Hans Leeuwenburgh on Street Photography

On finding his passion…

That was a very slow process. My interest in photography in general came very late. At first I didn’t take it very seriously and I was more interested in paintings, music and architecture. A few years ago though, I saw a documentary about Vivian Maier and that was the beginning of my passion for street photography.

On architecture…

I live in Rotterdam and am surrounded by great architecture. I am not very interested in photographing the most beautiful buildings, rather, I want to use the architecture to create compositions, interesting backgrounds, light, spaces, etc., to create my own scene. Because I am not much of a traveller, (almost all my pictures are shot in Rotterdam) it has become a challenge for me to focus only on Rotterdam. Every time I go shooting I force myself to see the city from a different perspective.

On his sense of perspective and composition when creating dramatic scenes…

I think my perspective comes from my musical background and the fact that I have also drawn and painted a lot in the past. As a classical musician, I am used to thinking about compositions, rhythms, drama etc. and I learned to recreate what was made by a composer. I think that’s always in the back of my mind. I used it in my drawings and now I use it as a starting point in my photography, mostly unconsciously.

On color vs. black and white…

I like both, it really depends on the picture and what is neccessary for the composition or the story you want to tell. I found shooting in color much more difficult, because it can distract you from the subject and if done wrong, your picture soon looks like an ordinary holiday picture. But color can be a very expressive tool and some really beautiful street pictures have been made in color. Saul Leiter (one of my favorites) is a good example of this.

On people in street photography…

I try to use the architecture in my street pictures more like a tool to navigate the eye to the person in the picture. Ultimately, the person in the picture is the most important, even if 75 to 90 percent of the image is architecture. I think the people in my pictures are a little bit a reflection of my own character. By nature, I am a rather shy person and not much in the foreground. Maybe you can see that reflected in the people in my pictures.

On the message behind the images…

In comments on Flickr people sometimes say that they recognize the place but have never seen it like this. For me that a big compliment and a little bit wat I wanted to achieve. I think photography for me is about stealing from reality to create a new – and hopefully interesting – reality.

On lessons learned from street photography…

“A turtle sees more than a hare on the way”, I think we have to slow down to see the beauty of life.

Editor’s Note: You can see more of Hans’ work by visiting his Flickr photostream. Hans was selected from our Flickr group (Street Photography Magazine) where we regularly choose photographers’ work to be published in our magazine.