand: “LA Sidewalk.”

Street photography will definitely push your comfort level at times, and it may not be for you. In the next blog, I’ll talk about some specific techniques as well as some dos/don’ts of street photography that might help you ease into it.