Featured Street Photographer of the Week: Ati Sun

What drew you to street photography initially?

Travelling and photography always went hand in hand for me. While visiting different places of interest I realized that I was not very enthusiastic about capturing just the sights of a town (there are thousands of great images in high quality, taken under best conditions in the word wide web), but much more interested in recording photographically specific and unrepeatable moments, candid people and scenes of everyday life. So I began to take snapshots on the one hand and to include passers-by more and more deliberately in my compositions on the other hand.

It looks like you travel a lot. What city is your favorite for street photography and what are the pros and cons of shooting there?

As I love to visit places where I’ve never been before, I often spend just a few hours or days in one city and I know, most likely I will never come back again. I live in Germany where privacy laws are strict. The publishing of photos without consent of the recognizable shown person is prohibited. So I really enjoy shooting abroad. Nevertheless, I use a small camera and try to not draw attention to myself.

This is a really cool image:

Where did you take it? Does it have an interesting back story?

It was on a cruise trip in the harbor of Alesund, Norway, a vessel being opposite of our cruise ship. I realized the almost surreal feeling of this minimal composition. Luckily it happened that a second couple appeared in the other “window” and I took the shot.

What advice would you give someone that is just starting out with street photography?

Don’t hesitate. The “decisive moment” may pass very quickly 🙂 Stay on again and again, one day you will see a unique and different way your intuition leads you to.

What has street photography taught you?

Street photography means lots of pleasing memories to me. Sometimes it connects me with unknown people even if only for 1/125 seconds 🙂 It teaches me to be attentive and open-minded.

Be sure to check out Ati Sun’s Flickr photostream to see more images like these.