Interview with Monty Barham

Washington D.C. certainly has no shortage of opportunities for street photographers, and Monty Barham knows how to take advantage of them. Monty is a D.C. area dweller himself and now that he’s retired from his job with the federal government, he enjoys spending his time taking street shots in and around his nation’s captial city.

Monty has a keen eye for capturing stunning candid street portraits. In fact, he has perfected the art of getting up close and personal without getting noticed. We spoke with Monty about his photographs, his methods, and even his favorite places to shoot. To hear our conversation with this talented artist, click on the audio player below.

A Selection of Monty’s Photos

St. Port

Street Fight

Nuns

Pioneer Lady

Santa Fe

Look

Wheelchair

Child Crying

Hands

Hands Hug

Hi

Kid Being Kid

Monty’s Gear

Sony RX100
Fuji X100S

Monty’s Recommended Photographer(s)

Monty’s Favorite Place to Shoot

Around the Gallery Place Metro in Washington, DC

Monty Barham

Monty Barham was born (1952) and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Since he never showed any interest in tobacco, ACC basketball, hunting, or NASCAR, he grew up mostly as the oddball loner. After high school, in which his teachers’ had labeled him “a bit slow”, he found himself in the US Navy, stationed aboard a destroyer, heading for a combat tour of Vietnam. Later out of the military, he decided he needed to make smarter life choices so off to attend college he went. He made stops at Western Carolina University and East Carolina University. Now wiser, but not necessarily smarter, he eventually obtained a Masters in Library Science in 1978. The next stop was naturally the work world... Sad to say the work world wasn’t quite ready for him... he embarked on a zigzag odyssey as a private investigator, security guard, health claims clerk, grocery bag boy, warehouse worker.... just to name a few of the more glamorous ones. It was in graduate school when he became fascinated (really obsessed) with street photography after discovering Robert Franks’ seminal book, The Americans. So he walked the streets of Greenville, NC, taking photos with his beloved Pentax K1000....it was all there in black and white, his failed attempt to copy Franks’ style... the photos were really bad.. so he gave up photography for reasons both compelling and sundry. Turn a couple of pages.... Now married and with kids, living in the DC area, and bless his heart in the midst of some semblance of an actual career... He jumped back into street photography. It’s the 1990’s and the streets of Washington DC and Baltimore are available for him to walk and photograph. This time around the photos are a little better... finally he might be on to something!! And of course, he walked away again from street photography for various reasons both sundry and compelling. Turn some pages, in 2013, now newly retired after a long career in a hamster wheel (cubicle included), his lovely wife, Beverly, presented him a Sony digital camera for Christmas and told him to get back to what he did best and get busy... So he did.