(Above image by Charlie Atkinson)
Eric’s Note: I am excited to announce that moving forward, every Tuesday will be “Charlie Atkinson Tuesdays”. Charlie will help the community by write inspirational articles every Tuesday. Please give him a round of applause as this is his first post!
Charlie: On Eric’s last night staying with me in the Netherlands, we found ourselves eating sushi and drinking beer having a discussion about how important it is to always try to go out and shoot as much as possible. This is often difficult, as I have a full-time job as a fashion/product photographer- and I feel tired and uninspired after work. This discussion lead me to mention this quote I heard a while back, which says, “The eye is like a muscle, you have to keep it fit“.
For this blog post I will talk about 3 quick and easy tips to keep you inspired and shooting street photography!
When I moved from the UK to the Netherlands to start a career in fashion/product photography, I found it difficult to adjust to the 9:00-5:00 routine (while working overseas). My passion is really in street photography, but I find it difficult to both find the time to shoot, actually go out (and getting in the zone), and spending a couple hours of shooting. I always just found myself looking on my hard-drive at old pictures that I had taken when I had the time, wishing that I had a couple more images to look at.
I have now decided that rather riding the bus to work, I will ride my bike (around 14km each way) to give myself the freedom to stop and frame a good shot- if I see a photo opportunity! When I would try to take photos on the bus, I would waste a lot of time focusing, setting my aperture, and shutter speed. The time I was ready to click, the moment would already at the other end of the street.
So here are the my personal 3 things that I’m going to start doing more often:
1. Look at pictures of good street photography!
There is a saying, “You are what you eat.” If you spend all your time looking at mediocre photographs on the internet, you can only aspire to become a mediocre photographer. However if you spend your time looking at great photographers, you will aspire to take great images. Not only that, but by looking at great images you will become inspired teach your brain what works and what doesn’t in terms of composition and content. I would say the best time to do this is just before you leave work, as it will only take an extra 5 minutes but it will make a huge difference in your motivation.
For great photography books, check out Eric’s past post: 75+ Inspirational Street Photography Books You Gotta Own
2. Go out with a mate to go shoot
I often like shooting on my own and just wondering around town, but I think it makes a huge difference to your confidence as well as just having a mate to have a good conversation with! When I am shooting by myself, I can often feel uninspired and lonely. However when shooting with others, they are like a gym buddy and keep you motivated to go out and shoot.
3. Always have your camera ready to be used
Whenever Eric and I would be out shooting and stop by somewhere for a drink, we would always have our cameras ready by keeping them on the table. Just in-case we saw something interesting happen or pass by us, we would always have our camera at arms-length to grab and take a photograph. Not only that, but we would also look proudly at our tools that would simply shout to us, “Pick us up and go shoot some more!”
I find these 3 little things, that are very quick and easy to do, can really get you in the mood and have your eye knowing what to look for when to “click” the shutter.
If you have any other little tips that might help us streettogs to keep shooting leave them in comments below!