7 Street Photography Tips for You

Dear friends,

To promote my new and upcoming WORKSHOPS, I wanted to share some insightful thoughts which can hopefully turbocharge you:

1. Why street photography?

When I consider all of my writings and thoughts on street photography, the good thing is that as time goes on, I become more fascinated in the nuances around street photography.

In fact, as I become older and more experienced in street photography, I’ve become more open minded around street photography, what it means, and how to do it.

2. New street photography techniques?

When I think about my top 30 street photography tips, I wonder to myself:

What new street photography techniques have yet been uncovered yet?

For example, mall street photography.

Even at the moment, the current bane of my existence is trying to live a virtuous life in the suburbs.

However perhaps the good idea is to think:

I can do street photography anywhere — I just gotta be creative and flexible enough to modify my current life situation to make street photography interesting to me.

For example, starting a street photo project in the burbs: — more thoughts here.

Or if you’re busy with work, work around that. Lars Tunbjork did a great series on ‘office’– in which you can shoot street photography even in insanely sterile office environments.

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

Or check out my suits project

3. Delete the gram

Instagram is bad for your health and also your photography. I deleted my instagram in 2017, and it was the best thing I did for myself creatively.

The boldest and most courageous things you do in life is not what to do, or what you decide NOT to do, or what you decide to get rid of or delete.

Delete your instagram, make your own website, and the simple strategy:

Everything you would have otherwise uploaded to Instagram, upload to your own website/blog instead.

4. The best street photographers to study

The masters of street photography:

To keep things simple, the GOAT is still Henri Cartier Bresson. Just study him.

After Henri, Josef Koudelka, Garry Winogrand, then Richard Avedon. All the other masters are extra.

100 lessons from the masters of street photography free PDF on google drive >

Also discover this more ‘future-proof’ Google Docs version here >

Also the .epub version

5. OPEN SOURCE IT

The biggest detriment to our street photography is feeling like we need some sort of ‘ownership’ over our photos.

My personal vision of open source is simple:

Make things as accessible as YOU wish you can have.

For example, if you hate pay-walls, DRM (digital rights management) or other silly things, make it as open and free as possible.

No watermarks. The best watermark is your own style.

Also —

Even if someone ‘steals’ your photo, time will uncover the truth.

Also, from a marketing perspective, (YouTube video) // photography marketing 101:

Better to market yourself by making your photos easily accessible (open source, full resolution JPEG online, easily downloadable).

The goal is for your photos to spread and percolate throughout the (open) internet.

Download PDF text for marketing 101

6. Creative longevity

Depressing enough, when I think about when I started street photography (knee deep) when I was a year out of college (around 21 years old) and now looking at myself (I was born in 1988), I have seen so many street photographers rise and fall, and lose motivation.

Why? I believe the culprit is social media, fame, and the ‘metrification’ of ‘success’ in photography.

For example, going viral as a photographer can be the worst thing that happens to you, as you become insanely famous and popular, then fade into obscurity. This is not good for your ego.

How was I able to conquer this?

For myself personally, creative isolation. My 2016-2017 is the best thing I did for myself creatively, getting rid of my phone, not checking my email or using email for 2 years, etc.

Then what you want to do is to allow yourself to become the own judge of your photos. If you want honest feedback on your photos, arsbeta.com, but otherwise, allow yourself to become the own judge of your photos by thinking: