street shooters?

back alley

back alley

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any street shooters here?

wanna talk technique, style?

this is my preferred area of photography.
i have dabbled in wedding & portraits but alsways come back to the streets.
 
I do street, starting in 1954 (old guy, here). Most of it has been with 35 mm, although often MF, either Rolleiflex TLR or Mamiya 6, which a lot of lately. For color or b&w I use 400 speed or faster except slides, for which I prefer 100 speed Fuji or Kodak. This is all pretty standard stuff. For my first 15 years of photography I used RF cameras with 50 mm lenses exclusively for 35 mm, my favorites being screw mount Leica and a Kodak Retina IIa, but I tried many others and was okay with most of them. I especially liked small, good quality amateur grade cameras because they were less likely to be scrutinized than professional looking outfits.

At a certain point I got interested in a wider angle point of view and acquired a Leica M4. By the late 60s my normal lens was a 35 mm, so the nice old fixed lens cameras were less useful to me and also screw mount Leicas. With anything other than a 50 mm they are a PITA to use because of the need for accessory finders.

In street photography, photo techniques tend to be pretty standardardized. Blending in is another challenge. I figured that covering my Leica chrome with black tape would make me less conspicuous, but people kept approaching me to ask why my camera was covered with tape. Attitude is the most important element to master in this art/sport, IMHO.

I don't have a web page, but sometimes my photographs get posted by a client, arts organization or others. At present there are only two sets floating in the ether, featuring samples from 2 recent shows:

http://columbusart.com/artscene/mayzak.html

and

http://www.columbusart.com/artscene/zakfoto.html

Czech it out.
 
very nice znaps!
i prefer b&w so i'm more drawn to those but i really like the colour shot of the birds on the street lamps.

i started in 35 mm and quickly discovered that 35 and 85/100 were my favourite lenses.
i have shot with various slr brands over the years but i think my favourite would have to be the olympus om series of cameras. they had very nice lenses and they were small.
i also had a minolta cle for a while with all 3 lenses and i loved that camera. i never should have sold them.
i now use the mamiya 6 with 75 & 150 lenses.
as i mentioned before i prefer b&w mostly using the ilford delta films.
as to shooting style, i mostly try to stay in the background. i discovered years ago that if i stay in one place for awhile i seem to 'disappear', at least no one seems to notice me and i'm mostly left alone.
 
BA, I have a hunch that the OM was a street shooter kind of SLR. Some of my favorite photogs (Eugene Richards, Ken Heyman) use them extensively. OMs seem to go well with Leicas, too. Their lenses focus correctly, unlike Nikons which focus in the wrong direction (not that there's anything wrong with it).

Thanx for the Hatz, Francisco. Chicago looks just like it did when I visited in June. I have some friends there to visit from time to time. It is rich in "street," as I am sure you know well.
 
the om's were a great street camera. at the time of their introduction they were the complete opposite of every other 'pro' camera. they were so small & light while the others were getting bigger & bigger all the time.
 
Now, joe... let's talk technique and style, let's compare notes...

I'm not good at shooting from the hip, so I shamelessly put the camera to my face, try to meter and compose as fast as possible (with a Canonet, metering is done by shutter priority; this means, I set the shutterspeed first and hope to expose well) before shooting. Some of my shots are decent, others are just good fodder for recycling (and the negs go to the garbage). However, lately, I've learned to do some, say, captures of people that I can feel proud of.

I like capturing people's expressions in settings such as fairs and festivals. Also cases of people designing shapes, like tunnel visions in markets, three individuals dressed exactly the same way, sitting by a door, street performers, grafitti with a person walking right into it, night shots of people and buildings... The streets of Chicago, while beautiful, aren't too helpful for what I do. Maybe I can't be too as I've been when I travel, mostly because I can go to Chicago with certain frequency, whereas trips to NY or Washington DC only come when I have to go to a conference. Just let me add this: for street photography there's no town like NY.

But then, that's my thing. I'll see to post some of my street shots on phototalk.net later. Let's hope my Scalas from Cartagena come sometime soon!
 
francisco,

for me, one of the keys is to relax.
stay in one place for awhile and slowly start to disappear or blend into the environment.
look more interested in your camera than actually taking pictures. or, the opposite, ignore the camera till its time to shoot.
i live in a relatively small place that is very conservative. but like most cities, it has a popular avenue with lots of bars, coffee shops and stores. this is my favourite place to shoot. it's much easier to get lost in.
as to the camera itself - i use hyperfocal distance for focussing and pre set the meter with a close average setting for most of whats around me. i shoot quickly and if i have the luxury of time then i will focus and meter 'properly' for a second shot.
 
My attempts at hyperfocal distance failed miserably, Joe, so I decided to be bold and thank people if they see me. A couple of times I've been asked if I'm a reporter or about the purpose of my shots, but most people do nothing.

You're right when it comes to being relaxed. It's taken me a while to learn this; I've gone from shooting frantically to simply walk around with my wife, camera in hand, down the streets of Chicago. If I see something I believe I can capture, I turn bold and shoot. Otherwise, I can save film for later.

Have you posted your street shots somewhere? I have some (not too good) in Photo.net and Phototalk.net.
 
just my two cents worth but i find the best rangefinder for street photography the olympus ec. it has zone focus where you estimate the distance to the subject, set it on the lens dial and shoot. three set points are for under 15 feet and the last is 15 feet to infinity (90% of street shots are this distance). even if you are off in your estimated distances you will end up with a soft picture, but usable.
 
I don't really do street work, I probably will someday though. But when I wanna do a candid shot I just remove the finder from my Nikon F2 (and the lenses do focus the right direction) and shoot from the hip, which I have gotten pretty good at after presetting focus (good candid's of friends have come out doing this.
 
A very good street artist: Jeff Spirer. He frequently posts at photo.net, but has his own website: www.spirer.com

He has impressive work with Leicas.

BTW, Gipsy, there's a mispelling in your website quote. It's www.pinkheadedbug.com

You have an "s" where it should be a "d". It's, indeed, good.
 
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Hi All,

I take a decent street photograph once in a while, but it's not my strength - I do better when the subject doesn't move too quickly... tombstones, for example :)

I very much admire the streetshooting work of Dave Beckerman of New York City www.davebeckerman.com

Best regards,
SteveR
 
Greetings to all!

I also enjoy street photography. I live a schizophrenic existence between SLR and rangefinders. Lately, I have been going out with a Bessa R2 and a 25mm lens, using the hyperfocal indicator on the lens and shooting without benefit of focus. I think that it will take a while before this method yields really satisfactory results, but it sure is fun to frame and shoot and not worry about focus or the time it takes to acquire focus. I'll report on my progress ---- or change of plans

I look forward to chatting with you all!

Regards

Alan
 
Hi, all! Yupp, I do streetphotos too. A while with Rolleiflex TLRs, nowdays with a Bronica RF645 and a Bessa-R2. Lenses around normal, 35-50mm. I use Tri-X film only these days, develop in HC-110.

My main focus is the streets where I live and work. The coastal city Stavanger in Norway has not got any tradition of streetphotography. Photography in general and streetphoto in particular is not as well established in Norway as in the US where you had a streetphoto style of journalism, art and culture emerging in the early 20-ies. Doing SP in Norway has its ups and downs. Downs since it is not widely accepted, ups since the competition isn't very big.

I am doing some amateurish exhibitions from time to time. That is the fuel keeps me running.

I am doing a PAW - Picture A Week - a phenomena born in the LUG community 3 or 4 years ago . My PAW is actually not a Picture a Week, its more a Print a Week. I dont shoot, develop and print the same week. I print all my work in a conventional darkroom.


The prints are scanned and uploaded to a website: http://www.henning-jansen.com/portfolios/PAW2003/ I did a PAW last year as well: http://www.henning-jansen.com/portfolios/PAW2002/

For inspiration and beautiful pictures I go here: http://www.ordinarydays.com/
 
Neat job, Henning, although I must admit: your geometric/assymetric compositions are a lot better than some of your people shots (there's one of a guy apparently looking into a hole, which is great; I also liked the bench with shadow and the lonely chair). It seems you're pioneering the field in Norway!

Joe, thanks a bunch for the link. I'll make a small chart and stick it inside my Canonet's case. Let's see what happens!
 
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