Fujifilm found itself in the middle of a heated debate about ethics and street photography yesterday, when one of the promo videos it released for the Fuji X100V sparked outrage among a certain segment of the company's fans on YouTube. The video has since been taken down.
I’m going to share with you 11 secrets that will help you up your night street photography game. These tips are based on what I teach paying customers on my London Soho Night Street Photography workshops, but don’t worry if you’re coming to one, I have many more secrets!
Today I'm going to talk about the correlation between lackluster street photography and avoiding taking risks when out shooting people in public. Before I do, however, I thought it would be helpful to first offer my own definition of street photography. If it does not align with your ideas on what street photography is, well that's perfectly fine. To each his or her own, right?
I think the question of whether something is or is not "art" is a bit disingenuous, often used more as a tool for gatekeeping than true analysis or critique. There is no objective standard for what makes something enjoyable as a piece of art, whether that's a photograph, music, sculpture, or a blade of grass in a field.
Photographer and YouTuber Evan Ranft recently decided to try something unusual. He wanted to see what would happen if he tried to use a 200-600mm lens for... street photography. And while the idea might sound silly on the face of it, you may be surprised by some of the results.
It can be very easy to arbitrarily limit oneself by genre; I think the effect this has on the mindset of a photographer can potentially really damage the quality of the work they look to produce.
I always wanted to shoot Japan during the winter when it was snowing, and earlier this year I got the chance when I headed to Sapporo—the biggest city in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. This city is seriously underrated for street photography.
Well-known portrait photographer and YouTuber Manny Ortiz recently gave himself a challenge. In an attempt to get out of a creative rut, he decided that he would try street photography for the first time. As those of you who regularly shoot in the street can probably predict, it didn't necessarily go so well.
For many years, the only lens focal length I felt comfortable with when doing street photography was a 50mm.
I mess up most of my street photography shots: too far away, background cluttered, subjects not well aligned, subject matter not interesting enough, or simply technically flawed. The Murphy’s Law of street photography: “If you can mess up a street shot, chances are you will.”
I went on a photo walk the other day with a friend who mostly shoots events and does client-focused work. The majority of the time we just talked about freelance work, but every now and then we’d see an interesting scene and capture it. We both shot on zoom lenses, but when she would show me her captures, I couldn’t help but notice how zoomed in she was.
As a street photographer, I like catching those quiet moments of solitude people have amidst the busy and hectic life of the metropolis. That's how my Daydreamers series was born. While combing through my archives and Instagram posts, I noticed I had a lot of photos of people with their eyes shut.
Kai Wong recently got together with street photographers Joshua K Jackson and Craig Whitehead (a.k.a. SixStreetUnder) to make this helpful 10.5-minute tips video containing 10 nuggets of wisdom for upping your street photography game.
I fell in love with Japan. Deeply. The culture, the clean streets, the friendly and respectful people and the full spectrum of experience that it offers. From high rise cities to quaint, beautiful gardens and temples. All within walking distance of each other.
Photographer Luc Kordas first moved from Europe to New York City in 2014 after living in six different countries in six different years. Since then, he has made his living as a photographer while doing street photography for himself. And one of the recurring subjects he has captured is the idea of loneliness in a big city.
Pau Buscató is a street photographer who has a knack for capturing playful moments in which subjects and scenes come together in curious ways for brief moments of time. Many of his pictures are illusions that may cause you to stare a little longer to understand what it is you're actually seeing.
Do you own and use a beloved 35mm or 50mm lens? Popular photography personality Kai Wong thinks you should consider trying out the middle ground between the two. He made this 11-minute video about why he thinks 40mm is actually the best focal length you can carry if you want a do-it-all prime lens.
Street photographer Jonathan Higbee is a master of spotting fleeting moments on the sidewalks of New York City in which things come together in strange and curious ways.
Carl Størmer was a Norwegian mathematician and physicist who's best known for number theory and studying auroras. Aside from his intellectual pursuits, Størmer was also an avid street photographer. When he was a 19-year-old college student, he used a hidden spy camera to shoot street photos in Norway in the 1890s.
If your job is keeping you busy and away from dedicated street photography, you may still be able to exercise your creative muscles during your trip to and from the office. Here's a 2-minute video by photographer Alan Ruic with a handful of street photos you can take while commuting to work.
Rinzi Ruiz is a talented photographer who discovered his passion for street photography on the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles. Here's a great 4-minute interview with Ruiz by StreetShootr about his mindset and work.
Today I used Lightroom Mobile to capture images on the street for the first time. I recently remembered that you can sync images from Lightroom Mobile right to the Lightroom desktop application. This was huge for me as I'm tired of syncing via Airdrop. It takes forever to select which images you want to import.
How do you photograph the same strangers on the street over the course of nearly a decade? Here's one strategy: visit the same street corner at the same time of day and capture them going to work. That's what Danish photographer Peter Funch did between 2007 and 2016.
Mea Shearim was established in 1874 as the fifth settlement outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Its name is derived from a verse in the weekly Torah portion that was read the week the settlement was founded: "Isaac sowed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundredfold (מאה שערים, Mea Shearim); God had blessed him" (Genesis 26:12).
In this 4-minute video by Wex Photographic, street photographer Matt Higgs takes up the challenge of capturing 30 street portraits of complete strangers in just 2 hours.
Insignificant Moments is a photo series by Australian photographer Thomas Ryan that juxtaposes tiny, lone human figures against the architecture of large structures.
Street photography can seem daunting. The idea of photographing strangers and intruding on their privacy might make you nervous, but this video by Eduardo Goye is full of tips for how to overcome this.
When I started out in photography, I always thought: if I could shoot in New York City, Tokyo, Paris or Amsterdam, my street photos would be much better... But it turns out that it's all about your imagination, creativity, and patience.
My name is Ricardo Lozano, and I'm a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. In my project Seldom Bored, I shoot photos to encapsulate what I know about life in New York City.
When street photographer Robin Schimko made the leap and purchased a Leica Q in 2015, he was hesitant. The price was steep, and the fixed lens made it a "glorified point-and-shoot." And yet, it has become his unequivocal favorite. Here are the 5 reasons why.
Street photography is a huge passion for us as well as essential development training for our wedding work. Each year we make multiple short excursions to cities across the world to see what we can find on the streets and one big, extended trip to give us a chance to really try and find the essence and soul of a particular city, country or culture.
Is the most egalitarian form of photography, ‘street photography’, being destroyed by its own popularity? Is such a thing even possible? I won’t profess to have a clear answer to this question, but I do have some thoughts. Those thoughts may turn into a rant, but I'll try to contain myself!
In 2015, photographer David Gaberle walked over 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) through some of the world's most metropolitan areas, photographing people in cities such as New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, London and Seoul. He's now turning this project into a book titled Metropolight.
Many street photography tutorials discuss the same topics over and over—focussing techniques, composition, candid shooting, etc. However, I believe that one topic is underrepresented: storytelling.
I miss India. The explosions of bold colour alongside subtle, pastel textures and hues. The juxtaposition lurking on every corner. The people—friendly, welcoming and warm. The insane city streets and the almost forgotten village walkways.
As of early 2017, my only camera is the Ricoh GR II, which has a fixed-focal 28mm lens. I wanted to share my personal experiences shooting with a 28mm lens, after shooting with a 35mm lens for almost 6 years.
2016 was a very interesting year for street photography. It seems that more and more color work is getting popular. Especially in scenes with high contrast light, color images seem to be on equal footing with their colorless counterparts.
The joy of photographing on the street comes from close and engaging photos. Displaying the human nature and emotions in a way that the audience can relive these moments requires the photographer to be close and engaging as well. Unfortunately for a lot of us, it is not easy to stand out from the masses and overcome artificial social boundaries.
The 50mm lens has been the 'standard' for street photographers for ages, but is it the best option available? Maybe not. Kai wanted to find out, so he pit the 50mm against a 35mm and 28mm, and went out shooting to find out which he liked best and why.
In 2013, 8 wedding photographers, scattered around the UK, decided to get together and take an October trip to Paris. We were to live together for a few days, wander the streets and dedicate each day to street photography. In the evening we would review and critique each others work.