Archives for June 2012

Street Photography Contest and Giveaway! Theme: “Identity”

We street photographers constantly struggle with the concept of identity. We idolize certain photographers and their shooting and aesthetic styles, but sometimes we have difficulty carving out our own photographic identity. We are also, in a way, saying something about the identities of the people we photography in the style we choose to tell the story.

For this exciting challenge, we want you to interpret the concept of “identity” in a street photography image and share it with the community.

Take photos between now and July 15, 2012 and choose your single best shot related to the them and upload it to my Facebook Page before end of day on the 15th. You may choose to add a brief explanation or description of your photo.
Myself, photographer Charlie Atkinson, and my Manager Neil Ta will choose the Top 10 images and place them into an album for the community to vote.

PRIZES!

Grand Prize Winner: The street photographer with the best image as chosen by the three judges will win a Retrospective 7 bag from thinkTHANK Photo (valued at $155 USD).

People’s Choice: The photograph with the most likes at the end of day on July 22, 2012 will win a copy of Street Photography Now (valued at $30 USD), which is a quintessential part of any street photographer’s book collection!

Remember submissions will end July 15th, 2012, so get out there and get shooting! Good luck to all!

Any questions? Leave a comment in the questions below!

Streettogs Gallery: An Analysis and a personal note of Jun Abe’s “Manila”

Eric’s Note: Streettogs Gallery is an on-going feature and intiative by Manila-based street photographer A.G. De Mesa. Check out more info here.

A.G.: Coming back from a small hiatus, I’m bringing you my analysis and some personal thoughts of Manila photographed by Jun Abe and published by Vaccum Press. I would like to apologize if the images of the book is bad, the actual book is absolutely brilliant. We’ll be back to regularly scheduled features next week!

Manila, Philippines. August, 1983. Then President Ferdinand Marcos just lifted Martial Law a few years prior but still hold absolute power over the Philippines. The country was in a state of constant flux due to President’s’ aggressive development plans under his dictatorship. This dictatorship was met with heavy opposition from his political rivals. Most notable is Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. It is in this month that Ninoy was shot dead in the then called Manila International Airport. With political turmoil and social instability plaguing the country, it was in this period when Jun Abe, armed with his camera, photographed the city of Manila.

30 years later, Vaccum Press comes out with the photographs coming from that trip.

[Read more…] about Streettogs Gallery: An Analysis and a personal note of Jun Abe’s “Manila”

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #5: View Point Winners

(Above image by Nick Kenrick)

Eric: Congratulations to Nick Kenrick for winning the Weekly Assignment #5 for “View Point”. Myself and Charlie loved the viewpoint that he captured from an unusually high vantage point, the simplicity of the leading lines, the complex curves, and the minimalism with that one man in the bottom.

Runners-up include Antoine Brsslt, which reminds us of a classic Elliott Erwitt shot (shot from ground level), while Joe Aguirre got an impressive shot of a man from a low vantage point, with his arms crossed – looking tough, cigarette in-mouth. Congrats again and stay tuned for this week’s assignment! All of the weekly winners demonstrate a strong viewpoint from high, mid, and low.

“The Mexicans”: A Colorful 4-Month Odyssey Across 22 Mexican States and 15,000 Kilometers by Andrew Quilty (Interview)

Eric’s Note: I visited Australia about two months ago, and had the great pleasure of meeting Tamara Voninski, one of the founding members of Oculi, an award-winning Australian collective. On one of my last nights there, I met up and had a beer with some of the other members of Oculi, and met Andrew Quilty whose color work blew me away. His vision for photography was like a mashup between Robert Frank, Alex Webb, and Constantine Manos – documentary-based, elegant, and colorful.

Quilty recently self-published a book titled: “The Mexicans” – an odyssey across Mexico where he captured searing insights into the life of the locals through their life & light. Interested in seeing the images and interview? Read on.

What Kind of Street Photographer Are You? (Part 1)

(Above image © Garry Winogrand, from his book: “The Animals“)

I just read a book titled: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which was a book about introversion and the conflict they often encounter with extroverts in society. Reading the book as an extrovert, it gave me great insight on how introverts think, behave, and interact with the rest of the world from a psychological perspective.

Being an extrovert myself, I often have a difficult time how introverts think, behave, and see the world. My girlfriend Cindy is an introvert, and I initially read the book to understand her better. In the end of reading the book, it gave me great insights about street photography as well, through better understanding different personality types. After chatting with my buddy Brian Sparks about the idea, he thought it would be a great idea to share this idea (he is an introverted street photographer). So special thanks for him for giving me the inspiration to write this.

Interested to learn more? Read on.

Escape to the Colorful and Exotic Streets of Istanbul: Street Photography 101 Workshop with Eric Kim, Charlie Kirk, and Andrew Kochanowski

INTERESTED IN DISCOVERING ISTANBUL AND DOCUMENTING IT WITH UNFORGETTABLE PHOTOS?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Have you been cooped up behind the desk for too long?
Has it been too long since you had a nice vacation?
Do you love photography and travel?
Do you want to walk the streets in a foreign land and have the confidence to capture images of people and places you only see in guide books and on TV?
Do you want to meet other street photographers that are as equally passionate about street and travel photography who are interested in learning like you?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, I am excited to announce my upcoming street photography workshop in Istanbul. Imagine the dusty roads with the soft golden light peeking through the sky, the colorful bazaars, the lively sound of the people and music in the streets, and the beautiful mosques covering the skyline. For those of who have never visited Istanbul, it is quite unlike any place you have ever been to—and one of the best places to shoot street photography in the world.

For this unique workshop, I will be having street photographers Charlie Kirk and Andy Kochanowski as my co-teachers. This will be an incredibly interactive, comprehensive, and hands-on workshop which will be a strong primer to anyone interested in street photography or wanting to improve their current skills.

Interested? Read on.

Featured Street Photographer: AikBeng Chia from the Mobile Photo Group

(“All He Ever Wanted” – Copyright AikBeng Chia / MPG)

Eric’s Note: I am proud to share the work of AikBeng Chia aka “ABC”. He is part of the MPG (Mobile Photo Group) and is currently shooting in Singapore. I had the great pleasure of meeting ABC when I was in Singapore for my last street photography workshop with Leica, and even more honored to have him as one of my guest speakers/co-teachers at the workshop as well! He has never had any formal training in photography, yet creates visually seductive images that are full of light, humanity, and soul.

ABC: My name is AikBeng Chia, aka ABC. I’m born on a little island called Singapore. I like to wander the streets of Singapore, allowing myself to be seduced by the scenes the city I live in provides me.

FREE EBOOK: 31 Days to Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography

Around a year or two ago I had this idea to write a free e-book on street photography, particularly one that was focused on overcoming your fear of shooting street photography. Over the course of that time, I have written a substantial amount on the topic, yet it sat in my folder on my computer. It simply felt too overwhelming in terms of how much I needed to edit the text, how to format the e-book, as well as what images to include.

However when I was in Berlin, my friend Andreas Weeber mentioned the book – and when I was going to release it. I stopped dead in my tracks, and thought to myself: “Oh yeah, what ever happened to that book?”

On my plane ride home, I then started editing it down further, and trying to prepare around an 80% completed project that I would simply share with others. After all, I think perfection is the enemy of getting things done.

Info about the book

As a disclaimer, the bulk of what I wrote for the book was several months ago – and some of my opinions have changed drastically during the time. However, I still think it will be a helpful resource to anybody who is having a difficult time overcoming their fear of shooting street photography. It is also unedited, full of typos, and grammatical errors.

What I ask for you guys is if you could help me edit the book, make some suggestions, and leave them in the comments below. Also if anyone is interested in helping design a pretty-looking PDF version of it, please leave a comment below!

Download

These are the rough cuts of what I have available so far. I am releasing this content as open-source, free for you to pick apart, edit, and distribute freely. However what you are not allowed to do is to charge money for any part of the content in this book. Also I kindly request if you post any part of this book anywhere, please mention my name and link back to my blog.

Microsoft Word Doc
PDF (Thanks to Haukur Már Helgason for the edited format of this book!)

Below is the text of the excerpts of the book, in-case you don’t want to download the Doc file or the PDF file:

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #5: View Point

(Copyright: two cute dogs)

So for this week, the assignment is “View Point”! This was chosen by the winner of last weeks challenge Anna Delany. Upload your best 1 view point shot captured between now and this Friday to Eric’s Facebook fan page. We will choose the best shots and feature them on the blog!

Now GO GO GO!

Why Validation is For Parking, Not Street Photography

(Above image reads, “Somebody is watching you”. (From my Korea: The Presentation of Self series)

I recently read a book titled, “Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity” – which was written by an author named Hugh MacLeod. The story goes that MacLeod was struggling and frustrated as a young copyrighter in NYC, and while living at the YMCA, started doodling on the back of business cards while sitting at a bar in mini-comics. His popularity lead to his popular blog, gapingvoid.com – and built a reputation for snarky yet insightful humor about society.

He gives a ton of great advice in the book (I highly recommend everyone who is interested in creativity or need some inspiration to read it). One of the things that he says that really hit me in the chest was, “Validation is for parking”.

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #4: “Legs” Winners

(Above Image Copyrighted By Anna Delany)

Charlie Atkinson: Hi guys, I hope everyone is having a good weekend, we decided that the photo above by Anna Delany has won the fourth week of the assignment series, so huge congratulations to her!

We both really liked her image, as well as the runners up images below! I really liked Anna Delanys as I love the composition and the fact she manage to get the top right leg in the frame, this is my “cherry on top”. Next weeks assignment chosen by Anna Delany will be uploaded on Tuesday! [Read more…] about Street Photography Weekly Assignment #4: “Legs” Winners

Review of the CSLR Glide Strap for Street Photography

(Above image: my Leica MP and CSLR Glide Strap)

In my 6 years of shooting street photography, I have experimented with lots of different straps. I tried neck straps, wrist straps, hand straps, and even no straps.

Finding an ideal camera strap for street photography is very difficult. You need a strap that is discrete, comfortable, yet looks good.

I was really excited when I first came upon the CSLR Glide Strap on the internet (I first heard about it through Kickstarter for their C-Loop). Their revolutionary idea at the time was why not take your camera strap off your neck (where it gets itchy and sticky) and put it over your shoulder instead? This way it could disperse more weight more evenly around your body.

Not only that, they advertised a “gliding” mechanism that would allow you to quickly draw your camera (just like a gun-slinger out of a cowboy movie).

Book Review: “Capitolio” by Christopher Anderson, Magnum Photographer

(Above image from Capitolio. © Christopher Anderon / Magnum Photos)

One of the mottos that I have is “Buy Books, Not Gear“. Why? While buying gear is important in photography, the best “bang-for-the-buck” way to improve your photography is to buy lots of photography books to improve your photographic vision and insight. Many of us (including myself) can get sucked into “gear-porn” and worry too much about the equipment, rather than gaining inspiration and creating art.

For this week, I wanted to review “Capitolio” by Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson.

I picked up my copy of Capitolio via the iPad in the iTunes bookstore after being recommended by my buddy Bill Reeves. The word “Capitolio” refers to the domed building that houses a government. For example in Washington D.C., the Capitolio is set on top of Capitol Hill. For this book, Christopher Anderson set out to Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.

Weekly Video Roundup: Review of the ThinkTank Retrospective 7, Preview of the Leica M Monochrom, and Review of Micro Lens Pouch

Published a bunch of videos to YouTube this week! Here is a weekly roundup of all of them in-case you missed any!

Thinktank Retrospective 7 Review

Had the chance to review the ThinkTank Retrospective 7, a fantastic bag for you street shooters using an iPad or a 11” Macbook Air (has a little slot in the bag!) Also my younger sister Anna guest stars in this video!

Link to the Retrospective 7

“Develop Your Unique Street Photography Project” Workshop with Eric Kim and Rinzi Ruiz in Downtown LA (6/29-7/1)

STUCK IN A CREATIVE RUT AND LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION TO TAKE YOUR STREET PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

I’m really excited to announce that I will be teaching a 3-day (6/29-7/1) street photography workshop in Downtown LA at the Hatakeyama Gallery. I will be teaching this street photography workshop alongside my close friend and colleague Rinzi Ruiz. Rinzi has a phenomenal eye for light, shadows, and excels at shooting in black and white for his street work. He has also taught alongside me for several workshops and has had great feedback from prior students.

This is the last street photography workshop I will be teaching in Los Angeles until middle of next year (I’m moving to Michigan at the end of August), so make sure to attend before you miss your chance!

This will be an intensive 3 day workshop focusing on developing and executing short and long term photography projects. While the course is open to photographers of any ability, we suggest that intermediate photographers looking to advance to the next level would benefit most from this course.

Reality Through Abstract Visual Puzzles: An Interview With John Goldsmith, Vancouver-Based Street Photographer

(Above image by John Goldsmith)

Eric’s Note: I recently had the pleasure of interviewing John Goldsmith, a street photographer based out of Vancouver. He is part of the strange.rs collective, and has also recently released a book, “Drop Out of Art School“. Goldsmith is one of the most prolific and valuable members in the street photography community and is always on the breaking edge of innovation.

I had the chance to ask him a few questions about his history in street photography, his work, and some of his future aspirations. If you want to gain lots of insight from his way of working, read on.

Stylish Video of the Stockholm Street Photography Workshop at Fotografiska by Brian Sparks

Huge thanks to my buddy Brian Sparks who put together this stylish video recap of my street photography workshop at Fotografiska, the Swedish museum of photography. Brian taught at the workshop alongside me, and I crashed at his pad for a week as well! Not only did he feed me well with food, but he gave me tons of great resources about photography books, history, and inspiration.

Check out my interview with him on the blog here.

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #4: Legs

(Above Image Copyrighted By Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum)

So for this week, the assignment is legs! This was chosen by the winner of last weeks challenge Giovanni Savino. Upload your best 1 legs shot captured between now and this Friday to Eric’s Facebook fan page. We will choose the best shots and feature them on the blog!

Now GO GO GO!

101 Inspirational Street Photography Quotes

(Above Image Copyrighted By Steve McCurry / Magnum Photos)

Charlie Atkinson: So for this weeks post I thought I would share my favorite quotes from some of my favorite photographers as well as a few others that can be applied to photography as well! They are also not in any particular order, this post is by me as well (not Eric!) as I think there was some confusion on the last gear post I did :). Enjoy!

Breathe the Streets of Venice and Verona: Introduction to Design/Composition Workshop with Adam Marelli and Eric Kim (9/17-9/22)

Eric’s Note: I am excited to announce that I will be teaching a 5-day workshop in Venice/Verona with NYC street photographer Adam Marelli. Adam Marelli has a keen eye for design, composition, and capturing “the decisive moment”. He holds a degree in Sculpture and Photography from New York University and studied at the Barnstone Studios. If you are serious about your street photography, and wanting to take it to the next level – check out this unique workshop opportunity!

A Secret Tradition

Come explore the sun drenched side streets of Venice & Verona in a truly unique photography workshop. We will retrace the footsteps of the “Grand Tour” which was the foundation for any serious artist in the last three hundred years. During these formative trips painters like John Singer Sargent mastered Design, Composition, and Light to transform everyday street scenes into masterful works of Art.

You and your camera will be led on a guided exploration to learn “How to See like a Master Artist.” Many of the design principles were reserved for serious artists and are never taught in photography programs. But in this special (5) day workshop (Sept 17-22), you will learn the secrets of Classical Design that pioneers like Henrì Cartier-Bresson inherited from drawing, to revolutionize the world of Photography.

25 Talented Street Photographers You Should Follow on Flickr

(“Light bulb” by Lesley Ann Ercolano)

Recently Complex put out a list titled “The 50 Greatest Street Photographers Right Now” which has caused quite the stir. Although I was happy to see my name on the list, I was a bit embarrassed to see my name there as half of the people included weren’t even what I would consider street photographers.

I chatted with a few people online, and thought it may be a good idea to make a list of 50 street photographers people should follow on Flickr – who may not be as well known. However after crunching away at this for around 5 hours, I only have enough mental energy for 25. Some of the names you may recognize, and others you may not. Regardless check out the fresh talent in the street photography community on Flickr!

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #3: “One Liners” Winners

(Above Image Copyrighted By Giovanni Savino)

Hi guys, I hope everyone is having a good weekend, after talking to Eric we decided that the photo above by Giovanni Savino has won the third week of the assignment series, so huge congratulations to him!

We both really liked his image, as well as the runners up images bellow! I really liked Giovanni Savinos as I straight away saw the visual pun that he intended to capture as well as the mans facial expression sitting next to the guy on the bus. Next weeks assignment chosen by Giovanni Savinos will be uploaded on Tuesday!

Interview with Chun Tong Chung from the Mobile Photo Group in Amsterdam

Eric’s Note: Chun Tong Chung is a street photographer, part of the Mobile Photo Group, currently living and working in Berlin, but from Amsterdam. When I visited Amsterdam, the stars aligned and we were able to meet up (and I even crashed for a night at his pad!) He is able to capture beautiful fleeting moments of the everyday with his mobile device (iPhone 3GS) and focuses less on the technology, and more on the shooting. Check out the interview I was able to do with him above, and check out his images below.

Weekly Roundup: Interviews in Berlin, Sydney, and Photo Books Galore!

When I was hanging out with my buddy Brian Sparks in Stockholm, he gave me the idea of having a “weekly roundup” of content, videos, etc that you might have missed. I thought it was a fantastic idea, so here it is!

EyeEm Interview in Berlin

When I was in Berlin, had a chance to interview with the team over at EyeEm! Check out my spotlight on the EyeEm Blog.

5 Street Photography tips I mentioned in the video:

Always have your camera with you.
Get close and don’t be sneaky about it.
It’s better to shoot 10 minutes every day than 8 hours every weekend.
Read as many photography books as you can.
Spend less time on your computer.

Keep reading to check out all of the other videos and features!

[Read more…]

Interview with Mehdi Bouqua, Raw Los Angeles Street Photographer

Eric’s Note: Had a chance to interview my boy Mehdi Bouqua, a street photographer based out of Los Angeles. We met first via the internet, when I came upon his Raw Street Portraits series. We realized that we both lived in Los Angeles, met up, and had a blast hanging out and shooting together. His interest in art first stemmed from street photography and street art, and now he pursues his love of photography through the streets and its surroundings. Did I mention the crazy guy can speak four languages? French, English, Arabic and Spanish? Check out the interview above and some of his images below.

“Office”: The Chaos and Alienation of Office Life by by Lars Tunbjörk (Book Review)

I recently came upon the work of Lars Tunbjörk from my buddy Mattias Leppäniemi, a Swedish documentary photographer. What I love about his style is that he is able to effectively combine the energy and grit of street photography, yet make a statement about society through the rigor of the documentary approach.

In his project “Office” he captured perfectly the monotony, chaos, and sense of alienation that offices give the modern-day office worker. Having worked in an office myself, it is fascinating to see this strange social world as an outsider.

Hybernation: Can Places Have a Soul Without People? A Project by Dutch Street / Documentary Photographer Jeroen Helmink

(Above Image Copyrighted By: Jeroen Helmink)

Jeroen Helmink is a Dutch documentary / street photographer. After a corporate career of 15 years, his love for photography led him to a new way of living. It was only two years ago he decided to dedicate all of his time to photography and explore the streets as a full time photographer.

Why Gear Doesn’t Worry Me Anymore Whilst I’m Shooting Street Photography

keep dreaming — The Leica M9-P Hermes Edition

I started off my photographic career with a my a Nikon D60 two years ago. I loved it and loathed it and wished that I had something that had video mode, so I looked into entry level DSLRs and thought the Nikon D3100 sounded like a pretty good shout. After about two months of using it I felt like I didn’t look professional enough, and people wouldn’t take me seriously enough unless I had a camera to match my ability.

Street Photography Weekly Assignment #3: “One Liners”

(Above Image Copyrighted By Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos)

So for this week, the assignment is “One Liners”. This was chosen by the winner of last weeks challenge Hao Jiang. Upload your best 1 “One Liners” shot captured between now and this Friday to Eric’s Facebook fan page. We will choose the best shots and feature them on the blog!

Now GO GO GO!

Bad Street Photographers Copy, Good Street Photographers Steal

(Pablo Picasso’s original quote: “Bad artists copy, good artists steal”)

When I first started street photography, I remember doing a ton of google searching on street photography. Of course, the first street photographs I saw were street photography from Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Andre Kertesz, and the work of the greats. I also remember seeing a lot of street photography from the guys at in-public, being especially drawn to the work of Matt Stuart, David Gibson, and Jesse Marlow.

I was quite drawn to capturing ”decisive moments”, humorous juxtapositions, and surrealistic images. That was all I was exposed to, and all I knew. I thought that was the only way to shoot street photography, and devoted myself to shooting that style.