Travelling won’t make you a better photographer
Just because you travel to a new country/city doesn’t mean you’ll walk away with awesome innovative photos! I believe that’s the perception for a lot of people (especially beginners) or giving yourself an excuse…”oh where I live isn’t interesting as New York or India, so I’ll just wait to shoot when I travel”
Some of the master’s of photography created their work right in their own back yard. Mark Cohen patrolled and photographed the streets of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
What I’ve learned from travelling is more about people, their way of life, and culture. Ultimately, we may look different on the outside but on the inside we all want the same things in life (health, wealth, relationships, having a purpose in life, etc). I’ve realized that there are more good people than there are bad in this world…I know hard to believe right.
It’s all about the camera…NOT!
There’s no perfect street photography camera. Try them all (rent, borrow from friends) and see what’s best for you. Personally, I don’t care about megapixels, autofocus (because I zone-focus) and all those other specs that most people waste their time on. I just want something that fits perfectly in my hand and a camera that is not bulky. The Olympus M5-ii does just that for me.
3. It’s all about Luck
Wouldn’t you agree that you create your own luck? You can say that luck is with everything in life. I believe in street photography there’s so much more other factors that contributes to you capturing a decisive moment than luck. Sure a little luck may have happened but first you would have needed to recognize the scene or moment, you would have needed to time the shot perfectly, have the courage to take the shot, possibly you would have had to anticipate and visualize different components or subjects coming together to form the photo.
I would say luck is more in relations with winning or being a finalist in festivals and competitions. Those are like lotteries, so many submissions and so many factors involved to being placed in a exhibit that is out of your control. I think most photographers who say it was lucky to capture the image are really just being humble.
You’ll get beat up if you take a photo of someone
I have never gotten beat up or been involved in any hostile situation because I was photographing people (knock on wood). There are ways to get around it or prevent yourself from being in that situation. Continue walking and don’t make eye contact with the person. If you happen to make eye contact, smile and compliment the person and walk away. If that doesn’t work, just delete the photo and show it to them.
Or If you know you can run much faster than the person…then sprint..I’m joking.
Your photograph needs people in them
Street Photography has no rules. Many past photographers have proved that one you don’t need an actual physical human being in a photo for it to be considered a street photograph. Elements of a human form such as shadow of a person, poster with a person on it, human belongings (shoes, accessories) are acceptable by most people in 2017. Personally, a street photography is just photography, look at William Eggleston’s work. I think his photos where there’s no actual person in them are his best. Photos of hotel rooms, outside of a southern mom and pop shop, hotel bathroom, inside of a car, etc.
I like photos that give me more questions than answers and in which allows me to use my own imagination to create a story of my own likings.
Anyways, I hope you had fun reading this. Until next time, keep shooting!
Tim Huynh | Street Photography 