Street Photography

Street photography, I have realised, is scary.  It’s scary because, when you’re a reserved introvert like me, going around with a camera and capturing moments in the lives of strangers exposes you to the world.  It takes courage to go up to people you have never met before and try to assure them you are not a creepy stalker.  Chris Weeks says that to be a street photographer, you have to blend.  Perhaps it is just my own self-consciousness I must conquer, but I find it somehow hard to blend when I am walking around with a huge, bulky Canon digital rebel, looking all about myself to find that perfect moment to capture with the lens.  Also, Weeks pretty much worships Leicas and suggests you can’t be a street photographer without one.  I disagree.  I think you can be a street photographer whether you have a Leica, a digital, or even a disposable camera, for heaven’s sake.  It’s about what you capture, not what you capture it with. 

Done right, I think street photography is very interesting and makes for some of the best pictures ever. But it’s hard to find just that right moment.  On my first day of trying to street photography today, I took lots of pictures of the back of people because I was too much of a chicken to take a picture as they faced me head-on.  But those kind of pictures don’t make for interesting ones.  It’s the closing in on an old woman’s pondering gaze, or a laughing little boy, or an intimate interaction between lovers–that’s what makes street photography appealing to look at it.  As a photographer, you have to observe people closely.  You definitely have to know what to look for.  I find this to be even more of a challenge than finding the courage to talk to strangers!

this is what a lot of my pictures looked like today.  not terribly thrilling, right?