Brandon Stanton from Humans of New York shares some insightful tips on how to approach strangers on the street. If you’ve ever been nervous approaching strangers, this will be a great watch for you!
If you want to learn more how to overcome your fear of shooting street photography, you can download my free e-book: “31 Days to Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography“and also read my articles below:
Warning: Some of the photos in this video are NSFW
Today I had the chance to interview a good friend of mine, Joe Aguirre — a street photographer based in San Francisco. I just found out that he is moving to LA soon, so we had a “farewell” interview at his apartment. He is one of the most down-to-earth and prolific photographers I know. He has a huge heart, and a lot of passion for his photographic art.
In the video apartment, we talk about his passion for shooting film, his self-publication, and passion for street and other forms of photography.
Below are some of my favorite photos by Joe:
 
Michael Meinhardt has been running a great series of street photography interview podcasts on “The Shooting Street Show.” He recently interviewed Rinzi Ruiz, make sure to check them out below:
Rinzi and I talk about overcoming subject fatigue, the famous Rinzi style and how it came about, preparing a photo trip, the perfect street shooting camera, appearing benevolent and adjusting your energy, the importance of facial expression and, of course, the ultimate zen experience.
Find Rinzi at rinziruizphotography.com or streetzen.tumblr.com
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
You can see all of the past episodes from “The Shooting Street Show” below:
Tim Kerr is a street photographer, artist, musician, and skater from Austin, Texas. He is a prolific artist, and doesn’t put on restrictions on his creativity and forms of self-expression. Read about how he combines all his artistic forms in the interview below (and his fun stories taking a photography course with Garry Winogrand!
It doesn’t take too long to create a solid body of work. If you are diligent, you could do it in 2 years. Other bodies of work can take you 5-10 years.
This sounds like a long time, but it isn’t. Time flies by extremely quickly. Do you remember being a college freshman, blinking your eyes, and suddenly you graduated? Do you remember being at your job the last 4 years? Do you remember seeing your kids grow up the last 4 years?
Of course it is always hard to make time for our photography. Life always gets in the way. But if you stay your project or body of work today, you will have images you are proud of in just a short time.
I also advocate working on a series or a project rather than just single images. 4 years working on just single images can net you a few interesting standalone photos. But 4 years working on a project can help you create a memorable body of work, which allows you to go deep into your subject matter and create more meaningful work.
So what do you have to lose? Start your body of work today.
Earlier this year I met up with Hector Isaac, a street photographer originally from Cuba who moved and started shooting street photography in Miami, and now is based in LA. He is a part of the Strata collective.
In the video Interview I talk with him about his start in street photography, about the Miami Street Photography Festival, and his thoughts about working in color!
Hector recommends street photographers to check out the Observe Collective, and especially the work of Ilya Shtutsa (krysolove).
Christophe Agou is a street photographer from France, currently based in New York. He is a part of In-Public, and his published works include “Life Below: The New York Subway” and his newest book: “LES FAITS SECONDAIRESâ€Â ( SECONDARY FACTS).
I recently finished teaching my Istanbul Week-Long Travel Street Photography Workshop with Charlie Kirk. We started off the workshop with a portfolio review, and we focused on each student’s individual needs. I am very impressed with all of the improvements from the students in working really hard during the week, and making a tight edit at the end!
See all the before/after photos below, and if you are interested in taking your street photography to new heights, check out my upcoming street photography workshops.
I recently finished reading “The Snowball“, a biography on the life of Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors of all time. One inspirational thing I got from the book was how Buffett always played by his “inner scorecard” — staying true to himself and his own standards. Seeking to please himself, and not others.
I think sometimes photographers think photography is a sport with clear winners and losers. But photography isn’t a zero sum game. There are no point system. Rather we sometimes use social media follower numbers, the amount of exhibitions we’ve had, the books we’ve published, the gear we own, to validate our self worth (compared to other photographers).
But screw all of that. Shoot based on your own “inner scorecard”. Challenge yourself in photography, and know you aren’t competing with anyone. There are no clear winners or losers. We should focus on collaborating with one another, rather than worrying about who is a better photographer or who has more “favorites” or “likes”.
Don’t aim to be the best photographer out there. Rather, aim to the best photographer you can become.
For further reading, you can read my past article: How Many “Favorites†Or “Likes†Are Enough?
My good friend and talented photographer Gary Tyson from F8 Photography in Hong Kong has recently put together a very helpful video on how to convert Fujifilm X-T1 RAW files into black & white with Lightroom 5.4 and Silver Efex Pro 2.
If you are unfamiliar with post-processing your street photography into black & white, the instructions is a great starting point for any camera. You can also download my black & white Neopan 1600 for Lightroom here. You can download all my Lightroom presets for free here.
Also if you want to take your street photography to the next level, don’t miss out on my Hong Kong Intermediate/Advanced Street Photography Workshop with Gary on August 22-24th, 2014.
All photographs copyrighted by Vivian Maier / Maloof Collection
A street photographer whose work and life I hugely admire is that of Vivian Maier. For those of you who haven’t heard her story, she worked and lived as a nanny her entire adult life– and shot street photography on the side for herself. She created incredible black and white and color work through the 1950’s all the way through the late 1990′s. She shot an incredible amount of images– that amount to over 100,000 negatives.
Recently the documentary: “Finding Vivian Maier” on the mystery behind her life and discovery came out. I realized I haven’t written an article on her yet– so I wanted to use the opportunity to do so.
Jesse Marlow is a street photographer based in Melbourne, and a member of In-Public. He recently published his book: “Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them.” The images were shot over a 9 year period on the streets of Australia and Europe and features 50 color photographs. I interview him on his start in street photography, the book-making process, and his interest in color film.
I just finished my NYC Intermediate/Advanced Street Photography Workshop this past weekend, and was so impressed to see the progress all the students have made. The focus of the workshop was finding your own style and voice– and it was centered on working on a mini-project.
Check out all the students’ before/after work below! If you want to take your street photography to the next level, you can also see my upcoming workshops here.
I am excited to share this week’s winner for the “Bad Weather” street photography assignment is Julian Furones from Spain.
I love the sense of humor in the shot, the striped tie juxtaposed against the curved stripes on the ground, and the slightly out-of-focus figures of the people in the background with umbrellas. It is a shot that immediately makes me laugh, and reminds me of an Elliott Erwitt shot that could have been shout out of the 50’s.
This week’s assignment is: “Food” (thanks to Julian for helping me come up with the idea).
How to enter: Upload your (1) best street photograph directly to my Facebook fan page according to the theme (and a link to your Flickr or website). Deadline is this Sunday (April 13th) at midnight, Pacific Time. I will choose my personal favorite and share it on the site. Have fun and good luck!
I recently had a chance to catch up and grab a coffee with Justin Vogel and Matt Stuart while I was in NYC. I did a quick video interview with Justin about his feelings on moderating the HCSP group on Flickr, what he thinks makes a memorable image, shooting color film, and his other thoughts on street photography.
You can also see a past interview with him on my blog here.
All photographs in this article are copyrighted by Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos
Richard Kalvar is one of the contemporary masters in street photograph, and also a member of Magnum. I have always loved his quirky and observant street photographs, and am quite pleased how active he is– especially on Facebook and the Magnum Blog. I gained a lot of insight about his work and street photography through his various interviews online. Read more to gain inspiration from him!
This article by Josh White, a street photographer based out of Korea. This article originally appeared on Josh’s blog here.Â
DEFINITION
Gear Acquisition Syndrome (abbreviated to GAS) is a term used to describe an urge to acquire and accumulate lots of gear.
TREATMENT
None
GAS hasn’t received any major medical attention. GAS is not a clinical condition. It can be the result of a psychological lack of personality.
source: Wikipedia.
A lot of people have asked me a lot lately about cameras and getting over the feeling of wanting every f*cking camera you see. As much as I hate gear talk now, I really feel like this post is necessary.
In this video I share a basic street photography technique: finding an interesting background and waiting for an interesting subject to come in and create a juxtaposition. Filmed on my GoPro Hero 3 with the Fujifilm X-T1 in Dubai, during my street photography workshop at Gulf Photo Plus 2014.
I recently hit the streets of NYC with Jerry Pena, a color film street photographer based in upstate New York. Watch him talk about his inspirations in street photography and footage of him shooting on the streets above. You can also see my other feature with him on the blog here.
All photographs in this article are copyrighted by Jeff Mermelstein.
I love the street photography of Jeff Mermelstein. Hailing from New York City, he is one of the most prolific street photographers and photojournalists out there. Besides his personal street photography work, he has done major assignment work for Life Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine.
When I first saw Jeff’s images, I was blown away by the simplicity but depth of emotions in his photographs. His photographs are very quirky, and intensely powerful as well.
I wanted to dedicate this article to Jeff– in terms of how he has inspired me in street photography. I also hope to share some of his philosophies, images, and experiences with you.
After a long hiatus, I am excited to announce I am starting the weekly street photography assignments again!
This week’s street photography assignment is: “Bad Weather.”
Upload your best (1) street photograph directly to my Facebook fan page wall by Saturday midnight and I will announce the best image via Facebook by this Monday morning. Looking forward to seeing your images!
Igor Rudenko is a street photographer who captures poetic and timeless monochromatic images from Kiev, Ukraine. This interview is by Mehdi Bouqua, a street photographer from Downtown LA.
This post is by Dan K, a writer, camera collector, and photographer from Hong Kong.
Dan: Today I have the pleasure of summarising Eric Kim’s contribution to street photography. At a loss for ideas, I threw the question open to my social media followers. Big mistake! All I got was flames and no tips at all about actual street photography.
When the seat of my pants had sufficiently cooled, I sat back and mulled it all over. Why is one of our generation’s best known street photographers so successful when opinion of his work is so… “divided”?
What can we learn from the way he works that would be useful to the modern street photographer keen to emulate his name recognition?