Month: October 2011
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How to React to (and Defuse) Confrontations in Street Photography
(In the video above, I share a story of a recent confrontation I had in Toronto (that got physical) and how I defused the situation.) Edit: In the video I previously mentioned an issue regarding street photography in Vancouver. I actually meant to say Quebec. Read all about the canadian street photography laws here. Confrontations…
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One-Minute Masterclass Advice from Steve McCurry: Be in the Moment
In today’s 1-minute masterclass with Steve McCurry, he talks about getting “in the zone” when he is out shooting. He prefers to shoot alone and to quietly explore the streets without speaking much, to get a feel of the environment he is shooting in. Although I am a big fan of shooting together in groups…
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One-Minute Masterclass Advice from Steve McCurry: Shoot from a High Vantage Point
The folks from Phaidon are continuing their “One-Minute Masterclass” series with Steve McCurry. This new episode features his secret in getting interesting photos from unique vantage points (like a high vantage point). He describes how surprised he was in terms of how accommodating people can be in letting you enter their house or patio to…
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Interview with Alex JD Smith for YOU ARE HERE Street Photography Exhibition
The YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition is an experiment in which 30+ street photographers from LA were given 10 days to shoot in one square block in the Downtown LA Fashion District. The opening night featured 3 of the best shots of each street photographer, and Jordan Dunn won the best-of-show award and a Leica VLUX-30 camera, which was…
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Help Fundraise for “Everybody Street” a Street Photography Documentary by Cheryl Dunn
Cheryl Dunn, a filmmaker and photographer in New York City, recently put together a 16-minute short film on street photography. She is now thinking about expanding that documentary into a feature-length film. The film will include street photographers: Bruce Davidson Joel Meyerowitz Mary Ellen Mark Max Kozloff Ricky Powell Martha Cooper Jamal Shabazz Bruce Gilden…
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Interview with Ludmilla Morais for YOU ARE HERE Street Photography Exhibition
The YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition is an experiment in which 30+ street photographers from LA were given 10 days to shoot in one square block in the Downtown LA Fashion District. The opening night featured 3 of the best shots of each street photographer, and Jordan Dunn won the best-of-show award and a…
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One-Minute Masterclass Advice from Steve McCurry: “Don’t Forget To Say Hello”
One of my favorite quotes by Alfred Eisenstaedt is “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter”. When we are out shooting street photography, it is often difficult to find time to talk to the subjects we capture, as life often moves at a very fast pace. Steve McCurry, one…
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Film Street Photography from Winnipeg by Trevor Marczylo
First off, Hi. I’m Trevor Marczylo I am full-time photographer, a street photographer eating, living, and surviving in Winnipeg, Manitoba. My work tends to focus on documentary style street Photography or the simple daily patterns of how people go with their daily routines. I’ve been shooting film for the past 15 years or so, also hand develop and…
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Recap of my Toronto Street Photography Workshop
Poutin, Tim Hortons, butter tarts, toonies, loonies, monopoly money, cops on horses, and friendly people– I will miss you Toronto! It was such a huge pleasure everyone in Toronto at my workshop, especially Brian, Tasos, Minsoo, Les, Domenic, Andre, James, Chris, Rockie, Robert, Siri, Neil, Ronnie. Also huge shout-outs to Jenn, Tom, and Andre from…
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10 Reasons Why You Should Never Chimp While Shooting Street Photography
(Photo above by Andrew Eccles. Disregard how classy the chimp looks) Chimping– it is a disease and an unhealthy addiction that runs rampart within the digital photography community. What is chimping you ask? It is the act of looking at your LCD screen the second after you take a shot. Why do they call it…
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How to Shoot with a Flash for Street Photography with a Film Leica
My friend Charlie was generous enough to provide this article to discuss how he shoots street photography with a flash with his film Leica MP. Also if you haven’t yet, check out his documentary on Uchujin’s blog! I thought I should write a short piece about using a flash for street photography. I don’t profess to…
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10 Ways Street Photography Changed My Life (and made me a better person)
Inspired by Thomas Leuthard’s post on how street photography has changed his life, I want to take this opportunity to talk a little about my street photography journey, and how it has changed my life for the better, beyond my wildest dreams.
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Reflections and Light: Dramatic Street Photography from Chicago by Anthony Spatara
(Above image by Anthony Spatara) Hello. My name is Anthony Spatara, I am 35 years old and live in the great city of Chicago. I am not a photographer by profession nor do I wish to be. I run two successful Italian restaurants in the downtown area which keep me plenty busy. Photography for me…
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Street Reverb x Xperia Studio “Reality Remade” Street Photography Competition
The cool folks over at Street Reverb Magazine are teaming up with Xperia Studio in a joint “Reality Remade” street photography competition. There are lots of great prizes including a £2200 grand prize, including free Xperia phones. In order to enter, you will need to put together a project proposal interpreting the theme “Reality Remade”…
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15+ Inspirational Street Photography Videos You Must Watch
Whenever I am feeling in a street photography slump, looking for inspiration or knowledge, I have found these online street photography videos to be incredibly helpful and useful. These are just a few of my favorites. If you have the time, later tonight– kick back, relax, and watch some of these videos! In-Public: In-Sight Street…
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Downtown Los Angeles Introduction to Street Photography Workshop Day 2 Recap
After a fun-packed two days in Downtown LA, I am pretty pooped. However I had such a wonderful time teaching the workshop and helping my fellow street photographers build more courage when shooting in the streets and also helping them capture more compelling images. On the second day, we focused on editing and post-processing our…
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Downtown Los Angeles Introduction to Street Photography Workshop Day 1 Recap
(Some of the LA street photography workshop participants catching some dinner in Downtown LA after the Day 1 of the Workshop!) Today I had a blast teaching the first day of my Downtown Los Angeles Introduction to Street Photography Workshop at the Think Tank Gallery. Considering that the photographs from the YOU ARE HERE street…
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How 6 Minutes Changed Everything by Liam McHenry
Liam McHenry, a street photographer from Australia (and one of my private online street photography students), put together this insightful video about an encounter he had with a teenage boy shooting in a suburb. To sum up the video, Liam shot a boy who got really upset about Liam taking the shot. The boy started…
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YOU ARE HERE Street Photography Exhibition Opening TONIGHT in Downtown LA at 7:00PM
I am pleased to announce the opening of the YOU ARE HERE Street Photography Exhibition tonight at the Think Tank Gallery in Downtown LA sponsored by Leica. The concept was that 30 photographers weregiven 10 days to shoot one square block in the Fashion district in Downtown LA. Despite the restriction, all the photographers were…
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Photojournalism Behind the Scenes: Staged Conflict Photography
Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori recently put together a documentary recording the behind-the-scenes of conflict photography. Although not all conflict journalism is like this, it is still a very eye-opening documentary about the pressures that many conflict photographers face, and the influence they have on the people they photograph. Your thoughts? Share them below and please…
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Interview Featured at the 500px Blog
Hey streettogs, just got interviewed by the folks over at 500px. They asked me some questions about my approach in street photography, how my work has evolved, as well as my thoughts on some controversial topics. If you got a minute, make sure to check out my feature here! Thanks to Jen Tse for the…
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Hands-on with the Olympus EPM-1 (and other thoughts about cameras)
Recently I have had the huge pleasure of being invited to the PEN Ready Project, in which Olympus gave away 1000 Olympus EPM-1 cameras for people to shoot and review. I have always been a big fan of the Micro 4/3rds cameras, as they are small, compact, and take great photos. I tested an Olympus…
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Interview with Adam Marelli about His Journey to the Remote Island of Tanna
(Photo above copyrighted by Adam Marelli) Adam Marelli is an artist, photographer, and builder based in New York City who travels the world with his trusty Leicas and captures breathtaking images of people and places that he visits. His travels include India, Central American, Europe, and Egypt and recently to the remote island of Tanna, where he documented the…
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Studying the Masters: A Recap of my Intermediate Street Photography Workshop in San Diego
(With the gang at the San Diego Street Photography Workshop) The past Intermediate Street Photography Workshop in Downtown San Diego was a blast. We studied the work of the master street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Helen Levitt, Vivian Maier, Bruce Gilden, Elliott Erwitt and many others. Not only that, but the atmosphere…
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How Body Language Affects Story-Telling in Street Photography
(Above image by Norman Estrologo) Eric’s Note: This article is written by Norman Estrologo, a Los Angeles based street photographer who has recently attended my introductory and intermediate street photography workshops. In a relatively short time, he has found his passion in street photography and has been experimenting with his style and shooting constantly. There…
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10 Street Photography Assignments by Blake Andrews
(Above image by Blake Andrews) Blake Andrews, a member of the In-Public street photography collective and prolific blogger over at “B” has a list of 10 great street photography assignments. Check them out at the link below and try them out! >> Ten Street Photography Assignments by Blake Andrews Which of these assignments do you…
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What Does it Take to Make a Good Street Photograph?
(“What’s on a doorman’s mind?” by Simon Garnier) Eric’s note: The following guest article is by Simon Garnier, part scientist and part street photographer who lives and works in New Jersey. Read his previous article about getting close in street photography and this new article where he discusses what it takes to take a great…
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The 8 Best “Smile” Street Photographs From My Weekly Assignment
(Above image by Valery Titievsky) The street photography assignment for this week was “Smile”. Thanks for everyone who submitted their best images! I chose the 8 images I liked the most. Stay tuned for the next week’s assignment, and make sure to stay updated via my Facebook fan page!
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The 65+ Best Street Photographs from my Intro to Street Photography Workshop in Chicago with Jason Martini
(Image above by Jayme Sudeth) Chicago is definitely one of my new favorite places to shoot street photography. Not only is downtown Chicago ripe for street photography, but Chicago has some of the friendliest and down-to-earth people out there. I had the time of my life teaching my street photography workshop with Jason Martini, and you…
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An Introduction to Zone Focusing for your Leica, Rangefinder, or DSLR
When I first started shooting street photography, I was always frustrated that my autofocus would always be too slow to capture the decisive moment. After trudging around the internet, I was first introduced to the idea of “zone focusing” by Markus Hartel on his blog. For those of you who aren’t familiar with zone focusing…
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Street Photography without People: Capturing Humanity through Objects and Scenes by Simon Johnson
(Above image by Simon Johnson) People ask me all the time whether street photography needs to include people or not. I don’t believe it has to, as you can study the work of Lee Friedlander who did a fantastic series on letters and signs in America, as well of the work of Blake Andrews who…
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The 3 Best Submissions for my “Wide-Angle” Weekly Street Photography Assignment
Eric Metzler Thanks to everybody who submitted to last week’s street photography assignment which was: “Wide-Angle“. Many of you submitted great entries, and I have chosen the best 3 here to display! Aaron Offord Gary Tyson The theme this week will be “Smile“. Please take a new photo this week and upload it to my Facebook fan page by Thursday…
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How to Interact With Your Subjects when Shooting Street Photography
Alfred Eisenstaedt once said, “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter“. Upon reading this quote, it made me start thinking differently how I approach my street photography. When I started off, I would avoid eye contact at all costs, often shooting from the hip or being a little more sneaky. However nowadays, I actually prefer making…