Featured Street Photographer of the Week: Eddie Deponeo

What drew you to street photography initially?

I was drawn to street photography because I like to people watch and seeing the different faces – some sad, some happy, the different walks of life – as we all live in a multi-cultural society. Every day is a new one you never know what’s around the corner, that’s why street photography is exciting.

It would appear you especially enjoy shooting street portraits. What kind of reactions do you usually get? It looks like you’ve seen it all. Any funny stories or interesting experiences you might want to share?

I like doing street portraits because when you get up close, they can tell so many stories about that person. In one story, I took a close up of a street man and his knowledge of photography was really good. He told me about when he was shooting film back in the day. It was so sad to see him on the streets now.

This image is great:

It’s so human and I feel like we really see a piece of this lady, not just a stranger on the street. How do you get portraits like that? How do you bring out the “humanity” in people?

In the picture of the lady, she was selling mod badges and I bought one. Then I asked if I could take her picture and she blew me a kiss. We just started laughing and having a chat. She asked what I was doing, if I work for a local paper, I said no. I explained that I was a street photographer, going around taking pictures of people. When I do a street portrait, I will wait for the moment to take the picture. I get some good reactions when they look up or sometimes I will just take the shot.

If you had to pick one thing, what would you say has helped you to improve your street photography the most?

One thing that has helped me to improve my street photography is to keep going out on the street.  The most important thing is knowing your camera and when I go out, I pretty much know what am looking for in a shot.

What has street photography taught you?

What street photography has taught me is the importance of getting to know your camera and how to adapt to changes in light condtions. Also, to be nice to people if they ask what you are doing and why you are doing street photography. Doing street photography is not easy, taking pictures of stangers. I still hesitate when I take a picture – what if they get angry at me, what if I offend them or make them angry? Street photography has made me a better person. It’s made me come out of my shell and along the way I have met some great street photographers.

See more of Eddie’s work on his Flickr photostream.