Why Street Photography is the Best Photography

All photography is good photography, but I still think street photography is the best:

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1. Challenge and difficulty is more fun

Street photography is hard, scary, challenging, and difficult. This is what makes it so great.

Hanoi, 2019 #streettogs hoan kiem
Hanoi, 2019 #streettogs

2. Street photography makes us more human

Sapa, 2019
Sapa, 2019 #flash #ricohgrii

Street photography forces us to interact with people. Street photography makes us more empathetic and compassionate with other people.

3. Street photography is fun!

Street photography is hyper fun. I love shooting street photography, traveling, and talking/interacting with others! I get great joy when I’m out shooting and interacting with others.

Hanoi, 2019 #ricohgrii #flash
Hanoi, 2019 #ricohgrii #flash

4. Composition in street photography is interesting, fun, and interactive

There is nothing more fun, challenging, and interesting to make new and innovative compositions [using human beings as your subjects!]

Sapa, 2019
Sapa, 2019

See these four boys, all looking different directions:

5. Social documentary

For me, much of photography is sociological. I call it ‘visual street photography sociology’.

The idea is this:

Through photography, you better can analyze, dissect, and critique society.

For example, people often think of Vietnam as a poor country with rice-patties. But they never see all the Rolls-Royce’s in Vietnam and Hanoi:

Rolls Royce outside hotel. Hanoi, 2018
Rolls Royce outside hotel. Hanoi, 2018

6. Discovering new modes of living

Sapa, 2019
A soccer mom’s nightmare of kids playing. Sapa, 2019

Photography and street photography makes me much more adventurous. As a consequence, I have witnessed and experienced more different cultures. This has been great, because it has helped expand my mind. I now realize:

Wow, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to live. Much of how we view and interact with the world is based on our cultural pre-assumptions.

The best thing about experiencing new cultures is this:

You can live your life however you want.

You don’t need to be a slave to any culture. Instead, you have the power to create your own [unique] culture.

7. Art-creation opportunities are everywhere!

Mexico City, 2019 #cindyproject
Mexico City, 2019 #cindyproject

To me, more fun to create your own artwork than to collect the artworks of others.

For example I get deep inspiration from abstract artists [Piet Mondrian, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock], but I get EVEN MORE inspiration by creating my own photographic art-works:

Mexico City, 2019
Mexico City, 2019 #abstract

8. Street photography as a way of life

Kyoto, 2017 girls by the kazoo river
Kyoto, 2017

Street photography is life. Life with humans. A life of art-creation, exploration, empathy and love.

Shoot on!

ERIC

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