Street photography has been the driving force in photography since 2005, if not before. It has occupied about 80% of my time behind the camera since that time. But earlier this year I hit a wall. I was in a rut. I didn’t feel the need to go out and find the next shot. It was almost a type of depression. The bottom line, I was burned out on street photography. And didn’t know what to do about it. Under normal circumstances, I would have moved on to something else without a thought. But I
Humanism is in the Streets
All photographs were photographed on film. We must not lose sight that the street photograph requires a humanistic look into an outdoor opening measuring time through a camera-instrument with a mathematical shutter and aperture settings. It is the size of the Moment that equates with a non-judgemental scope, a homeless person living in a world that is their streets, while the busy business owner stands outside of the business to enjoy a breath of outdoor air. The ability of a
There’s No Place Like Home (For Street Photography)
There is a lot of wisdom for photographers to be found in the movie The Wizard of Oz. We hear from Glinda the Good Witch who wisely told Dorothy, "You've always had the power my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself." I interpret this to mean that we all have that spark of creativity within us that we must simply recognize and use. And then even more importantly, in her final instructions to Dorothy who sought to leave Oz she admonished her to believe that "There's no place like home." The
I Want to Crawl into My Stories
I am always looking for a story that I can crawl into. I make my living as an actor and a teacher of acting and my professional deformation is to reveal what lies beneath the surface of a character. So I have an insatiable curiosity about other people’s lives. How do you get through your day? What do you do? What do you think about? As a photographer observing behavior and telling myself stories about what I see on the streets keeps me in the zone of discovery. I’ve often wondered if I’ve
Making Street Photos without People
Do all street photographs have to include people? That question alone can spark lots of discussion in online forums. But my answer is “not necessarily.” When you think about it, our objective as photographers is to share our own unique vision of the world. If enjoy shooting subjects in public places without people fit your vision go for it. On the practical side shooting scenes without people gives you more control and time. You have the ability to visit the scene at different times of
Shutter Magic
For me, street photography means seeing ordinary things as unusual. Yes, I can't find better words to describe it. Certainly, photography is also a journey; new discoveries, surprises and movement, photography is full of mistakes and terrible shots but it is also the best shots in life! Photography is an experience that each of us abnormal eccentrics are looking for with a camera in our hands, just like drug addicts searching for their dose. The camera makes us go ahead, run, find points of
Sweet Life
When I first came across the Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken, I didn’t know what to make of him. I’d been a great admirer (like countless others) of Cartier Bresson’s work, which I considered a kind of poetic realism. You always know what you’re looking at in a Cartier Bresson shot. He stands back, shows you the reality he sees. Does it with grace and an uncanny sense of harmony. If that’s what you’re used to and like, though, van der Elsken can throw you. He couldn’t be more different. He
Footprints of Man – Street Photos Without People
Last February we traveled to Philadelphia to visit our son. I’ve been there many times but never to Center City. So we used this as an opportunity to stay in this very historic and interesting part of town. To make it a family affair, my daughter took the train from Virginia which gave us an opportunity to all be together for the first time in quite a while. This visit resulted in a photographic epiphany for me. My best street photography opportunity was Sunday morning when my daughter was
The Narrow Line Between Documenting and Exploiting in Photography
All photographs were photographed on film. Photography as we all know, is an extremely unconcealed medium with a conclusion showing a vision realized after the Moment has happened. Once the shutter button feels the aftermath of pressure being applied, the latent image, the image, the photograph has escaped. Even when private photographs are placed into the safes our own private spaces, our eyes will privately revisit what was photographed. When the photograph becomes famous, the world has its
Mitani Monogatari
Changing life, who never dreamt about it? That’s what I am trying to do. I’ve grown bored with my “salaryman” life. Because I don’t have the skills for it. Because I’ve grown tired of it. Because it doesn’t meet my expectations anymore. I left the big city, the noise, and turmoil. I went to the country, the silence, and peace. I moved to my wife’s parents’ place. It is a different world here. It is in the middle of the country. It is in the middle of the mountains. It is in the
The New York Photo League of the 1930s
It’s a curious thing, the street. You almost can’t say what it is. For sure it’s more than the pavement on which folks walk. Or the blacktop surface on which cars drive. The street really is the coming together of many things. It’s the packed-in tenements or apartment houses in a big city. It’s even the rooftops of those houses. Because folks go up on the rooftops at night to escape the heat of summer. It’s the fire hydrant or Johnny pump turned on, on those hot summer days. It’s the grocery