My father inspired my passion for cameras and photography when I was a child. This led to me becoming a full time wedding and portrait photographer to pay the bills.

However in my spare time I have been shooting street photography on and off for over 10 years, mainly since I switched from film to digital and because I have always lived in large towns rather than in the countryside and love people watching. Looking back however I now realize that I always had an observational eye for the ‘street’. At the age of 15 my first published photograph, that made the front cover of my local paper, was of speed limit signs on either side of the road that confusingly didn’t match!

To this day this is the style that I prefer to shoot: seeing humour on the street, whether by juxtaposition or whatever the subject is doing. I have since found other street photographers that do similar work, like Matt Stuart for example, but can honestly say that they have not influenced me, as I was not aware of them until more recently. That’s not to say that being influenced is a bad thing, so long as we don’t blatantly just go about copying. Once you start looking at other peoples work, it’s difficult not to be influenced to an extent. Just shoot what appeals to you and you are comfortable with and hopefully you’ll develop your own style over time.

Generally I prefer black and white images for my street photography, as then the subject tells the story, rather than the predominance of certain colours diverting the eye. However, occasionally an image will only work in colour, like my ‘dressed for the sale’ image for instance.

I have gone through so many cameras over the years, trying to find one that matches the way I shoot, coupled with great image quality. At the moment I happen to use the Fuji X100, because I love the amazing viewfinder, the 35mm equivalent lens that I have found to be the perfect focal length for me and the large sensor on such a small camera. However should something more suited come along within my budget, I would happily switch. After all it doesn’t really matter what camera you use but what you do with it that counts. Sometimes I wish I could take a picture with my eyes, as to be honest how many great street photo’s do we see, but by the time our camera is in position the moment has gone? Some of my best potential photos are the ones that got away!

Street Photos by Gary Perlmutter

Links

You can see more of Gary’s work on Flickr.

Also make sure you follow him on Flickr! @gazonthestreet

Which photos by Gary made you LOL? Let us know in the comments below!