Note: This blog post is by Kaushal Parikh, a street photographer from Mumbai, India.Â
Although this is an article about a camera, I don’t believe that gear alone can create good photographs. But I do believe that a good photographer can be inspired to make good images with the right gear. I recently acquired a Fujifilm FinePix x100 that I have come to love and thought I would just share a few thoughts and tips about this camera.
(In the video above, I share a story of a recent confrontation I had in Toronto (that got physical) and how I defused the situation.)
Edit: In the video I previously mentioned an issue regarding street photography in Vancouver. I actually meant to say Quebec. Read all about the canadian street photography laws here.
Confrontations rarely occur in street photography. As long as you smile and say “thank you” after taking photos of people, 95% of people smile and say “thank you” back or just ignore you.
However 5% of the time, people typically will react in a negative manner. It is usually one of these below (I will add rough estimates in my experience):
In today’s 1-minute masterclass with Steve McCurry, he talks about getting “in the zone” when he is out shooting. He prefers to shoot alone and to quietly explore the streets without speaking much, to get a feel of the environment he is shooting in.
Although I am a big fan of shooting together in groups (it helps you be more comfortable) shooting alone is when you can be in almost a meditative state– enjoying life around yourself alone.
When you are out shooting, do you prefer to go alone or in a group and why? Share your experiences in the comments below!Â
The folks from Phaidon are continuing their “One-Minute Masterclass” series with Steve McCurry. This new episode features his secret in getting interesting photos from unique vantage points (like a high vantage point). He describes how surprised he was in terms of how accommodating people can be in letting you enter their house or patio to shoot cityscapes. This reflects my own personal experiences, such as when I was shooting in the streets of Beirut, Lebanon– random strangers would start talking to me and even invite me into their house to enjoy some coffee.
The next time you are traveling, make some friends and ask for permission to enter people’s homes and take the time to know them and chat with them. As they like to say on the internet, “ask and you shall receive.”
The YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition is an experiment in which 30+ street photographers from LA were given 10 days to shoot in one square block in the Downtown LA Fashion District. The opening night featured 3 of the best shots of each street photographer, and Jordan Dunn won the best-of-show award and a Leica VLUX-30 camera, which was sponsored by Leica Camera.
The closing event for the YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition will be this Saturday Oct. 29th at 7 pm at the ThinkTank Gallery (939 Maple Ave). Alex JD Smith, one of the featured photographers for the event,  was interviewed by Jacob Patterson from the ThinkTank Gallery, about the street photography exhibition.
Cheryl Dunn, a filmmaker and photographer in New York City, recently put together a 16-minute short film on street photography. She is now thinking about expanding that documentary into a feature-length film. The film will include street photographers:
The YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition is an experiment in which 30+ street photographers from LA were given 10 days to shoot in one square block in the Downtown LA Fashion District. The opening night featured 3 of the best shots of each street photographer, and Jordan Dunn won the best-of-show award and a Leica VLUX-30 camera, which was sponsored by Leica Camera.
The closing event for the YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition will be this Saturday Oct. 29th at 7 pm at the ThinkTank Gallery (939 Maple Ave). Ludmilla Morais, one of the featured photographers for the event,  was interviewed by Jacob Patterson from the ThinkTank Gallery, about the street photography exhibition.
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One of my favorite quotes by Alfred Eisenstaedt is “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter”. When we are out shooting street photography, it is often difficult to find time to talk to the subjects we capture, as life often moves at a very fast pace.
Steve McCurry, one of the most pivotal photographers of the 21st century, shares the same notion. McCurry has traveled the world and captured subjects in very intimate settings- and one of his pieces of advice is to approach and talk to people (even for a minute) before taking photos of them. I feel that this is a very important piece of advice to take, especially when visiting foreign countries. The video shown above is a feature put together by Phaidon, which can be viewed here.
Although I still feel that street photography should be done without permission and candidly, I see no problem interacting with your subjects before, during, or even after you shoot them.
Thanks to Ian Pettigrew for the tip, and let us know how much you like to interact with your subjects when shooting by leaving a comment below!Â
First off, Hi. I’m Trevor Marczylo I am full-time photographer,  a street photographer eating, living, and surviving in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
My work tends to focus on documentary style street Photography or the simple daily patterns of how people go with their daily routines.
I’ve been shooting film for the past 15 years or so, also hand develop and print my own work but I’m not going to lie, I do a lot of digital these days too. I’ll leave that to you to decided which is film and which isn’t.
I am constantly shooting and sometimes a roll of film might take me a week or two to finish where as other days I may go though a few rolls of film in a day. I never give it much thought on what I do, I just have a strong passion for capturing emotion and documenting a moment to tell a story. I don’t start my day out to try and produce art I just leave my house with my camera in my hand and simply document as I see.
In all honesty, I really dont know what to say. Its just easier for me to explain myself with my photos. with that being said I’ll leave that to the people reading this and viewing the images.
I’d also like to thank Eric Kim for sharing my images:
Make sure to check out more of Trevor’s images on his blog! And yes, those borders are real ;)
Poutin, Tim Hortons, butter tarts, toonies, loonies, monopoly money, cops on horses, and friendly people– I will miss you Toronto! It was such a huge pleasure everyone in Toronto at my workshop, especially Brian, Tasos, Minsoo, Les, Domenic, Andre, James, Chris, Rockie, Robert, Siri, Neil, Ronnie. Also huge shout-outs to Jenn, Tom, and Andre from 500px!
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect out of Toronto at first, but was so pleasantly surprised of how much fun I had here. Canada, I hope to meet up with you again soon! Read more to see the pictures from the workshop.
(Photo above by Andrew Eccles. Disregard how classy the chimp looks)
Chimping– it is a disease and an unhealthy addiction that runs rampart within the digital photography community. What is chimping you ask? It is the act of looking at your LCD screen the second after you take a shot. Why do they call it chimping? Well imagine if you think you got a great shot, you show other people, and point to your LCD screen while saying “ooh ooh ooh” like a chimpanzee. Why is this bad when it comes to street photography? Keep reading to find out.
My friend Charlie was generous enough to provide this article to discuss how he shoots street photography with a flash with his film Leica MP. Also if you haven’t yet, check out his documentary on Uchujin’s blog!
I thought I should write a short piece about using a flash for street photography. I don’t profess to be an expert on the technical side, so this is simply a few paragraphs about how I shoot and what I have learnt. I am writing from the perspective of a Leica MP user, although a large part of this will apply to anyone that wants to shoot flash manually.
The Leica MP has a flash sync speed of 1/50th of a second. What this means is that the shutter speed must be set to 1/50 or slower – otherwise, for complicated and boring reasons, black bands appear on (I think) the left hand side of the photo. Practically this is a limitation. The background will likely blur unless the photographer has a steady hand. I tend to try to shoot at 1/50th as much as possible to avoid this. Shooting at less will increase the blur. While some people might want this, I ï¬nd it distracting – especially in a city like Tokyo where what happens is that you will get a lot of light trails. But I’d encourage everyone to experiment.
As with non flash photography, I select the ISO according to the time of day and weather. The thing to remember with ISO (and aperture) is that these settings affect the distance that the flash can ï¬re. The lower the ISO the weaker the flash will be. Therefore to shoot in the day a very strong flash (ie one with a high guide number) is required. I use the Nikon SB900. The other problem with shooting in the day is that the photographer is constrained by the slow sync speed. Therefore, it’s usually necessary to close down the lens to f/22 to accommodate for the slow shutter speed.
I tend to want to have as much depth as ï¬eld as possible to account for focusing errors. The fastest I will shoot at is f/8, and I’ll only do this to let in more ambient light. The more closed down the lens the weaker the flash power.
The general point to remember is to take a meter reading ï¬rst, setting the shutter speed to 1/50th. For example, on a sunny day:
Shutter speed – 1/50th (constrained by x-sync).
ISO 50
Aperture – f/11 – f/22
After this, I’ll underexpose the ambient by a stop or two for a more dramatic look. So, if the meter reads f/11, I would set to f/16.
Then I’ll enter the ISO and the aperture into the flash and see what distance it gives me. For my flash this will be about 1-2 meters. This means that my subjects need to be at the distance from the camera that is showing on the back of the flash. If I want to take a picture of a subject that is further away, I can zoom the flash, which sometimes might get me an extra meter or two.
I take the same approach at night, although I care less about the ambient light as often the background is just black sky. The other difference at night is that the ISO will be 1600.
This means that the flash reading will probably be around 5 or 6 meters. So I reduce the flash power to give me a 1 meter or so reading.
I’m no technical expert, but one thing I have noticed is that the flash tends to freeze subjects when they are closer to the camera. This is important as a 1/50th shutter speed will not freeze them. But when subjects are close it is very important to get the flash power correct, otherwise subjects will be under or overexposed. Underexposure is very common due to the inverse square law (light falls off more quickly the closer the flash is to the subject).
The other point to note about the inverse square law is that it is very hard to light multiple subjects at different distances from the camera with one flash, especially where the nearest subject is close to the camera. The only way around this is to bounce the flash off the ceiling, use more than one flash, spread the flash beam (if you have that setting) or shoot when the nearest subject is a bit further away.
So that’s about it. Please let Eric know if you have any questions.
Inspired by Thomas Leuthard’s post on how street photography has changed his life, I want to take this opportunity to talk a little about my street photography journey, and how it has changed my life for the better, beyond my wildest dreams.
(Above image by Anthony Spatara)
Hello. My name is Anthony Spatara, I am 35 years old and live in the great city of Chicago.  I am not a photographer by profession nor do I wish to be.   I run two successful Italian restaurants in the downtown area which keep me plenty busy. Photography for me is a way out from what I normally do on a day to day basis.  I love walking the streets of any city and Interacting with people, exploring and just capturing images that seem interesting to me.  I couldn’t tell you what inspires me to get up at the crack ass of dawn to walk the cold streets of Chicago to photograph. I am just addicted to it.
The cool folks over at Street Reverb Magazine are teaming up with Xperia Studio in a joint “Reality Remade” street photography competition. There are lots of great prizes including a £2200 grand prize, including free Xperia phones.
In order to enter, you will need to put together a project proposal interpreting the theme “Reality Remade” and submit a short biography about yourself, accompanying your portfolio. The 5 best proposals will move onto the next round of the competition, where they will be given an project budget of £300 and a Sony Ericsson Xperia Phone to capture 5 images for the theme.
This competition is free and a great opportunity for you to get your name out there– so make sure to enter!
Whenever I am feeling in a street photography slump, looking for inspiration or knowledge, I have found these online street photography videos to be incredibly helpful and useful. These are just a few of my favorites. If you have the time, later tonight– kick back, relax, and watch some of these videos!
Read more to see the rest of the great street photography videos in this collection.
After a fun-packed two days in Downtown LA, I am pretty pooped. However I had such a wonderful time teaching the workshop and helping my fellow street photographers build more courage when shooting in the streets and also helping them capture more compelling images. On the second day, we focused on editing and post-processing our images, with an emphasis on using Lightroom 3 for post-processing and Silver Efex Pro 2 for black and white conversions.
I spent especially a good portion of time discussing editing– the act of choosing your best images. Editing is something really overlooked when it comes to photography, but is almost as important as shooting. As a piece of advice to all the streettogs out there– don’t upload your images immediately. Wait before you decide to upload them. As Garry Winogrand once said, “Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the picture as judgment that the photograph is good.” Therefore apply this same mentality when it comes to selecting your best work. Don’t simply upload images as a knee-jerk reaction. Let your images marinate for long periods of time before deciding to upload them.
Anyways just wanted to give a shout-out to all the LA street photographers at my workshop. It was a guge pleasure having you Michael, Bill, Chris, Greg, Brian, Jennifer, Dennis, Cameron, Eunice, Jim, Jason, Julie, Adam, at the workshop– your enthusiasm and energy was boundless. Huge thanks especially to Rinzi, Norman, Genesis, Jacob, and the Think Tank Gallery. I love you guys with my heart and soul, and I hope to see you guys all soon!
Heading out tomorrow to Michigan tomorrow and meeting up with my beautiful girlfriend/manager Cindy, and then heading over to Toronto for my upcoming street photography workshop. Wish me safe trip, and will keep you all updated! Keep reading more to check out the rest of the photos from the workshop.
(Some of the LA street photography workshop participants catching some dinner in Downtown LA after the Day 1 of the Workshop!)
Today I had a blast teaching the first day of my Downtown Los Angeles Introduction to Street Photography Workshop at the Think Tank Gallery. Considering that the photographs from the YOU ARE HERE street photography exhibition are still up, it definitely made for a great backdrop. Photographers from all over LA, and even Bill Nash from Arizona, came and were super pumped about the workshop, and ready to learn more about street photography– and build their courage shooting in the streets.
On the first day of the workshop, we started the day by introducing ourselves to one another and discussed why we loved street photography and what we wanted to get out of it. We then focused a great deal of time on overcoming the fear of shooting street photography, and discussing in-depth techniques to build courage. Not only that, but we reviewed many famous street photographs and learned what made a great photo.
Shooting the streets of Downtown LA was a huge blast, and I was amazed to see how much courage all the street photographers were able to build up. Not only did everyone feel a lot more comfortable shooting in the streets with one another, it was great to have the sense of community and fellowship when out with one another. Of course after a long day of shooting, we went out and enjoyed some nice food together as well.
Really excited for Day 2. Wish me luck, and if you are interested in any of my upcoming workshops in Toronto, India, Tokyo, or Malaysia– check out my workshops page for more info! You can also keep reading to check out the rest of the photos from the workshop!
Liam McHenry, a street photographer from Australia (and one of my private online street photography students), put together this insightful video about an encounter he had with a teenage boy shooting in a suburb. To sum up the video, Liam shot a boy who got really upset about Liam taking the shot. The boy started cursing at Liam, and wouldn’t calm down. After chatting with the boy, the boy realized how special he was in being the subject of Liam’s viewfinder.
Words can’t explain how inspirational this video is– watch it now!
What are your experiences shooting kids in public? Share your thoughts below and any thoughts about this video by Liam as well!
I am pleased to announce the opening of the YOU ARE HERE Street Photography Exhibition tonight at the Think Tank Gallery in Downtown LA sponsored by Leica. The concept was that 30 photographers weregiven 10 days to shoot one square block in the Fashion district in Downtown LA. Despite the restriction, all the photographers were able to capture the soul and essence of the place in a beautiful way.
The exhibition is FREE will feature over a hundred photographs, and complimentary drinks and food will be provided. Free parking is located all around the gallery at 939 Maple Ave, and the exhibition will run from 7:00PM-1AM. If you are in the LA area, stop by!
Please RSVP via the Facebook invitation and I hope to see you all there!
Italian photographer Ruben Salvadori recently put together a documentary recording the behind-the-scenes of conflict photography. Although not all conflict journalism is like this, it is still a very eye-opening documentary about the pressures that many conflict photographers face, and the influence they have on the people they photograph.
Your thoughts? Share them below and please keep the conversation civil.
Hey streettogs, just got interviewed by the folks over at 500px. They asked me some questions about my approach in street photography, how my work has evolved, as well as my thoughts on some controversial topics. If you got a minute, make sure to check out my feature here!
Thanks to Jen Tse for the interview, and Neil Ta for hooking us up! Â
Recently I have had the huge pleasure of being invited to the PEN Ready Project, in which Olympus gave away 1000 Olympus EPM-1 cameras for people to shoot and review. I have always been a big fan of the Micro 4/3rds cameras, as they are small, compact, and take great photos. I tested an Olympus EP-2 a while back, and was quite impressed by the performance. I recently shot with the Olympus EP-3 and was quite pleased with the (even faster) autofocus performance as well as the image quality. If you have a micro 4/3rds camera and pick up a Olympus 17mm f/2.8 lens (~35mm equivalent), the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 Lens (40mm equivalent), or the  new Olympus 12mm f/2 lens (24mm equivalent) it makes a great combination.
 (Photo above copyrighted by Adam Marelli)
Adam Marelli is an artist, photographer, and builder based in New York City who travels the world with his trusty Leicas and captures breathtaking images of people and places that he visits. His travels include India, Central American, Europe, and Egypt and recently to the remote island of Tanna, where he documented the life of the locals. Read more to ï¬nd out about his adventurous journey to Tanna and the insights and people that he learned about.
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(With the gang at the San Diego Street Photography Workshop)
The past Intermediate Street Photography Workshop in Downtown San Diego was a blast. We studied the work of the master street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Helen Levitt, Vivian Maier, Bruce Gilden, Elliott Erwitt and many others. Not only that, but the atmosphere of the Gas Lamp District was fantastic, especially during the nights when it started lighting up. Shooting was a blast, as protestors for the Occupy Wall Street showed up on Saturday and  a ton of people from the Little Italy festival on Sunday.
Huge thanks to all the participants for getting out of their comfort zones and really getting close and intimate with your subjects. It was a wonderful pleasure having you Doug, Michael, Victor, Animesh, Joel, and Derriel. Huge thanks to Todd for helping with all the logistics and getting the hotel room! You are an incredible group of street photographers, and seeing your progress and images truly impressed me.
If you are interested in any of my upcoming workshops in Toronto, Mumbai, Tokyo, or Malaysia, please check out my workshops page!
(Above image by Norman Estrologo)
Eric’s Note: This article is written by Norman Estrologo, a Los Angeles based street photographer who has recently attended my introductory and intermediate street photography workshops. In a relatively short time, he has found his passion in street photography and has been experimenting with his style and shooting constantly.Â
There are many different approaches to street photography and I believe that body language plays a role in most of these. My approach to street photography started out with photos of multiple characters but then as I progressed, I moved a little closer, held up a flash and focused on one distinct subject (a style highly influenced by Bruce Gilden, Charlie Kirk and Eric Kim to name a few).  I just found this approach a bit more challenging and rewarding at the same time. Not to mention, a very niche following. Personally, it’s because of the fact that not many venture into it that I decided to indulge myself in doing street photography with a flash.
When talking about composition, there are many things to consider but I am particularly interested in capturing body language (facial expression, posture, hand gesture and etc). The fact that I usually have only one main subject means that I have to make up for story telling through the actions of an individual.
Here are some of the common forms of body language that I tend to look for in my subjects:
(Above image by Blake Andrews)
Blake Andrews, a member of the In-Public street photography collective and prolific blogger over at “B” has a list of 10 great street photography assignments. Check them out at the link below and try them out!
>> Ten Street Photography Assignments by Blake Andrews
Which of these assignments do you find particularly fascinating? Share your thoughts in the comments below!Â
 (“What’s on a doorman’s mind?” by Simon Garnier)
Eric’s note: The following guest article is by Simon Garnier, part scientist and part street photographer who lives and works in New Jersey. Read his previous article about getting close in street photography and this new article where he discusses what it takes to take a great street photograph.
What does it take to make a good street photograph? Many, many, many things. Some weeks ago on this blog, for instance, I discussed the importance of taking a picture at the right scale, that is, at the scale of the event you are photographing. As you can imagine, however, the scaling problem is not the only challenge one faces when doing street photography. I might be at the right scale, but not at the right position or angle; the natural light might create shadows masking important elements; the composition of the picture (that is, the organization of the different components of the image relative to each other and to the dimensions of the picture) might diminish the meaning and clarity of the photograph; the colors (if you shoot in color like me) might simply not get along very well (try flashy green on purple for instance :-) ); the contrasts might be too low to easily distinguish the foreground from the background; etc, etc. Street photography is an easy genre to start with (the easiest maybe?), but for sure it is one of the hardest to master as all these problems must be tackled under strong time constraints.
(Above image by Valery Titievsky)
The street photography assignment for this week was “Smile”. Thanks for everyone who submitted their best images! I chose the 8 images I liked the most. Stay tuned for the next week’s assignment, and make sure to stay updated via my Facebook fan page!
(Image above by Jayme Sudeth)
Chicago is definitely one of my new favorite places to shoot street photography. Not only is downtown Chicago ripe for street photography, but Chicago has some of the friendliest and down-to-earth people out there. I had the time of my life teaching my street photography workshop with Jason Martini, and you can see a recap of my workshop here.
Below are the best images from the Introduction to Street Photography Workshop. If you are interested, I also have upcoming workshops in Toronto, India, Tokyo, and Malaysia on my workshops page!
Read more to see all of their images below.
When I first started shooting street photography, I was always frustrated that my autofocus would always be too slow to capture the decisive moment. After trudging around the internet, I was first introduced to the idea of “zone focusing” by Markus Hartel on his blog.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with zone focusing you essentially use a high f-stop number with a deep depth of field (f/16 or f/11) and have your camera pre-focused to a certain distance to get your photos in-focus. This is beneficial because although modern autofocusing systems are quite good, they are not 100% reliable. Using zone focusing when shooting street photography allows you to get far more keepers.
Regarding the settings, I typically use the following when shooting:
(Above image by Simon Johnson)
People ask me all the time whether street photography needs to include people or not. I don’t believe it has to, as you can study the work of Lee Friedlander who did a fantastic series on letters and signs in America, as well of the work of Blake Andrews who has embarked on similar projects. However to take an effective street photograph without people is incredibly difficult, as the image should remind you of humanity. This can be done through precision in lighting, symbolism, colors, objects, and framing.
When I look at the work of Simon Johnson, I feel that his still street photographs employ this extremely well. His images truly capture the beauty of the mundane and everyday life. I know many of you live in the suburbs or outside of dense urban populations, which may not have a lot of people. There are always street photography opportunities everywhere you go– in which people aren’t always necessary.
You can also see Simon’s additional traditional street photography work with people here.
Keep reading, and I hope you find inspiration through his images!
Eric Metzler
Thanks to everybody who submitted to last week’s street photography assignment which was: “Wide-Angle“. Many of you submitted great entries, and I have chosen the best 3 here to display!
Aaron OffordÂ
Gary TysonÂ
The theme this week will be “Smile“. Please take a new photo this week and upload it to my Facebook fan page by Thursday night. Looking forward in seeing your entries! Also congrats to Eric, Aaron, and Gary!
Alfred Eisenstaedt once said, “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter“. Upon reading this quote, it made me start thinking differently how I approach my street photography. When I started off, I would avoid eye contact at all costs, often shooting from the hip or being a little more sneaky. However nowadays, I actually prefer making eye contact with my subjects the majority of the time and even interacting with them after taking the shot. Often times when things are a bit too hectic on the streets, I don’t talk much with people but whenever I have the opportunity I try. Keep reading to learn how to interact with your subjects more when shooting on the streets.
(Above image by Erik Lauri Kulo)
In the late 90s photographic film made, what would seem, a last push to stay on top of the photography market with a row of new cameras such as the Olympus Mju-II that quickly sold around 3.8 million examples. Or the Canon EOS 1-N that served the purpose of showcasing just how advanced Canon’s technology really was at the time.
But with the millennium came a new king of the market: the digital camera. With the new Canon 1D and Nikon D1 film truly appeared to be losing the battle. And today when technology has reached a level that was a mere fantasy of science fiction fans a couple of years ago, it would seem like film is dead.
Interview conducted by Jacob Patterson, co-founder of the ThinkTank Gallery in Los Angeles.
(Above image by Justin Vogel)
Justin Vogel (aka justinsdisgustin) was born and raised in Hells Kitchen in New York City and describes himself as a 42-year old unemployed stay-at-home father of a two year old baby boy. Although he refers to himself as a “dirt bag†his insight and ability to create captivating images is incredible. He captures a unique vision of his neighborhood that is often raw and gritty primarily in film. Opionated and full of vigor, he is definitely a seminal figure in the street photography and his work with the Hardcore Street Photography Group on Flickr. We caught up with Justin and found more about the man behind the camera.
I recently received my copy of Tenderloin USA, which is a 50-page black and white introspection of the Tenderloin, one of San Francisco’s most vibrant yet often overlooked neighborhoods. Street photographers Brad Evans and Travis Jensen go into the heart of the Tenderloin, and capture soulful images of the people who work, hustle, hang out, and live in the colorful and culturally diverse neigborhood.
The most inspirational part of Tenderloin USA is that 100% of the profits will go to the Larkin Street Youth Services, a San Francisco charitable organization that helps at-risk youth in the area. I am a huge advocate for helping out the community through photography, so do your part and pick up a copy! The journal is only $20 through HP’s Magcloud, and you can buy a copy here.
Help support this project and the community now!
(Above image by David Scott)
I know this is a bit late, but finally got the best images from my workshop participants from my Introduction to Street Photography Workshop in San Francisco. You can see a recap of how the workshop went, and make sure to stay posted for my upcoming workshops in San Diego, Los Angeles, Toronto, India, Tokyo, and Malaysia on my workshops page!
Read more to see all of their images below.
Nick Turpin recently put up the full 38 min version of in-public’s ‘in-sight’ documentary film which shows them shooting on the streets of New York, London, Melbourne and Rotterdam. Each street photographer had an HD camera mounted on their camera hotshoe to show them in action. Each photographer also discusses their motivation and approach to street photography.
You can pay a small fee to support the film through Paypal. I highly recommend everyone watch it. Save the money you would spend on having a Starbucks coffee and watch it!
Thanks to Kim Brown for the tip!
Eric’s Note: This is article is part of an on-going weekly column by Japancamerahunter (Bellamy Hunt) where he talks about vintage cameras, film, and street photography. You can check out his part articles here.Â
So, it looks like Eric has got himself a Leica M9, the lucky little so and so. So I thought that this would be as good a time as any to write a post about the perceived benefits of shooting with a rangefinder, or more specifically a Leica.
Now It has to be said that I am a big Leica fan, but that does not mean that they are the only rangefinders. I also have a Contax G2, a Konica Hexar and a Canon 7. They all have their differences, so good, some bad. What I am going to talk about in this is the general benefits that I have found using a rangefinder.
Hi 
(Above image copyrighted by Alex Majoli)
Bill Reeves, a passionate photographer who is fortunate enough to have Magnum photographers Eli Reed and Paolo Pellegrin as his mentors, told me about a blog post that Magnum had a while back regarding advice to young photographers. It was put together by Alec Soth, who has done a series of fascinating projects such as his most popular, “Sleeping by the Missisippi” which was done on a 8×10 view camera. An interesting excerpt that Bill put together about Alec is below:
Alec writes up lists of things to shoot. Some normal objects, like suitcases, and others more weird, like unusually tall people. He would tape this list to his steering wheel, and be reminded to shoot those things when he saw them. When he found someone to shoot, he would talk to them, and from that conversation find the next thing to go looking for. An example is he did a portrait of a guy who built model airplanes, and then a portrait of a hooker. The link? She had airplanes painted on her nails. He then went to photograph Charles Lindberg’s childhood home, which led him to photograph Johnny Cash’s boyhood home and so on and so forth.
I found the advice that these Magnum photographers is golden–and have shared it here to spread the love and knowledge. Keep reading to see their inspirational images and advice. You can also download the free PDF here.
I am excited to say that I am teaching my Intermediate Street Photography Workshop in San Diego this up-coming 10/8-10/9 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel. The workshop will be focused on finding your own street photography style, and we will be studying the work of the masters (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Elliott Erwitt, and more). There is a cap of only 8 participants, so make sure to click below for more information before spots run out!
>> Click for More information about San Diego Workshop
Also below is my list of other up-coming street photography workshops:
10/15-10/16:Â Downtown Los Angeles -Â Info
10/22-10/23:Â Toronto -Â Info
11/5-11/6: Mumbai, India – Introductory - Info
11/9-11/10: Mumbai, India - Introductory - Info
11/12-11/13: Mumbai, India - Introductory - Info
12/3-12/4: Tokyo, Japan – (Info TBA)
12/10-12/11: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - Info
Sorry for the delay, but finally chose the Top-3 Winners of my first international “Decisive Moment” street photography contest! Many of you voted on your favorite submissions to make it to the top 10, and I chose the top three which I felt captured Henri Cartier-Bresson’s aesthetic of what he would have believed to be the “The Decisive Moment”. Congratulations to everyone who submitted and the winners will be awarded Lens Bracelets of their choice!
Stay updated as I have lots of other new street photography contests coming up! Keep reading to see all the amazing images and the stories behind them!
When I was at the Leica + Magnum event in Paris a few months back, I had the huge pleasure of interviewing incredibly talented (and humble) photographer Alex Majoli. Part of the highly respected Magnum agency, he has traveled the world and shot a wide gamut of images. This ranges from his personal work of documenting the closing of an asylum in Leros, Greece to various conflicts in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq.
I interviewed Alex alongside Bart Goossens, a freelance journalist and photographer living in Antwerp.
You can play the insightful 27-minute interview here on my blog or download the 140mb file to listen.
Also make sure to check out Leica’s feature of Alex on their blog.
What did you find most insightful in this interview with Alex? Share your thoughts below!
I am pleased to announce that Adrian Storey (aka Uchujin) has just put up the documentary of two cute dogs. Having met him in Paris for the Leica Magnum Event, I would say it captures his eclectic personality quite well. He is quite the character and an awesome guy to hang around with. He takes street photography very seriously, and has created some amazing photos in the last year or two he has been shooting. In addition to his love for street photography, he was one of the major contributors to the Japan Earthquake Charity Print Auction.
Regardless of all the controversy online shooting flash, you can see in the documentary how he is able to interact with his subjects and get personal with them. He isn’t sneaky with his photography, but does it openly and honestly. I also consider him one of my good friends and also a mentor–who has really pushed me to take my photography (and blog) much more seriously. Although he may come off as brash at times, he has a huge heart and is one of the most generous people I know.
And why is his name “two cute dogs”? Well he has two cute dogs.
Let us know what you think about the documentary in the comments below!
The day has finally come that I got my Leica M9 and 35mm 1.4 Summilux in the mail! I have always wanted one, and with the generous support of my loving mother paying for half of it, I am now a proud owner! I just wanted to thank everyone for my street photography journey and helping me live out my dreams. After all, if it weren’t you guys attending my workshops, writing comments, or spreading the word I couldn’t do street photography full-time. Also remember, the Leica is still just a tool. Don’t feel that you need to own a Leica to get good photos.
Also for those of you who are curious, I am using the Custom SLR strap and YN 560 Flash. You can also pick up some gaffers tape here.
I’m also planning on making a review for the Leica M9. Anything in particular you guys want me to go over? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
I was once a very shy person. Like every other photographer, I started off shooting animals and  concrete stuff. People were a bit too complicated and difficult for me to approach. So I concentrated on nature, the environment and buildings where I discovered technical aspects of the camera. However my dream was always to shoot social life and humans. When I took the camera to my hands for the first time, I realized that I needed to get closer to people. Over time I have become much more comfortable doing this. Nowadays when I approach people I do it with a smile on my face which makes them feel much more comfortable.
I recently got these 10 street photography tips from an anonymous street photographer who wanted to share this information with you. I found these tips to be very insightful, and I hope you will too! Keep reading more to learn about all the goodness.
Man, I am pooped. After 2 fun and engaging days of learning about street photography and shooting in the streets I gotta say I have mad love for the Windy City. Some of the nicest folks out there, and Downtown Chicago is definitely one of my new favorite places to shoot. I will miss the hospitality of my beloved cousin Holly and Ian’s pizza, Goose Island Beer, as well as the famous deep-dish pizzas here!
Huge thanks for all the participants who came out, including George, Rod, Margarett, Josh, Ryan, Alex, Darci, Bob, Jayme, Sam, Angelo, and especially Souvik for helping with logistical details and Jason for leading the workshop with me! I will be posting their 5 best images from the workshop soon, so stay posted!
Also if you are interested in one of my upcoming street photography workshops, please check out my workshops page for a workshop coming near you! Below is my upcoming calendar. If you have any questions shoot me an email at erickimphotography@gmail.com
10/8-10/9: San Diego –  Sheraton San Diego Hotel –  Info
10/15-10/16: Downtown Los Angeles - Think Tank Gallery - Info
10/22-10/23:Â Toronto -Â Location TBA-Â Info
Dates TBA:Â Mumbai, India -Â Location TBAÂ -Â Info
12/3-12/4: Tokyo, Japan - Location TBA – Info
12/10-12/11: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia - Location TBA – Info
Read more to see all the images from the workshop!
Today was a phenomenal Day 1 of my Introductory Street Photography Workshop with Jason Martini in Chicago! It was my first time doing a workshop in Chicago and I was a bit nervous about all the logistical details, but in the end– everything worked well! Huge thanks to Souvik for helping with the accommodations and helping make this thing happen!
It is crazy to think that three months ago I was talking to Charlie Kirk about how I wanted to do street photography full-time and now it is a reality. It reminds me how important it is for me to stay humble (thanks Mom for the advice!) as well continuing to give back to the community. Thomas Leuthard (85mm) was the one who helped me start my street photography career by supporting my trip to Beirut, Lebanon to teach my first workshop— and in his words, I want to pay it forward. I taught my photography class at Phoenix High School in Los Angeles to under-privileged students and now plan on helping expand this network hopefully world-wide. Watching Born into Brothels (a documentary about a photographer teaching photography to kids in the red-light district in India) truly inspired me, and I just want to continue to spread the love of photography. Therefore stay tuned for some great projects that we can all help support! :)
Thanks all of you for your never-ending support and encouragement. I truly love you all. Keep reading to see the rest of the photos of the workshop!
Photo above by Dana Barsuhn
One of the most important parts about street photography is to only show your best work. Below are some of the best 5 street photographs taken by my Downtown Los Angeles Street Photography Intermediate Course participants. Add them on Flickr, Twitter, 500px, and take a look at their respective websites and let us know whose work you really dig by leaving a comment!
You can also check out a recap of Day 1 and Day 2 of the Downtown LA Intermediate Workshop. Keep reading more to check out all the inspirational images below!
Eric’s Note: This is article is part of an on-going weekly column by Japancamerahunter (Bellamy Hunt) where he talks about vintage cameras, film, and street photography. You can check out his part articles here.Â
Now that you have taken the plunge and bought yourself a film camera you might be wondering what film you should be using. Well, this is a rather difficult one to answer, as one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
But, never fear, Eric asked me, your charming uncle Japancamerahunter to try and steer you through the rough (and sometimes expensive) seas that make up camera film.
Now this article is timely in that it comes off the back of an announcement last week by Fujifilm that they will be cutting production of a number of films. This seems to be a growing trend, and I can imagine it will not be long before only the smaller specialized companies like Ilford and Efke are making film. So if you are fancying a crack at the film game there is no better time than now. Get on it while the going is good.
Group photo of the SF Introduction to Street Photography Workshop
After a trip visiting Cindy in Michigan for a week, I headed my way over to SF to teach my Introduction to Street Photography Workshop. It was also great to have Tom Brichta from Leica come out and help input his thoughts about street photography while letting us play with some nice Leica equipment! Although hiking up hills was tough, it was wonderful to capture the colorful people of the city. Not only that, but we had great company, food, and support!
I also wanted to thank all the participants Davit, David, Michael Rickey, Michael Cohen, Xiamin, John, Jia, Austin, Justin, Tom, Angela for their willingness to help one another while trying out new street photography techniques! Of course I also want to thank Sarah for letting us use her beautiful home and also to my loving mom for her never-ending support! Make sure to watch the video below– I give each of you guys a shout-out!
Also if you are interested in any of my upcoming workshops in Chicago, Downtown LA, San Diego, Toronto, or Tokyo check out my workshops page for more info!
Read more to check out all the photos from the workshop!
(Cover photo by Charlie Kirk)
Stu Egan, a passionate street photographer and magazine editor from London recently put together the first issue of Radiate Magazine, a new street photography magazine filled with great street photographers from all around the globe. Not only does the magazine include great images, but it includes insightful interviews and features from street photographers such as Paul Trevor, John Battaglia, the un-posed street collective (Michal Adamski, Damian Chrobak, Pawel Piotrowski, Zbigniew Osiowy, Tomasz Lazar and Maciej Dakowicz), Charlie Kirk, Misho Baranovic, Bruce Byers and Justin Sainsbury.
The magazine is 100 pages and is only $21 if you wish to get a real paper-back copy. The magazine isn’t priced to make any profit, and is priced at the basement price to get the thing printed. If you really love street photography, you should pick up the paper-back version and enjoy the beautiful images. I just ordered mine and can’t wait until I get it in the mail!
They also offer a free digital download at the link below.
Make sure to also keep posted with their magazine and blog.
Let us know what you think about this magazine by leaving a comment below!
(Above image by Garry Winogrand)
If you want to get a deeper insight into street photography and take better photos, I feel it is very important to study the work of the street photographers who came before us and paved the way for the rest of us. Not only that, but reading the quotes and words by these influential street photographers is a great way to train your mind to take better photos as well. Below are some of my favorite street photography quotes that are concise, inspirational, and have influenced me in one way or another.
Eric’s Note:Â This original article was published on Ishu Patel’s site and re-published here with permission. It details Ishu Patel’s time with Henri Cartier-Bresson and gets some insightful views into his life and photography.Â
AFTER GRADUATING IN 1963 from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Baroda, India I was lucky enough to be selected by Gira Sarabhai to train as an “apprentice†at the newly formed National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. And therein lies the story of my valued memories of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
The plan was to select a cohort of talented Fine Arts and Architecture graduates and to apprentice them in various design disciplines in order to become the future faculty of the National Institute of Design. During those amazing early years the giants of contemporary design from all over the world were invited to the Institute, staying on for months, even years at a time, as teachers and mentors, consultants and project heads. Who came? – Designers Ray & Charles Eames, architect Louis Khan, furniture designer Nakashima, graphic designers Armin Hoffman, Bob Gill, Leo Leonni, and Ivan Chermayeff, animation filmmaker Gullio Gianini, typographer Adrian Frutiger, textile designers Alexander Gerard and Helena Perhentupa, music composer John Cage . . . just to mention a few.
Damien Rayuela, an incredibly talented street photographer and former intern at Magnum put together a wonderful new series titled: “Alone“. His raw and gritty images are bursting with emotion, and tell a very personal story from his life. As stated from his site he describes the series: “Encapsulating those moments when breathing alone feels like a triumph”.
For those of you who are curious, he used a Contax G3 and Tri-x 3200 and Neopan 1600 film to shoot these images. Read more to see the full series.
Eric’s note: The following guest blog post is by Simon Garnier, part scientist and part street photographer who lives and works in New Jersey. Read about his experiences in getting close in street photography–and how he grapples with the idea of getting close in street photography. Interestingly enough this post was written before Fabio Pires’ video came out, but it is more relevant than ever.Â
Simon: I am not an experienced street photographer. I started shooting street and candid pictures about a year ago, after several years of irregular experimentations with film and digital cameras. Everything you will read in this post is therefore the result of an ongoing reflection about something that I thought was true, but that I start to find overestimated, and potentially problematic for street photography in general.
Today I saw this video of a guy named Fabio Pires doing some very aggressive street photography in London via PetaPixel. Many people mentioned the link to me and asked me what my thoughts were, considering I received a negative response with the video I shot with flash in Hollywood. Here are some of my initial thoughts about the video:
First of all, I don’t like how this guy is deliberately trying to scare people to elicit a type of response. The fact that he hides behind a phonebooth and then jumps out doesn’t feel right to me. When you are shooting street photography you might scare/surprise people on accident, but that shouldn’t be your primary motive. Even with my street photography, I prefer when I capture images of people candidly without them noticing me. I found in many cases when I get really close to people with a wide-angle lens, they don’t even seem to notice me. And for those who say that I shoot flash to elicit a response– people don’t notice the flash until after you take the photo.
Secondly, his technique looks very sloppy. I am not sure if he shoots under his arms/sideways all-the-time, but it looks like he was doing that to be showy. Although I believe shooting from the hip without a viewfinder is a good way to get your feet wet in street photography, I believe that using the viewfinder is the best way to get solid compositions and framing. To say that he is “more of a perfectionist than Bruce Gilden” is absolute blasphemy as many of his images have poor composition.
In addition, his knowledge of street photography seems to very superficial. He mentions that he is out looking for characters, but simply defines “characters” as people who look different. He also mentions that there is no point in shooting “normal people” which I disagree with. Also, I think he should think more about the story he is trying to tell through the people that he captures.
Lastly, he doesn’t seem to have much respect for the people he shoots, especially the homeless. He has no problem scaring people to get his shot, and the aggressive motion he uses with his camera looks more like a punch than photo-taking. In addition, he mentions that he only deliberately shoots the homeless because they are “different”. To say something like that is unethical in my opinion, as the homeless shouldn’t be seen as easy subjects to capture because of their socio-economic differences from us. All-in-all, you must have the right reasons to shoot your subjects to showcase something beautiful about their character, dress, face, or attitude. You must look for unique and special people to shoot, rather than “different” people. Love the people you shoot.
Although the guy does come off as arrogant and cocky, what he is still doing is legal. Whether it is ethical is a completely different story. I don’t know many street photographers that try to elicit a response on purpose from their subjects, but if that is his cup of tea and artistic style I don’t feel right to judge him based on a video. Who knows, maybe the guy is just a bit confused or mislead. I feel that art always needs to push boundaries and although this guy is doing the extreme polar end of street photography, that is his style.
Let us know what your thoughts about the video are in the comments below. And please try to keep the conversation civil.
Update: One thing I want to emphasize is that let’s not all take out our pitchforks and crucify Fabio. Let’s disagree with his actions, rather than himself as a person. I’m sure he has been reading all the negative comments on the web and feels pretty crappy right now. I know how it feels to be criticized on a large-scale and trust me: it feels horrible. After all the negative press I received after my video, I was actually quite depressed and down-in-the-dumps for several weeks.
The Think Tank Gallery is looking for 32 street photographers from Los Angeles for a fascinating project. Selected photographers will have 10 days to shoot in an undisclosed location during October 1st-10th. Those chosen will then have their best 3 images shown in their gallery during the LA Downtown Artwalk on October 13th.
If you are interested in participating, shoot an email at youareherethinktank@gmail.com with your 5 best images in JPEG format (resized to 950px wide). This can be a great opportunity to get more exposure for your work and even get featured in an up-coming gallery!
*Deadline to submit is September 15th, 2011
*You don’t need to be from Los Angeles to participate, but you will have to be in Los Angeles during October 1st-10th to participate.
This event is sponsored by Leica Camera.
(“Leaving” by Rinzi Ruiz)
I am excited to announce that I have chosen the Top 20 “Decisive Moment” Street Photography Contest Finalists. Find the images on Facebook, and vote on your favorite images by “Liking” them! You will have between September 6-14th to vote on the images.
The 10 final images with the most “Like’s” will advance, and I will judge the Top 3 images.
See more details from the contest here.
Eric’s note: Steve Foon, a street photographer from the Bay Area, recently offered to write this comparison of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 versus the Leica M9 (which he owns as well). Read his thoughts on the camera and how it stacks up against the M9!Â
Every photographer has a style of photography that just calls their name. Be it wildlife, sports, landscape, architectural, portraitures, models, etc… my personal calling is Street Photography.
Each genre has certain requirements that will demand that a certain photographic tool be used. Let me clarify that you don’t really have to have a specific photographic tool to be able to shoot the genre you like. It’s just that certain cameras just seem to fit the job better than others.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about marketing oneself as a street photographer. Through the past year on my blog, I have featured a great deal of street photographers who are extremely talented yet haven’t had the coverage that they deserved. Thinking more about the subject, I thought especially about Vivian Maier who was indeed one of the great street photographers, but was unknown until after she died. Of course Maier purposely didn’t share her photos with others, but I think that photographers have a duty to share their images with others to inspire and show the beauty of life.
I know there are many street photographers out there who are still very talented yet don’t know how to get their work out there. I have divided up this blog post up to three parts which will hopefully help you understand what you want out of street photography, how to get your work out there, and how to get your work recognized as well.
Eric’s Note: Ollie Gapper is a passionate and  young street photographer who found it as a medium to quite literally take the pain out of his everyday life. Make sure to read his story how he got started with street photography as well as a film he produced for his class!
My childhood was unique. To be born with a disability is a strange experience, feeling like every ache, pain, dislocation, bruise and cut is just normal, but being told by those around you differently causes you to constantly question your own perception of just about everything. As I grew and matured I realized that what I have is both a severe disability and a unique opportunity. An opportunity to make the very best out of a very bad situation. With near constant trips to London for hospital appointments I tried to find something I could do to break the monotony and negative stigma I’d attached to such visits. I found street photography.
Looks like other street photographers (also named Eric) are shooting up-close and personal with a flash. Except the difference is that he is shooting with a medium-format Mamiya 7II and a large Metz flash. No idea how much it costs to develop all that film, but he makes fantastic photos and the process of him shooting in China is interesting as well. Make sure to watch these videos thoroughly to get a sense of his style which is very intimate, casual, and flows very well.
Thanks to Jeff G. Rottman for the tip!
Also check out his book, “Good Luck China” on the Japan Exposures site.
(Robert Doisneau pictured above)
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!
Leave your suggestions for other fellow street photographers to follow on Twitter below!
For my recent Intermediate Street Photography Workshop in Downtown LA, Todd from Lighting Leica and the kind folks from Clik hooked it up with a Clik Elite Magnesian 20 Camera Bag to test out. When I am out shooting, I typically use the Think Tank Retrospective 5 Camera bag, but at times found it a bit small and with one annoyance: it didn’t have slots for water bottles. The Magnesian 20 Camera Bag is fairly larger than the Think Tank Retrospective 5, and is loaded with two water bottle holders on the side (or you can store lenses or flashes there). Read more to see my mini-review!
Eric’s Note: This following photo-essay is by William R. Reeves, a passionate photographer and Ph.D student who has many of his images exhibited and on permanent collection. His mentors include Eli Reed and Paolo Pellegin from Magnum Photos. Enjoy his soulful images and story below.
Trisomy 13 is a rare genetic disorder that kills 80% of its victims before they see their first birthday. Those that do survive are afflicted with a host of disorders ranging from the physical to mental.
Nathan Huf lived into his twenties, and at the time of his passing was the oldest known living male Trisomy 13 in the world. He was blind, had the intellect of an 8 month old child, and needed around the clock care from his mother Lillie. Despite all of this, he was unanimously voted Homecoming King of Granger High School, a school he never even attended.