5 practical street photography tips to get your creative juices flowing:

ERIC KIM EXPERIENCE

Conquer your fears and meet new peers in London, NYC, Kyoto, and Tokyo in 2018:

2018

Jan 27-28: LONDON / Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography (December 31 deadline for early—bird registration)
Feb 21-22: NYC / Conquer Your Fears in Street Photography
Feb 24-25: NYC / Dynamic Street Photography Composition Workshop
May 2-5: KYOTO-UJI / Zen Creative Photography Experience
May 9-13: TOKYO / Travel Street Photography Experience

Workshop Registration & Contact: neilta@gmail.com

Learn more about ERIC KIM STREET PHOTO EXPERIENCES >

1. Fishing technique against simple white background

Suit silhouette walking. Tokyo, 2016

Find a simple background when you’re shooting street photography, and wait for the right people to enter the frame.

Dynamic low angle composition. Tokyo, 2011 by ERIC KIM

2. Evoke a reaction

Tokyo, 2011

Don’t be a stealth street photographer. Shoot, be visible, and don’t be shy.

Realize, put your soul in street photography by provoking a reaction.

Tokyo, 2011. Film Leica M6, flash, f16

When you’re shooting, be aggressive. Get close. Shoot a few times, and wait until you provoke a reaction, and capture that in your photos.

Man covering his face with his hand. Tokyo, 2017

Good reactions:

Hands covering their face, or pointing to you
Eye contact
Changed facial expressions

Woman with umbrella. 28mm and flash. Tokyo, 2017

Head-on street photograph. Tokyo, 2017

Street photography isn’t about being a hidden observer, like Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Rather, be like William Klein: be a director on the streets, interact with your subjects, and have your presence make your photos more interesting.

Jazz Hands. Hollywood, 2011 by ERIC KIM

Eric Kim shooting Jazz hands. Behind the scenes photo.

Downtown LA, 2011 / Photo by Rinzi Ruiz

3. Smile

The best way to have more fun in street photography — smile.

Smile, interact with your subjects, and ask them open-ended questions. Shoot a lot, and smile and laugh while you’re shooting, and you will get your subjects to smile, too.

Girls laughing. Amsterdam, 2017

Laughing Paris man, 2015

Contact sheet. Laughing Paris.

Laughing lady eric kim. NYC, 2015

laughing lady contact sheet NYC eric kim

Girl laughing with blue sunglasss. Kyoto, 2017.

Eric kim street photography laughing ladies NYC hanoi

Laughing lady abstract, 2017

Woman laughing, NYC 2017

4. Don’t just shoot 1-2 photos

See how many pictures HCB shot of the scene. Contact sheet from Henri Cartier-Bresson in Seville, Spain, 1933. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos

Work the scene.

There is a misconception in ‘the decisive moment’ — that you can only shoot 1-2 photos of the scene.

But even if you look at the contact sheets of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who shot many photos of the scene, and chose the best picture afterwards.

Maybe picture – Contact sheet from Henri Cartier-Bresson in Seville, Spain, 1933. © Henri Cartier-Bresson : Magnum Photos

Final Picture – Contact sheet from Henri Cartier-Bresson in Seville, Spain, 1933. © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos

The more you shoot, the more likely you are to hit a home run, and get a ‘keeper’:

Often, you don’t know the best composition until you go home, and judge all your pictures of the scene (contact sheet)

Contact sheet of man in Hanoi. I didn’t realize the best shot was until the very end.

Sweat. Downtown LA, 2016.

Tucson, 2014. Lady with red hair and yellow shirt.

People think this picture is a candid photo. It is not.

5. High angle street photos, pointing downwards

The benefit of shooting street photography with a point and shoot camera, phone, or RICOH GR II: holding your camera high up, and pointing shooting downwards.

The benefits: