(Above photograph by Charlie Kirk)Â
Eric’s Note: I am pleased to feature this interview with Stu Egan, the founder and editor of Radiate Magazine – a magazine dedicated to street photography. Stu currently works in London as a book editor and works on Radiate Magazine to help the street photography community and feature talented photographers. Check out this interview with him below about how he got interested in street photography and how he started the magazine.
Eric’s Note: Streettogs Gallery is an on-going feature and intiative by Manila-based street photographer A.G. De Mesa. Click here for more info.
A.G.:I’ve been following Lem’s work over at Flickr for quite some time now. He is what I would classify as a classical street photographer with mastery of light, timing, and overall visual design. His terrific use of black and white reinforces that aesthetic especially when he utilizes it to for silhouettes.
I want to emphasize that Lem’s photographs are really good. Although recently, he is posting something that is really unique.
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Eric’s Note: This week I am pleased to share the work of Mike Aviña, a street photographer based in Northern California. His images have a strong film noir style, and exuberant swagger. Check out his thoughts about his work and images below.
Mike: I like taking pictures, obviously. I think it is rooted in some sort of drive to capture and freeze reality and hold on to a piece of time—probably ultimately not a healthy instinct but if it is channeled well maybe I can make some strong images. These thin little slices of time we get in pictures are difficult but the shots that work are sort of like gasoline on the fire. I can’t really explain it more than that.
Eric’s Note: I am happy to feature the work of Stéphane Daniel, a street photographer based in Montreal. Check out his background in street photography and his images below!Â
Stéphane: During my childhood in France I first learned photography from my father, who showed me how to make a right exposure on his Ricoh. To be quite honest, I remember it as somewhat boring. I also remember for Christmas one year, I received a an ugly red full automatic camera. As a student I used to record “souvenirs” on disposable cameras.
The day I finally had a decent salary, I bought an EOS300 and start to travel with it. Until that moment my life changed. I discovered on photo-magazines the way to shoot with a 24mm, I visited photo exhibitions in Paris and fell in love with Depardon, Salgado, Cartier-Bresson and Nachtwey’s black and white pictures.
A nice and fun review of the new Fujifilm X-Pro 1 from Kai Wong from DigitalRev TV. Check it out and subscribe to their awesome show today – or else Kai will hunt you down ;)
Lenses reviewed:
Still haven’t had the chance to play with the new Fujifilm X-Pro 1- but have been hearing great things about it so far! Hopefully I will have the chance to shoot with it on the streets soon and let you guys know what I think!
(“Nails” from my City of Angels series)
Editing in street photography is one of the most important aspects to know. When I refer to “editing“, I am referring to the act of choosing your best images, rather than “post-processing”. However nowadays when most photographers refer to “editing” their work, you can almost determine with 99% accuracy that they mean “post-processing” their work. Due to this confusion and interchanging use of the word “editing” – the true art of editing of choosing your best work is a lost cause.
For this article, I will attempt to explain why editing is so important in street photography and give practical tips and advice on how you can become  a better editor of your work (and how to ask others for advice as well). Keep reading if you want to find out more!
Eric’s Note: Streettogs Gallery is an on-going feature and intiative by Manila-based street photographer A.G. De Mesa. Check out more info here.
AG:Â Photography is nothing without seeing. The light, colors, shadows, contrasts, patterns. Human life in general. And it is in seeing that a good photographer will be able to replicate what was seen in a photograph.
This is one of those works that really invites you to just see.
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Eric’s Note: For this feature, I am pleased to feature the work of Tomasz Lazar to the blog. Having seen tons of street photographs, I don’t see photographs that often move me. However looking at the work of Tomasz takes me to another world– one full of energy, excitement, and darkness. Quite possibly one of the best street photographers out there, and has had the recent honor of winning the World Press Photo of the Year for News, 2nd place. All of these photographs in this post are from his “Theater of Life” series.Â
Tomasz Lazar – freelance photographer. He was born in 1985 in Szczecin. Graduate West University of Technology, Computer Science. First year student at the Univesity of Opava – Photography. He participated in many workshops such as Tomasz Tomaszewski, Edddie Adams Workshop in the USA. Winner of photography competitions in Poland and abroad (including the Sony World Photography Award, International Photography Award, BZ WBK Press Photo, World Press Photo).
Recently when I was in Kuala Lumpur, I had the great pleasure of meeting Robin Wong, a passionate local street photographer. He was also lucky enough to get a test-unit of the new Olympus OM-D EM-5 directly from Olympus, and tested it extensively the past few days.
As mentioned in my last post, you don’t want to fall victim to GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). However if you are using a DSLR and find it too bulky or have a point-and-shoot and want something a bit beefier yet compact, I found the Olympus OM-D EM-5Â a pretty solid option paired with the Olympus 12mm f/2 Lens (which is great for zone focusing). However if you already have an Olympus EP-3 or any other relatively Micro 4/3rds camera out there, I wouldn’t recommend an upgrade.
If you got any questions about the camera, make sure to ask Robin Wong over at his blog.
After traveling and having done many workshops on street photography, I have met many Leica M9/rangefinder users who have had difficulty configuring their camera for shooting on the streets. There are lots of misconceptions out there, which make things confusing for people. Therefore here is some advice I have for Leica m9 users (or Fuji x100 or rangefinder users) when shooting street photography. (Note that for the original video, the audio gets cut out at 16 minutes, so I edited the video down).Â
Check out the video below, and I have things written in more detail below!
Eric’s Note: Streettogs Gallery is an on-going feature and intiative by Manila-based street photographer A.G. De Mesa. Check out more info here.
A.G.: Gary Tyson is a great commercial photographer and has been in different locations around the globe. He is also the co-insturctor in Eric’s previously concluded street photography workshop in Hong Kong so I was really delighted whe he sent in a link of a collection of his street photographs.
What I usually do when a collection is sent instead of a series is I try  edit properly to show things in common. It could be aesthetic similarities, strong themes, or repeating subjects. So I pointed out to Gary a subject that continually pops up in his street shots:
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).
Keep reading to take a look at all the images!
Eric’s Note: Streettogs Gallery is an on-going feature and intiative by Manila-based street photographer A.G. De Mesa. Check out more info here.
A.G.:Â I always defined street photography as “Photographing people in a public place with or without permission”. Â That is how I go about shooting but when I encountered the work of William Eggleston, my definition shattered.
It seemed that his work doesn’t fit how I understood and read about photography. His photos are so simple, mundane, and very uninteresting. So much so that I think Eggleston’s War with the obvious is the anti-thesis of Bresson’s philosophy The Decisive Moment.
Update 2-27-12: Congratulations to John Barduhn for winning the giveaway! His tip was: “Always say “Thank You“. Stay tuned for our next giveaway soon ;)
thinkTANK Photo has generously provided a Retrospective 20 Shoulder Messanger Bag ($167.75 value) for a give-away on the blog! You can have the chance to either win a version in Pinestone or Black (I prefer the Pinestone color). They make fantastic street photography bags, as they don’t look like camera bags (thus you can be more discrete). If you want a smaller bag, also check out the Retrospective 5 (good for street photographers with a Leica or Micro 4/3rds system).
To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is:
There are three ways to enter (the more ways you enter, the more chances to win!):
This contest will end Friday, Feb 24th, 2012. We’ll randomly pick a winner and announce it on the blog!
*Credit to PetaPixel for the contest idea!Â
Eric’s Note:Â This feature is by Trevor Marczylo, a Winnipeg-based street photographer who has made the move to Korea! If anyone in Korea wants to meet up with him- drop him a line! Follow his blog as well.
Trevor: I ‘ve gotten a ton of emails over the last few weeks regards to how I get that black sloppy border around my images in the darkroom. I simply just took a file and hacked into it until I was happy.
So for this week’s article I thought I’d write a quick and simple discription on how to file out your negative holder so you can have your own signature negative border style.
There really isn’t anything to it and all you need is a small flat file and your negative holder, some black paint or nail polish and the will to destroy your neg holder.
I am excited that issue #2 of Radiate Magazine is out. Radiate is a street photography magazine edited by Stu Egan, and features work, interviews, and features from up-and-coming street photographers from all around the globe.
Included in this issue are David Solomons brilliant and often unseen early BW, Steve Richmond‘s incredible Kimology series and Charlie Kirk’s interview of Claire Atkinson.
You can get hold of printed copies here which costs $21 + shipping. It will make a great addition to your street photography library!
You can also download free PDFs from that page, or if you don’t want to register with Magcloud just head over to www.radiate-magazine.co.uk and get one there.
Also check out the first issue of Radiate here.
Congratulations once again to Stu and the rest of the Radiate team and featured photographers! Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below!Â
(From Song Tan and Seoul, South Korea © Jack Hubbell 1981-1983) – Flickr
Eric’s Note: Today I am glad to feature the work of Jack Hubbell (Cyclops-Optic) on the blog today. Charlie Kirk turned me onto his work, citing the unique way he saw the world.Â
Jack: To have something in common with Eric Kim. What? Perhaps you think it Photography, but no. Further back than that. Further away than that. Off to a nation called Korea. Whilst Eric’s connection lies with ancestry, mine deals with birth. And by that I mean birth of vision.
Long before director Stanley Kubrick directed influetial films such as Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining — he took incredible street photographs in New York City since he was 17. He worked until the 1950’s for Look Magazine before he decided to pursue filmmaking.
Keep reading to check out incredible street photographs taken by Kubrick – which are comical, intruiging, and full of energy and excitement! Make sure to also check out Twisted Sifter for all the images!
*Florian Dirks from my Facebook fan page has let me know that not all of the photographs included below are unposed- some of them are elaborately staged. Incredible photographs nonetheless. Also big thanks to Rinzi Ruiz for directing me towards these photos!Â
My good colleague and fellow street shooter Thomas Leuthard currently has a street photography contest running titled: “Street Self Portrait” running on Flickr. Some of the rules are below:
These are some of the prizes for the contest as well!
If you have any further questions about the contest, please post them in this thread on Flickr.
Good luck to everybody and excited to see the winner!
Enter the contest by uploading your photograph here.
I am excited to announce that my good friend and Mexico City-based streettog Alex Coghe has recently published a free e-book on street photography. He goes over practical tips & techniques, philosophy, and general thoughts about street photography. It has a great wealth of information and inspiration – so make sure to check it out!
You can download a free copy on Scribd or directly here.
If you want more free e-books on street photography, make sure to check out Thomas Leuthard’s free ebooks on street photography as well.
Eric’s Note: I am excited to present these images by photographer Gil Cohen Magen for his upcoming book: “Hassidic Courts“. The images are a great insiders look to the lives of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and shot with a great street photography aesthetic. Check them out and let us know what you think!Â
The award winning Israeli photographer Gil Cohen Magen has an exclusive and extensive collection of photographs about the inside life of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. Gil  has been given exclusive access to observe and photograph the religious and cultural rites of these closed communities,ceremonies that have never been photographed before and have never been shown to the outside world.
Cohen Magen spent a decade preparing his book “Hassidic Courtsâ€. During this time, Cohen Magen obtained unprecedented access to these usually closed communities. He captured rare religious ceremonies and extraordinary moments in the lives of Hassidic Jews.
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I am excited to announce that Bellamy Hunt (Japancamerahunter) and my protege Rinzi Ruiz will be teaching a street photography in Los Angeles March 10th-11th. The workshop will be a fantastic opportunity for beginners and intermediate photographers to learn more about the beautiful craft of street photography- including how to take photographs of strangers, composition, as well as shooting on the streets of the City of Angels!
The workshop will be hosted at the Hatakeyama Gallery in Downtown LA. If you are a Los Angeles native or have ever wanted to visit – it will be an amazing opportunity to shoot all the colorful districts of Downtown. This includes the colorful fashion district, the dazzling jewelry district, and the amazing light rays from Broadway.
Some topics that will be discussed in the workshop:
The course will be $395 for the weekend. Places are limited, so sign up quickly before spots are sold out! Check out more details at:Â www.lastreetphotographyworkshop.com
(Above photo by Robert Larson)
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:
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept†– Henri Cartier Bresson
In the modern age of photography, everyone seems to have an unhealthy obsession with how sharp lenses are, how much bokeh they produce, and how “3d†they can make their images appear.
Ignore these statements. Anyone who talks at excessive length about any of these topics are misled into thinking that what makes a great photograph are the effects that expensive lenses can give you.
Already missing the warm weather and awesome chicken rice in Singapore! Huge thanks to Adam Rahim for letting me stay at his place (and being my manager), Leonard Goh, Gracia Yap, and Sunil Kaul from Leica for hosting my workshop – as well as Invisible Photographer Asia for letting us use their gallery space. Let me not forget AikBengChia for being my guest speaker at the workshop as well!
Keep reading to check out all the snapshots of the workshop and exhibition!
Have you ever walked on the streets and saw a moment that you wanted to capture, but you were too scared to take the photograph? Do you want to learn the best settings to use on your camera to capture the decisive moment on your camera? Do you want to meet other street photographers that are as equally passionate about street photography or interested in learning like you?
If you are an beginner or intermediate street photographer and want to conquer your fear of shooting in the streets or looking to improve your skills, this workshop is for you. Through this dynamic and hands-on 2-day workshop you will get to learn:
Eric’s Note: I am pleased to have street photographer Kramer O’Neill share in this guest blog post his experiences about self-publishing two of his books. It is an incredibly difficult process–check out what he learned through the process in the post below!
Kramer: In 2011, I designed, printed, and distributed two photo books: Pictures of People and Things 1, an A5-sized paperback, and Till Human Voices Wake Us, a large-format hardcover. The two books are quite different: Pictures of People and Things is an associatively-edited, diverse collection of photos that work as two-page diptychs, while Till Human Voicesis a narrowly-focused, abstract, semi-narrative aquatic series in the street photography tradition, about swimming and the dark pull of the ocean. In both cases, though, I had no idea what I was getting into. In the interest of spreading some knowledge to other would-be self-publishers, here are a few things I learned.
(Above image by Devin Yalkin)
Recently when I went to Tokyo, I had a ton of fun shooting in the streets with Charlie Kirk and Bellamy Hunt—both who shoot film. I never really understood the rationale why people shot with film. To me at the time, it seemed like a burden. First of all, you had to buy the film. Secondly, after you took the photos you couldn’t see them instantly. And lastly, it was expensive to develop it (and even more money to scan). For these three reasons, I was mostly put off by film. Although I did shoot a bit with my Contax IIIa film rangefinder and did enjoy it—at the end of the day I preferred my digital camera.
Nevertheless, I was intrigued with film once I came to Tokyo. In Tokyo, the analog culture is strong. There are tons of used film camera shops, and tons of other places where you can buy film as well. Not only that, but there are many photographers who shoot film who support one another as well and have their own communities. I had no idea how much influence the analog culture would have on me when I was in Tokyo.
 (My students absolutely adore me!)
Most of you guys have no idea where Kota Kinabalu is, but it is an absolutely charming city on the coast of Malaysia. I had a ton of fun with the guys here, and it was somewhere very unique and interesting to shoot street photography. One of the highlights was shooting near the pier, where the fisherman let us jump onto their boats (not for the faint of heart!). Hope to see all my buddies in KK soon :)
Huge thanks again to Ryan Ong, my good friend and host during the workshop. We did the workshop in his studio, so if you are in KK and need anything shot, hit him up!
(Above image copyrighted by Albert Watson)
I just finished the behemoth of a biography on Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and I gotta say—I am deeply moved. The biography was not only brutally honest, but gave inspirational insights into the thoughts and motivations behind Steve Jobs and Apple.
Although controversial, he made some of the most revolutionary products this generation (the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc) and had the vigor, discipline, and drive to do it.
Whenever I read books, it always helps me inspire in both my personal life and even more—my own photography. Although Steve Jobs was not a photographer (he actually dabbled in the idea of getting Apple more into photography) his vision, drive, and passion are all things we can learn from. For this article I will outline 10 traits of Steve Jobs which I feel could make you a better street photographer.
You can check out a list of street photography books I recommend here:Â Inspirational Street Photography Books You Gotta Own
I was at Charlie Kirk’s apartment in Tokyo, when he turned me onto a book he recently bought and was moved by, which was a book by Alec Soth—a Magnum photographer. It a lovely book, with a yellow cover and several of his photo projects inside, including excerpts from his blog which discussed the role of gear.
He said he constantly got questions about his gear for his projects, and then made the remark that he didn’t mind the question that much—considering that most photographers are nerds/geeks anyways. Therefore he listed a long list of his equipment (mostly large-format stuff) and how he processed his film—specifically for each project he did. He then ended the post mentioning that he wrote the post specifically with an Apple iBook. Funny and snarky way to end the post.
In this blog post my thesis is that we should quit wasting money on gear (lenses, bodies, etc) and more money on photo-books. I feel that the best way to improve your vision as a street photographer is to look at great photography (which is nearly impossible online) and readily found in photo-books. If you are curious about why, please continue reading! (as this post is damn long).
Eric’s Note: Mattias Hyde is an emerging street photographer from Madrid who has only been shooting street photography for 6 months, and has shown a great deal of physical and emotional closeness in his images. Read more of his words below!
I started street photography a few months ago, when I returned to Madrid after a year of cycling and backpacking in several countries.
Since the beginning, I’ve been obsessed with the actual process of photographing, rather than with results. I know that I won’t do anything really interesting until I’ve been on the trade for a couple of years at least, so I’m not focusing on the final image, or expecting to get any great shots either. I’m strictly working on feeling comfortable taking the camera with me on my daily walks around the city centre and neighbourhood.
A funny story of how I got interrogated for shooting street photography at a racetrack for horses in Tokyo, an interview with Bellamy Hunt (how to best shoot in Tokyo), and fun antics with Charlie Kirk in the background!
(Fibonacci spiral above a photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson)
One of the questions that I have been pondering for quite a while is how much a great street photograph is objective versus subjective. I would say that the general consensus is that great photography, like most of art, is purely subjective. As what they say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.â€
However I would disagree with this opinion, and argue that great street photographs are more objective than subjective. This is much more of a controversial position to hold, but I argue it is more fun to play devil’s advocate than just go with the traditional way of thinking.
Many of my thoughts will stem from studying the works of Cartier-Bresson, in which most of his iconic images that an average person will call “great†is based on strict composition from geometry – based out of compositional theories from paiting. After all, Cartier-Bresson did start off as a painter and referred to his images as “instant sketches.†I will also draw upon some of my own personal observations and opinions—which you may or may not agree with.
I will make an attempt to try to discuss how much of composition, story-telling, forms, balances, objectivity, subjectivity, ratios, etc play into great street photographs. Take everything you read with a grain of salt, as this article is more of a personal essay for me to traverse some of my thoughts on the subject.
Be warned, this essay is ridiculously long (4,000+ words) so maybe bookmark this post and find the time to read it. You’re not going to agree with everyone I say, but if you read the entire thing I can assure you that you will start thinking more analytically about what makes a great street photograph.
(“Cut” by Rinzi Ruiz)
I am currently reading Malcom Gladwell’s book: “What the Dog Saw†which is a great collection of his best articles published in The New Yorker.
There is a fascinating section talks about the difference between “choking†and “panicking†which I think plays really well into street photography:
If so, I’d like to invite you to my very special intermediate street photography workshop upcoming in Singapore on 12/17-12/18 in association with Leica Asia Pacific. We will be studying and analyzing the work of the great street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Elliott Erwitt, Vivian Maier, and many more! We will discuss their quotes, images, videos, and documentaries—and learn more about their specific insights into street photography.  We will identify what makes these photographers great and apply these principles to your own unique style.
Read more to find out more details!
Thomas Leuthard (85mm) is putting together a fun street photography contest that is open to everyone in the world with the topic: “Headlines“. It is free to enter, and can be a great way to get more exposure in your photography. Below is more information about the contest:
The contest is open to everyone around the world. There is no age or any other restriction. The genre is Street Photography and the photos must be taken in a candid way, so don’t setup your photos. There is a minor amount of post processing allowed. This is not a Photoshop contest and your photo will not be accepted, if there are too many changes made. The photos must be uploaded to the “85mm Street Photography Contest” Flickr group. A basic Flickr account is free of charge. There are no special requirements to enter the contest.
The deadline for the contest is December 31, 2011 at the end of the day.
There are also cash prizes for the contest up to $500 (enough money to finally buy that prime-lens you have always wanted!).
(All images copyrighted by Manu Thomas)
Eric’s Note: Manu Thomas is a street photographer from Mumbai, India who has captured a colorful, playful, and multi-faceted vision of his environment. In a feature according to Nick Turpin, Manu also started off as a watercolor painter:
“While searching for camera and photos, I happened to hear the term street photography for the first time and came to know about some amazing street photographers and saw some wonderful photos. I got hooked up to street photography very soon and it became my passion ever since. I want to continue doing painting, but photography is my biggest passion right now”
The series below is from his photo-essay, “Subrubia“. He draws inspiration from photographers such as Raghubir Singh and Alex Webb.
Manu: I started pursuing photography seriously by the end of 2007. Almost all of my photos are taken from Mumbai, its various suburbs, city and seaside. I consider myself to be extremely lucky to have started photography in this city. Compared to other south Indian cities where I’ve been to, Mumbai is very energetic, fast, but extremely chaotic. It got everything to construct excellent photographs, but the elements are scattered all over the place. Its colors, forms, textures are all hopelessly jumbled up. It encompasses slices of lives from every part of the country. It contains all kind of people and classes from all over the country.
Huge thanks to Leica for making this show and our gallery opening possible.
http://www.leica-camera.com
And congratulations to Jordan Dunn for his VLUX-30 winning “Best of Show” piece:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=265956166775812&set=a.245493168822…
YOU ARE HERE was curated by Neema Sadeghi and Eric Kim
http://www.neemasadeghi.com
http://www.erickimphotography.com
Video Directed by Neema Sadeghi
http://www.neemasadeghi.com
Video Edited by Lonnie Francisco
http://cargocollective.com/lonniefrancisco
Video Shot by Adam Boden, Lonnie Francisco, and Jacob Patterson
Find more about ThinkTank Gallery at http://www.thinktankgallery.org
Stay tuned for more great exhibitions like this in the future!
(Above photo by Debi Sen Gupta)
Below are the 32 best images from my recent Introduction to Street Photography Workshop in Mumbai, India. Read more to see all the images below!
(All images copyrighted by Dirty Harrry)
Eric’s Note: For this article I am pleased to feature the thoughts about Dirty Harrry, a prolific street photographer from Crete in Greece. His images shot with flash are  not only surreal but technically well done. Make sure to also check out my interview with him here, and see his images on Flickr.
Hi Eric, thanks for your invitation once again here. My words may be obvious and don’t consider them “rules”. However these are my observations after shooting for 3 years with a flash in my street photography.
I have been in Mumbai, India the last 3 days and have been having the blast of my life. Kaushal Parikh, an incredibly talented street photographer from Mumbai, has been my host and not only shown me the wonderful streets here, but has treated me like family and is feeding me well (I probably will gain at least 20 pounds before leaving).
For those of you who have never been to India, here are some of my thoughts about shooting street photography here:
I haven’t had a single negative encounter so far. I just make sure to smile and say “thank you”. People are very receptive here and LOVE to get their photo taken. I have even shot with my flash today, and people seem very amused with it, and appreciate the attention.
India has a massive gap from the wealthy and poor. The wealthy are incredibly rich (drive around Bently’s) while the poor are dying on the streets. It is really heartbreaking to see, but makes me appreciate what I have so much more.
However this can make for interesting juxtapositions between the rich and poor, in terms of the people as well as the buildings, cars, etc.
There is so much to see and so much to shoot. Although this can be a problem at times (there are sometimes too much people on the street). However it seems wherever I go, there is always people and something going on.
I am also preparing for my street photography workshop this weekend (I am hosting 3 of them while I am here). Wish me luck and I will keep everyone updated! :)
Also if you are an Indian street photographer and would like to be considered in the India Street Photographers collective, email Kaushal Parikh at kaush_par@yahoo.co.inÂ
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):
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.
(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.
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!
 (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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(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
(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!
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!
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!