How do you approach street photography

I cast a broad net with the term "Street Photography." To me the street is a stage in which I enter every day in NYC when I leave my home. Some of my work some might be considered "Urban Landscape" by others because it is devoid of people, some other work could be called street portraiture because the subjects know I'm photographing them, but I still consider this all "Street Photography."

I live in NYC, don't own a car, and I consider myself a "Street Photographer" just because that's where I shoot. I definitely am not a "Studio Photographer." BTW I have a performance art background, but I'm no longer involved in theater at this time, but at one time I performed at Second Stage Theater (considered off-off Broadway), the Joseph Papp Public Theater (an important artistic institution), and many-many colleges and universities throughout the north east. For me the street is just a stage weather I'm an actor or an observer just taking shots.

Perhaps because of my background in drama and because I self identify myself as an artist I embrace risk and danger. Had my share of bad experiences with the police, been detained on several occasions, but never arrested even though I was trespassing and clearly breaking the law.

For me the word "Tourist" is a derogatory term, and I like to not only shoot in abandoned or neglected areas that are not yet fully conquered, but I live in NYC neighborhoods where I really stand out in and don't belong. Right now I live in Spanish Harlem, but I also lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which was, when I lived there, perhaps the largest Polish speaking community in the U.S. Basically every day when I came home I was unwelcomed and remained an outsider for the 4 years I lived there, and I actually lived in the "Southside" of Williamsburg Brooklyn before it got conquered by hipsters and lived in a very near empty part of Long Island City.

Cal
 
Peter Wijninga said:
Locate an interesting area. Get ready with the camera in hand and walk around, not aimlessly but with the intent of taking photographs. For me, anything goes, except the Bruce Gilden approach...i.e. firing a big flashgun in peoples' faces.
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Last "Fashion Night Out" shot a Pentax 67II with flash at night. Had the most powerful integrated flash made for the camera. I'm sure I blinded people not only because it was at night, but I was also shooting 50 ISO color slide film.

Cal
 
Just looking at what is going on often does not help me all that much. I find that what works best for me is if I observe the street and interactions through the viewfinder.

I can then visualise what the final image might be. And when I see something emerging I can recognise it immediately without having to think much about how it would look in a photo. (Of course it helps with speed too - images emerge and disappear so quickly in such settings that the fraction of a second saved helps a lot.)

In general I find that when looking at images made by great photographers that I admire, e.g. like HCB, there is usually a unique arrangement of the parts of his images - For example, the people might be arranged in an interesting way or the play of light and shadow creates interesting patterns etc.

Learning from those greats, this is what I now look for - often I know it when I see it and I now often click the shutter button more or less without thinking.

If I were to look back at my collected work I find its often divided into different categories - like the following:

1) Attactive women (attractive women are always interesting even to other women)

2) Attractive men (slightly less interesting that attractive women but still better than run of the mill subjects)

3) People with "interesting" faces (Here is where the craggy, ugly toothless types might get their chance but only if they have that certain something that makes for a good image).

3) People doing something interesting (We all take too many photos of people just walking about)

4) Images which are a bit enigmatic - eg reflection of the street scene in windows or tad under exposed leaving something in the image to guess about.

5) Images in which there is an interesting relationship between the elements as I described above with HCB

Thats about it really. I do find that too often many photos (inlcuding mine) have little interest - uninteresting people in uninteresting streets doing boring things. I try to cull many of these out as they have little or no "eye impact".

It is the eye impact that is important as far as I am concerned. I am not a reporter - I class myself as an artist. (I may be a poor artist but thats another matter!)
 
My favorite method is to find a place where I "feel a vibe" then pick a spot where I can have a good vantage point. I would typically stand there without taking a shot. After 10-15 minutes, people just ignore me. At that point, I start taking photos. Large town squares (like the Mexico City Zocalo) are perfect for this approach. I prefer "environmental" street photography, in which I capture local people in their elements.
 
I don't. When I was younger and people thought it was a novelty to have a teenager pointing an old camera at them I was comfortable with it and made some decent photos. Now that I'm getting older I just feel like a voyeur/or that people are creeped out by my presence and cannot bring myself to do it anymore, so I've all but stopped entirely. Example been that shot DNG (who I just realised is a flickr contact of mine, hi Peter!) posted of the children on the steps, I would never even consider taking that shot where I live. People are way too paranoid of guys with cameras around here. Although, perhaps I too am been paranoid lol
 
Heres a couple of great quotes by Bresson.
"What reinforces the content of a photograph is the sense of rhythm – the relationship between shapes and values." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event, as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression. I believe that through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us which can mould us, but which can also be affected by us. A balance must be established between these two worlds- the one inside us and the one outside us. As the result of a constant reciprocal process, both these worlds come to form a single one. And it is this world that we must communicate. But this takes care only of the content of the picture. For me, content cannot be separated from form. By form, I mean the rigorous organisation of the interplay of surfaces, lines and values. It is in this organisation alone that our conceptions and emotions become concrete and communicable. In photography, visual organisation can stem only from a developed instinct." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I agree and have a similar approach. Inspired by Bresson but I don't try to copy him instead looking for my own voice but humbled by his vision.

I am also inspired by Davidson, Meyerowitz, Robert Frank (especially) Winogrand....I do believe that a lot of street work I see today is just people on the street without any regard to visual elements that make a great image.
 
Heres a few things I've done. Not trying to say I'm in the same league as the ones I mentioned or many that post to this forum just trying to find my own way and I wanted to show where I am at this point in time. I do look for things like leading lines, repeating shapes, tone relationships and of course the moment when it all comes together.

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Interesting thanks for posting that. 73 and still rock'n the streets. I think the point that Bresson makes and I think he's right is you need to see something more in the work that just folks on the street for the work to be able to stand the test of time. A strong use of visual language as he says and I agree is important and you have to practice a lot to be able to see and capture that consistently. Thats my 2 cents....

One more quote by Bresson
"This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being a simultaneous coalition – an organic coordination of visual elements." - Henri Cartier-Bresson



Heres a couple of pieces one about The Americans by Robert Frank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtRZBDOgag

And Winogrand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl4f-QFCUek
 
A couple more quotes by another one of my favs
"Photography is an intransigent medium, and it's very hard to express yourself. After you get a certain technical facility — and from the very first I took 'good' pictures — you've got to get at what you feel." - Roy DeCarava

"You should be able to look at me and see my work. You should be able to look at my work and see me." - Roy DeCarava
 
I have to concentrate on looking and seeing... everything.

I have to be very quick and purposeful. Speed combined with technical competence counts. This doesn't mean firing off a burst of shots or quickly shooting from the hip and hoping it just works out. It means making a quick decision about framing before you raise the camera to your eye and then execute the decision.

Watching film of Winogrand at work inspires me.
 
I think the first place to start is thinking of street photography as a continuum between landscape and portraiture. Street is both and is usually a combination of the two. I have been particularly interested in portraiture but now I am expanding my work to encompass more landscape. I wrote a piece about my transition here and provided some shots.

That's my basic perspective. I don't try and analyze it too much more than that or get into the philosophy of it. I am intensly interested in street photography but strangely I feel that attempting to objectify it by thinking about the philosophy will take away from it. I don't want to put it into a box or a concept. I would rather put it into a 2x3 aspect ratio two-dimensional frame... (when I shoot 35mm anyway 🙂)
 
willie_901 said:
I have to concentrate on looking and seeing... everything.

I have to be very quick and purposeful. Speed combined with technical competence counts. This doesn't mean firing off a burst of shots or quickly shooting from the hip and hoping it just works out. It means making a quick decision about framing before you raise the camera to your eye and then execute the decision.

Watching film of Winogrand at work inspires me.
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Exactly its about seeing the moment not trying to blast through (DSLR FPS machine gun approach or spray and pray).

"For a subject to be strong enough to be worth photographing, the relationship of its forms must be rigorously established. Composition starts when you situate your camera in space in relation to the object. For me, photography is the exploration in reality of the rhythm of surfaces, lines, or values; the eye carves out its subject, and the camera has only to do its work. That work is simply to print the eye’s decision on film." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

I agree with this.
 
For me personally, I like to juxtapose the dynamic human being to the straight lines and seemingly abstract city. Or that's the way it's been lately anyway. Placing a (single) person in a frame to complement the city. I don't live in the city at the moment, but when moving back, I'm planning to start shooting with a much wider angle (24mm instead of 35mm) and more up close
 
Thank you Peter for sharing that video of the Japanese fellow - very interesting. There's a lot that I don't understand in this thread. Quotes get you only so far, just go out and shoot, and do it with your heart.
 
rbelyell said:
like most things in life, this is very subjective. i started many years ago like you, enjoying taking pictures of my family. but i was bored even then with 'posed' scenes and captures (though they have their place). so i started just trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and just take candid shots. this task has gotten much easier with the advent of small digicams. it has gotten especially easier if one adds an articulating externally added vf. looking 'down' is much more discreet than looking 'at' a subject.

so obviously, this desire for and enjoyment of 'candids' morphed into my particular type of street work. i view it as a 'slice of life' and as such i dont 'interact' with the scene, and am less concerned with formalistic and formulaic criteria and more concerned that i capture an interesting moment or scene. i typically have my settings to some kind of 'continuous' mode so i can snap off several quick captures in an effort to get that 'critical' moment.

sometimes i will come across a scene that is missing a person etc, and, if its good enough, i'll wait for the right one to 'come along', but thats as close as i get to 'organizing' a scene
....

best advice, do what you enjoy, have an open mind, experiment, and have a good time!
tony
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I can basically say "same here", to Tony's earlier post [w/o the technical comments about focal length].

Be open minded and sensitive to life around you to catch an interesting moment, an emotion.
Enjoy being part of it with just enough distance to be able to observe but not so much to be a voyeur, if this makes sense...
If you then bring in a little bit of the advice about composition and light and relation of objects that you just move up and down, to the side or wait just a second until the person is in the right spot, then it hopefully turns out to not just another boring shot but something worth looking at for a bit longer.
 
I just go out and walk the streets. I may make photos of people, I might not. The most important aspect of photography to me is to be open minded about subject matter. I don't really care about genres. Whatever will make a photo that makes me happy is what I will photograph. It could be dirt, garbage, people, text, signs, walls, doors, etc.
 
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