35 Magnum Photographers Give Their Advice to Aspiring Photographers

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.

25 Ways How to be a Bad Street Photographer

Street Photo Fail

Note: I love making lists, as I feel that they are fun ways to learn and gain more insight about street photography. Please do not be offended by this list, as they are some of my own personal opinions about street photography. However I feel that these “rules” are broad enough to apply to most street photographers. If you don’t agree with any of the points below, leave a comment and tell me otherwise!

  1. Never carry your camera with you
  2. Be “too lazy” to go out and take photos
  3. Only keep your batteries charged half-way before you go out and shoot
  4. Take photos of your subjects a mile away
  5. Make excuses that “your camera is not good enough” for street photography
  6. Be afraid of taking photos of people in public
  7. Try to imitate the styles of other street photographers, instead of nurturing your own
  8. Spend more time on internet forums than on the streets
  9. Never share your photos with anybody else
  10. Miss “The Decisive Moment
  11. Always follow tourists when looking for photo opportunities
  12. Stop taking photos in a public space when confronted by police
  13. Only take photos during the day
  14. Never experiment with your shots
  15. Be unwilling to accept constructive criticism of your photos
  16. Don’t backup your photos
  17. Be suspicious in public
  18. Look at your LCD more than you look at the street
  19. Stick out like a sore thumb
  20. Shoot before you think
  21. Only take photos of peoples’ backs
  22. Walk around in public with a massive telephoto lens
  23. Never travel to new places to take photos
  24. Run away from your subjects after taking photos of them
  25. Only capture extraordinary subjects/scenes, not the mundane
Street Photo Fail
Don't be like her

Like this list? Make sure to also check out my other popular lists, 101 Things I Have Learned about Street Photography as well as 100 Things I Have Learned About Photography.

The 5 Most Common Questions about Street Photography (and the answers)

"3 Men"- note how the man's face is visible, yet not identifiable. Thus I do not need a model release for this if I wanted to sell this print.

Hey guys,

I thought about writing this blog post after receiving many questions regarding street photography. I saw it as a great opportunity to help clear up some misconceptions about street photography, as well as answer questions from many aspiring street photographers from around the world! If you have any other general questions, feel free to leave a comment below and have either me or some other street photographer from the community answer your question!

1. Do I need a model release form when shooting people in the streets?

"3 Men"- note that although the man's face is visible, he is not identifiable. Thus I do not need a model release for this if I wanted to sell this print. Also I have no restrictions in posting this online.

No. As long as a person is in a public area and not on private property, you are free to take their photo without having a model release form. However the tricky part is when it comes to selling images of people shot in public areas. If the photo you are selling clearly defines a person’s face, then you need a model release form.

Edit: In the US, you are allowed to sell a recognizable photo of someone on the street as a work of art. What you are not allowed to do is to sell it for commercial photography — that is to say, photos being used to sell a product. This would prevent the sale of photos of a recognizable person to (let’s say) a stock photo service, but not as a work of art, or photojournalistic purposes.

Relevant reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nussenzweig_v._DiCorcia

-Thanks Brandon!

The Ultimate Aspiring Street Photographer Resource Post

This post was originally posted here by Neal Bingham, but I thought I’d repost it here to share it with the rest of you guys. A great resource for any aspiring street photographer. Please pass it on! Also follow Neal on Twitter!

I thought it would be useful to create a topic where people can share links to resources – whether that’s tips for beginners on how to get started, interesting articles found elsewhere on the web, or just amazing examples of street photography to give us all a bit of inspiration.

For starters:

Websites:

In-Public – collective of modern street photographers:
www.in-public.com/

Photographer Not a Terrorist – a movement dedicated to defending the right to photograph in public – find out more about your rights here (UK only)
photographernotaterrorist.org/

Magnum Photos – legendary photo agency founded in 1947 by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and others:
www.magnumphotos.com/

Articles:

Michael David Murphy’s invaluable ‘Ways of working’ guide:
2point8.whileseated.org/wow-footer/

A view from photographer Nick Turpin on the relationships between street photography, fine art photography and photojournalism:
www.sevensevennine.com/?p=429

Opinion and discussion: 99% of street photography is crap:
blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2009/09/streetwise.html

Street photography for the purist – free ebook by photographer Chris Weeks:
www.e-booksdirectory.com/details.php?ebook=270

Videos:

NYC street shooter Joe Wigfall in action, demonstrating how he ‘sees with his hands’ to capture candid moments without interfering with the scene:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-IOEAlBpSo

Documenting the Human Condition – documentary discussing street photography and the rangefinder camera:
Part 1: vimeo.com/6497905
Part 2: vimeo.com/6502390
Part 3: vimeo.com/6504591

Please feel free to share any other relevant or useful links below!

The Death of Street Photography (and what you can do to stop it)

Lately on the web, there has been a ton of buzz about the phobia that people are having about street photographers. We have been called creepers, pedophiles, and even in some cases, terrorists (as the TSA would like the public to think). Is all this anti-photographer sentiment leading to the death of street photography as we know it?

TSA Poster Street Photographer Illegal
I don't wear hoodies when doing photography in public.