Spotlight on Your City

There’s something to be said about shooting in a city you are visiting for the first time. It’s a different experience than shooting your home town. Everything around you is new and different: the sights, the smells, the people, sometimes even the language. The overwhelm of new and different all around can often give you an inspiring and fresh vantage point from which to capture some pretty amazing images. It’s one of my favorite experiences.

But perhaps my all-time favorite experience is to see a new place from the viewpoint of the people who live in the strange, new city you are exploring. Yes, tourist spots are fun, there is always something going on, but really getting to know the people of the city, seeing yourself in strangers, learning things that would be impossible to learn in your home country – that’s the real treasure. As Shakespeare said, “What is the city but the people?” But it’s a real challenge too. If you are just arriving to a new place, and especially if you don’t have a couple of months to hang around and make local friends, how can you see past the tourist stops to the real soul of a city? We think we may have the solution.

As a new feature of the magazine, we are looking to publish a series of street photography city guides, written from a local’s perspective. This is our call for submissions. If you live in a city you love to shoot in, we want your insights. The goal is to create a collection of city guides that can get you in touch with the local community quickly – even if you just have a two-day weekend to do it. If you are interested in creating a city guide about the city you live in, get in touch. You can email myself or Bob with your submissions at ashley@streetphotographymagazine.com or bob@streetphotographymagazine.com. Here are a few things we would like to see included in your article:

• Where are the best off the beaten path places you love to shoot?
• Where are some good places to take advantage of light and shadow and at what time?
• Where do the locals eat lunch and grab a coffee/tea/mate/refresco/beer/etc.?
• What yearly events are fun to shoot?
• How do people react to street photographers and are there any laws one should know about?
• What’s the best time of year to visit?
• Are there any street photography collectives that meet up in the area?
• What language(s) are useful to know?
• What’s the best way to get around town? By foot, taxi, rent a bike, hire a rickshaw?

Basically, we want to know if someone only had a short time to shoot your city, where should they go and how should they get there? Of course, we love it when you think outside the box so feel free to run wild with this. The above questions are just to get your creative juices flowing. In addition to writing about where to go, what to do, how to get there, etc., be sure to include some of your own images of the city, preferably ones that showcases the people and places you describe in your article.

So get in touch! We can’t wait to see your cities in all their street shooter glory!