Now on its 2nd year, Streetfoto San Francisco will happen on June 5-11. We had a quick chat with Ken Walton, the organizer of Streetfoto on how he balances life, photography, putting San Francisco on center stage. (Interview by A.g. De Mesa)
A.g.: Aside from being the organizer of the Streetfoto, you’re a very dedicated father, an avid traveler, and a very active photographer yourself. How do you pull this off and balance everything?!
Ken: As for how I pull it all off – it’s not easy, and my time management skills are really not all that great, but when I’m really passionate about something, I do the work of ten men. It’s also pretty difficult to get me to reply to an email for several months a year.
Editor’s Note: Today we have Daniel Oshi of The Brussels Street Photography Festival. It promises to be a great Photography event highlighting the beautiful city of Brussels and a special insight to Belgian Photography.
I talk shop with Daniel and he invites us to join in their contest (more info at the bottom of the post) and festivities starting on October 28, 2016! All photos used with permission from BSPF. Interview by A.g. De Mesa
The last day for submission to the contests is on April 20 (Today) at 23:59pm US Pacific Time.
Streetfoto San Francisco 2016 Â extended their due date to all of their competitions to accommodate more entries! I suggest you go ahead and do some last minute submissions and click the link for more info.
(Photos used in this interview is used with permission from Streetfoto and the respected copyright of the owners. Streetfoto Poster image by Jack Simon)
San Francisco is probably one of the most under rated US cities when it comes to street photography. Home to a lot of hard workers and street shooters, the city will be the venue for Streetfoto, a new international street photography festival. Lined up with exhibits, contests, portfolio reviews, lectures, and a lot more, Streetfoto is shaping up to put San Francisco in the street photography festival scene. We got a chance to talk to Ken Walton, the brainchild of this festival and we discuss what Streetfoto is about, his views on street photography, and what folks can expect when they go there.
We’ve always love the hard work that Observe Collective puts out. They understand that photography is not just shooting but also showing your work. Presenting your observations if you will.
Which is why we’re happy to know that the Observe collective Magazine aptly named, Observations recently went up online.
This issue isn’t a typical glossy magazine found in the stands with cover stories and feature articles. They had their members write about their personal relationship with photography. Some of them explore their fascination as to where the interest to photography came from like Danielle Houghton’s work or Ilya Shtutsa’s relationship with his mentor and how it is helping him tell visual stories in a deeper manner.
It’s quite a long read at 148 pages but it is interesting and thoughtful. Thankfully, you can download a pdf version on their website.
Once again, congratulations to Observe collective on their first issue and we are looking forward to what they have next!
Photo by Michele Berlingeri (SA 17 Community’s choice)
Here we go! This latest one was very nice from my point of view because I got to know a little bit of each of the member just by their photographs alone. It was interesting mix of humor, drama, and a life with photography. Â Without further ado, here are the choices for this assignment:
Street Photography Quick Links is a compilation of Links, Projects, News, Videos, Events, or anything that is related to street photography or photography in particular that I have personally consumed. Perhaps these might interest you or make you think. If you want to send some links my way, details will be at the bottom of the post below:
(A.g.’s Note: We’re glad to have Observe Collective back on the blog again with some highlights of their recently held Under Construction exhibit in Germany. Check it out!)
Hopefully by now, you already know what this means! If you don’t know what we do, check my introductory post of Streettogs Academy Here! For those of you already know, read on!
(Cover photo by Assignment 14 Community’s Choice, Michele Berlingeri)
This has got to be one of the assignments that got the most number of beautiful pictures so far! The number of interpretations given to our theme is very diverse. Let’s start our analysis with our Community’s Choice:
SPonatanea is a very active and organized street photography collective based out of Italy. In the interview, I talked to them about their formation, activities, and upcoming projects. This interview also has a full italian translation at the bottom! Check it out. (All photos are the respective ownership of the SPOontanea collective members.)
A.g.: What is the motivation behind SPontanea? How was it formed?
SPontanea: SPontanea was born in 2013. The idea was to found an Italian collective dedicated to Street Photography, capable of facing on equal terms the other existing international realities, hoping to become over time a quality reference point in Italy. The founding members were chosen on the basis of a reciprocal respect and appreciation – we already knew each other from the web – in order to bring together a wide range of styles and approaches, representing a solidly structured and well defined Italian photographic vision on Street Photography.
Cheers to another assignment wrapped and here’s a new one to keep everyone in Streettogs Academy moving, shooting, and perhaps for this assignment, following the beat!
Street Photography Quick Links is a compilation of Links, Projects, News, Videos, Events, or anything that is related to street photography or photography in particular that I have personally consumed. Perhaps these might interest you or make you think. If you want to send some links my way, details will be at the post below.
You’ve read that right! Colin Westerbeck, acclaimed curator and author of the book, Bystander: A brief history of Street Photography together with Acuity press and PDN are looking for your best work to be part of a book that will showcase the current practice of street photography. It will be juried by Eric together with Ken Schles, Matt Stewart, Daniel Arnold, and John Free.
Almost 12 months ago, during Eric’s trip here in Manila, he pitched me an idea that he wants me to handle. He told me that I am good at looking at photographs and at the same time he needs a little help running this blog so he told me to start an assignment group. Here we are 12 months on, about to start our 12th Assignment!
I can’t thank everyone enough for participating and responding positively to our efforts. All we hope is that everyone is picking up something new or is motivated to start shooting and getting out there again.
Our current assignment is also appropriate because this is the reason why I do the things I do. So let’s keep this going!
OBSERVE is holding their first group exhibit in opening on June 12, 2015 in the Städtische Galerie in Iserlohn, Germany, and will run through July 26, 2015.
The exhibit will feature the works of the 13 members of the collective. Several members will be present in the opening as well.
In line with the exhibit, OBSERVE will hold their first ever street photography competition with a total of over €1000 in prize money. The theme is “Under Construction”. The competition is open to all photographers of all ages worldwide.
All roads lead to Dublin as the Irish Street Photography Group together with the group admin Des Bryne brings together the Irish Street Photography Exhibition.
47 Street Photographers, 47 Photographs from Established Street Photographers to Emerging New Talent from Ireland and beyond, this is the first “Irish Street Photography Exhibition” from the ISPG (Irish Street Photography Group)
We always push for people to keep on practicing and developing your skills and your eye. We also believe in having a passionate group of people helping each other to become good with this passion of ours. With that in mind, we are launching a new initiative here on the blog: Streettogs Academy.
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!
The folks at PhotoWhoa has recently put together their first issue of “The Street Collective: Volume 1“. Â Below is a description of the magazine from the editors there:
We collected the insights of these photographers to help you. Photographers like World Press Photo award winning Laura Pannack, LPV magazine founder and street photographer advocate Bryan Formhals, critically adored Kazuo Sumida, and PDN noted up-and-comer Delphine Diaw Diallo.
In all, we’ve collected 10 different photographers that will teach their own perspective about documenting real life. You’ll learn to how to work with natural light with Odd Future’s own Julian Berman. Find out how to communicate through cityscapes and ordinary moments with Satoki Nagata. And discover how to turn your street portraits into works of art with Lee Jefferies.
The magazine looks superb, with some great and talented street photographers on it. Make sure to download your copy for free here.
Eric: Congratulations to Michael Meinhardt for winning last week’s weekly assignment: “Emotion“. The reason I thought that this photo was the winning photograph was for several reasons.
First of all, I feel that the emotion in Michael’s shot it is an emotion we can all relate with (envy, jealousy, and lust) related with material things (cars especially). The fact that it is a really high-end car (Bently) adds to the feeling of desire, and the man’s positioning in the frame is great (on the right) and the expression with his hands. Slouched over, dejected, having his hand over his eye in a look of despair. His balding hair suggests that he has been working for a while (as a middle-aged man), and the watch on the right hand to me is a symbol of his material wants (and running out of time?). The background reflections are quite beautiful aesthetically as well, and shows all the other people walking past him.
2nd place image: Digoy Isleta
The second-runner up is Digoy Isleta. The reason I enjoy this image is because of the great layers, depth, and (of course) emotion contained in the shot. The shot feels very three-dimensional, and has many things going on. First of all, the woman in the background looks lost and is grasping a mysterious hand coming out of the shadows (to show hope?) There is another random hand waving above her head, maybe to suggest for her to wake up and exit her daze? Also you one kid on the left (wearing the superman shirt) looking at her – perhaps a superman to save her? And the last boy on the far left, with his arm around the superman girl is looking straight at the photographer, making you feel like an active participant of the scene, rather than a voyeur.
3rd runner-up: Longwen Chen
The last winning shot is a photo by Longwen Chen that feels quite dystopic and surreal. The strong grain and grit makes for a nice backdrop, including the mysterious lines and shadows lurking from behind. I first see a young boy in the far left, screaming out – perhaps for his mother? Then enters the man on the left, who is giving a menacing stare to the photographer. He seems to ignore the child on the right (or seems unaware of him) and is exiting the frame. The man’s legs in a “V” shape adds to the composition of the photo. The tilt of the photo distracts me a bit (would have preferred it straighter) – but at the same time it adds to the uneasiness of the image.
Congratulations to all the winners, and keep updated for next week’s assignment on my Facebook fan page! Let us also know what you think of the winning shots by leaving a comment below! Â
Sorry for not having the weekly assignments up regularly, it will be back to usual every Tuesday! Please submit you images to Erics Facebook fan page here.
So for this week the theme is “Emotion”, see how you can capture emotion on the street during everyday life! Make sure you submit your best image by Friday for a shot at being featured as the cover image for Erics Facebook page, as well as being featured on the blog next week!
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.
(“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.Â
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.
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!
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!
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.
(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!
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!
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.
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.
So for this week, the assignment is “Silhouettesâ€. This was chosen by the winner of last weeks challenge Steven Xue. Upload your best 1 silhouettes shot captured between now and this Friday to Eric’s Facebook fan page.
Hi guys, I hope everyone is having a good weekend, after talking to Eric we decided that the photo above by Steven Xue has won the first week, huge congratulations to him! We both really liked the runners up images bellow as well! I think these are really good examples of cliches as there often captured and uploaded for thousands of likes, but only end up getting a couple as there’s so many others like them!
Eric’s Note: I am excited to announce that my good mate Charlie Atkinson will be helping out on the blog (remember the cheater on Digital Rev TV?). Anyways, he is now a reformed man and his heart is really into street photography! Considering that I’m always on the road and traveling – I haven’t been able to keep up with the weekly assignments as well as other features for the community. Please invite him warmly – and keep posted with cool new features he has planned up his sleeve for you guys!
Charlie: First of all I would like to give a huge thank you to Eric for giving me the opportunity to be lucky enough to be part of his sick blog!
So having spoken to Eric over a couple of beers and kebabs we got talking about some good ideas to get the community more involved. One of the ideas is to have more consistent weekly street photography assignments. So for this week, the assignment is “Cliches”. This could be an interesting first assignment as everyone always tries to avoid cliches. Upload your best 1 cliche shot captured between now and this Thursday (NO CHEATING ;) ) to Eric’s Facebook fan page. We will choose the best shots and feature them on the blog on Friday.
Recently on my Facebook Fan page, I the community the question: “How do you stay motivated after missing ‘The Decisive Moment'”?. I am sharing some of my favorite responses below!
Deb Young How do you know it was a ‘decisive moment’ if you didn’t get it? It’s the journey, not the goal :) EVERY moment counts…
Fernando Ramos Knowing that history tends to repeat itself. If you saw something that’s because you know you wanted to see it and so, the moment isn’t about the exact characters in it as much as the thing happening and what it symbolizes to you.
Michael Meinhardt By acknowledging how fortunate I was to even have witnessed and recognized this moment. It may not be in a photo, but it’s stored in my mind.
Robert N Thornhill ‎”The decisive moment” is the ever unfolding now . always happening , perspective is what makes it so .
Virgil Gabriel Don’t stop looking! Move on! Decisive moments are happening at the every heartbeat – that of yours and the rest of humanity!
Stephen Patterson I like to wear a Go Pro on a head band to never miss “The Decisive Moment”.
Edward McAllister Just happened to me…you know my favorite shot? The next one!
Always love hearing everybody’s input- keep posting your responses to my Facebook fan page!
How do you stay motivated after missing the decisive moment? Share your tip in the comments below!Â
The street photography assignment for this week on my Facebook fan page was “Hands“. I always stress the importance of capturing hands in street photography – because so much of our non-verbal communication comes from our hands. In this post are some of my favorites that were uploaded from the Facebook community.
Next week’s theme is going to be: “Food” – inspired by Gaston Trussi, one the attendees in my past street photography workshop in Sydney. I think that what makes “food” a great theme is that without it – we would literally be dead. It also brings friends, families, and acquaintances together – and has strong roots to the society we live in.
How to enter: Next week, go out and shoot what you perceive to be “Food” – and upload your best (1) shot to my Facebook fan page by Thursday midnight. Why Facebook? It makes it easier to organize the entries and sort through them!
Keep reading to see the other great examples of hands from the community, as well as timeless shots from the masters!
Recently I met Colin Westerbeck, the author of “Bystander: A History of Street Photography” and he shared some great stories with me. One of the stories he shared was the great friendship that Garry Winogrand and Joel Meyerowitz shared. They would hang out a ton, go shooting, eat with one another, and critique one anothers’ work at each others’ houses.
When it comes to street photography, I personally like to shoot with other people. Although you probably get the “best” photographs when going by yourself, going along with a buddy or a couple of friends is a great way to stay motivated, have fun, and still get some great shots. Imagine like having a gym-buddy (they will get your ass out of bed to go workout). Same thing with having street photography buddies (they get your ass off the computer at home and go out and hit the streets).
For this blog post I will describe how you can start your own street photography community, and the benefits that it will bring you!
I know it has been a while since I featured street photography from the community – but here is the last batch of great shots I have noticed on Facebook! If you would like to get one of your shots featured in the future, make sure to upload them to my Facebook fan page! (I prefer using Facebook because it is easier to sort/look through all the photographs).
Some tips to get included in the next post:
Don’t use watermarks on your photographs or white/black borders. They are often distracting to the image and take away from the power of the photo.
Don’t over-process your photographs. Once your photo looks too “HDR’y” you should tone it down.
Street portraits are great – but try to incorporate the subjects/backgrounds more.
Get good lighting. Try not to include shots that have been shot mid-day.
Think about balance and composition. Don’t have your subjects too center-focused.
Don’t shoot people’s backs. Sometimes they work but typically they don’t.
Think about the statement your photograph is trying to say. Is it just a person of a person walking on the streets, or something more?
Generally photos of street performers/homeless people are cliche and not very original. Try to find the extraordinary in the ordinary- rather than capture ordinary photos of extraordinary people.
Keep reading to see if your photograph got included in the post, and see all the great images!
Things have been a bit hectic in Hong Kong and prepping for my workshop this weekend, but wanted to take a chance to feature the best street photographs posted to my Facebook fan page the last two weeks.
On an unrelated note, I actually had the chance to meet Kaiman Wong and the rest of the team from Digital Rev TV and we did some recording for a video on street photography that will release soon (stay tuned).
If you would like to get one of your shots featured in the future, make sure to upload them to my Facebook fan page! (I prefer using Facebook because it is easier to sort/look through all the photographs).
I know it has been a while since I featured street photography from the community – but here is the last batch of great shots I have noticed on Facebook! If you would like to get one of your shots featured in the future, make sure to upload them to my Facebook fan page! (I prefer using Facebook because it is easier to sort/look through all the photographs).
Some tips to get included in the next post:
Don’t use watermarks on your photographs
Don’t over-process your photographs
Street portraits are great – but try to incorporate the subjects/backgrounds more
Get good lighting. Try not to include shots that have been shot mid-day
Crouch more. Get at least eye-to-eye level with your subjects
Think about balance and composition. Don’t have your subjects too center-focused
Don’t shoot people’s backs. Sometimes they work but typically they don’t
In this post I’m honoured to have the privilege to present an interview with one of the original members of In-Public and practicing street photographer, David Gibson. David’s work is among the strongest I’ve seen from a practicing contemporary street photographer, and has inspired me to refine my eye even more, to try and make images as graphically enthralling as his.
Eric’s Note: This is part of an on-going critique series called “CritiqueMe” by Ollie Gapper. Enjoy the feature below!Â
Ollie Gapper: Well I’d like to first off say thank you to everyone who took the time to enter for the first installment of CritiqueMe, I’ve had the great pleasure of looking at some truly fantastic work. I’d also like to congratulate Nicolas Hermann for being selected! The reason I chose Nicolas for the first installment of CritiqueMe is that I wanted to be really challenged for finding points for improvement (not that some of the work you guys turned in wouldn’t do the same) as the ones I would find will inevitably help a lot more of you.
Twitter can be a beautiful place to meet and connect with other street photographers on a 1:1 basis, but the biggest problem is the amount of noise out there. Here are some of the 50+ street photographers I follow religiously on Twitter who always tweet interesting content, communicate well, or are great sources of street photography related news.Sorry if I forgot anybody on the list (I am human after all) so please don’t take offense! Also make sure to use the hashtag #streettogs on Twitter to stay posted with anything street photography related!
Hey streettogs, I recently put together this list of my favorite 50+ street photographers on Google+ (also based on your recommendations!). Although I got mad love for my folks on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and now 500px— Google+ is definitely a great place to stumble upon beautiful photos and interact. The people at the Google+ team (I’m looking at you +Brian Rose!) have done a fantastic job integrating Picasa and a combination of their past Google Buzz and Wave products.
Apologies that this list is not as thorough as I would like it to be (and I’m sure I forgot a few people–sorry!). However check out this list of amazing street photographers on Google+ below (rated in no particular order) and don’t forget to add +Eric Kim as well! ;)
This week’s street photography assignment of the week was “Hands“. Thanks to everybody who sent in their submissions to my Facebook fan page. Stay tuned for next week’s assignment, and keep on reading to check out the rest of the inspirational images!
This week’s street photography assignment was “Humor” and many of you submitted great submissions to my Facebook fan page. Thanks to everybody who took the time to post, and here are 20 of the best images that stood out to me. Keep reading to check out the rest of the images!
I would argue that the editing and post-processing aspect of street photography is almost as important as the shooting part. Therefore on my Facebook fan page I asked you to upload photos of your workstations and uploaded the best ones. Read more to see the computer workstations where the magic goes down!
This week I announced on my Facebook fan page that the weekly street photography assignment was: “Blur”. I chose this theme because I was inspired by a quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson that “Sharpness is a bourgeoisie concept.” Many of you submitted your great images, and I chose the best images to be featured for this week! Make sure to read more to see the rest of the images, and stay tuned for next week’s assignment by liking me on Facebook!
Yesterday on my Facebook fan page, I asked you to submit your best self-portraits of yourself with your camera. I got an overwhelming response, and thanks to everyone who was brave enough to upload their images! I chose the most fascinating self-portraits out of the bunch and included them here! Hope you guys don’t mind ;)
Hey streettogs, thanks to everyone who read this week’s post on how to shoot street photography without people and submitted their best images to my Facebook fan page! Congratulations to everyone who made the final cut next week. Tell us which photos you liked best, and stay tuned for our next assignment! Keep reading to see the rest of the best images of the week!
We all found out about street photography in different ways. Some of us may have been inspired after looking at the images of Henri Cartier-Bresson photo book while some of us may have learned about it by chance.
How did you learn about street photography? Leave a comment below and share your story! I will select the best stories out there in one of my next blog posts!
Having recently written an article on how to shoot street photography at night, I asked #streettogs on Twitter to share with me their best street photographs. I received many inspirational images that show the rawness and beauty which is nighttime street photography. Congratulations to all who made the final cut!
"The Conductor" - LA Opera House. One of my first street photographs
Everyone out there has a story to tell about how he/she got with street photography. Why not give us some inspiration and write a comment below and share your story! Looking forward in reading all of them! :)
I had a great idea for all of us for Christmas. We all love having prints in our homes of other photographers, but it can be pretty expensive at times. So I thought that having a “print exchange” in which photographers can send one another prints would be awesome!
So this is how it will go:
Leave a comment below with your full name, your email, what country you are from, and a link to your photos (Website, Flickr, Blog, etc). (Due December 19th)
I will then randomly assign two photographers to one another, and you will both coordinate sending 1 photo each to one another with at least a 12×18” size.
Send photos to one another using a service of your preference (I prefer Costco or Snapfish–they are cheap and look amazing).
Mount the photo you receive in your home or office, and take a photo of it.
Send me the photos to erickimphotography@gmail.com and I will post them on my site.
Got questions? Leave a comment below.
Understand how this works? What are you waiting for–get started!
