{"id":19293,"date":"2014-07-09T09:53:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-09T16:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=19293"},"modified":"2014-07-09T10:00:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T17:00:59","slug":"on-going-with-the-flow-in-street-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/09\/on-going-with-the-flow-in-street-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"On Going With the Flow in Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Indianapolis,
Indianapolis, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I just finished reading a book titled: “Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. It was a fascinating read on the paradox of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wu-wei<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is a concept in Taoism of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153action without action\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. This means nature accomplishes everything without effort. Similarly, we should be able to accomplish many things in our life without unnecessary effort. In-fact according to wu-wei, most things in life (especially things we love) should be effortless.<\/p>\n

Of course you know in my blog, I like to relate everything I read back to street photography. And I think this idea of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wu-wei\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in street photography is quite fascinating.<\/p>\n

To sum up, in street photography (according to wu-wei), our best shots should come to us naturally\u00e2\u20ac\u201c without making any unnecessary effort.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now what does this mean on a practical sense? Of course we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go out without a camera and simply expect to get good photos. We need to do our due diligence. We need to study the masters, always have a camera with us, and click our shutters.<\/p>\n

However, I think the main point I want to stress is we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t force our photography. We shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shoot subject matter or work on projects that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make us happy. We should simply go with the flow, and let the shots come to us.<\/p>\n

For example, I often find my best photos are in the most unexpected places, during the most unexpected times. And ironically enough\u00e2\u20ac\u201c when I go out with the intent to make good photos, they never come to me.<\/p>\n

\"Indianapolis,
Indianapolis, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I was in London earlier this year (working on my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Suits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d project) I went to the financial district, and frantically roamed the streets looking for interesting guys in suits to photograph. Unfortunately after hours of fast-paced wandering, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get any good shots.<\/p>\n

Frustrated, I went into a Starbucks, ordered a double-espresso, took out my laptop, and started to blog and answer emails. Suddenly out of nowhere (sitting right across from me) was a marvelous guy in a suit\u00e2\u20ac\u201c with his glasses held by his teeth while he was sending an email on his blackberry.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe my luck. I started shooting frantically at first\u00e2\u20ac\u201c then realized I could take my time. I ended up taking around 16 photos of him without him even noticing. I then went back to my espresso and computer. I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t got the shot developed yet, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m quite certain it is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153keeper\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

I often sit at a crossroads when it comes to this idea of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153trying hard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d versus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not trying too hard\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I think when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re starting off, you need to give conscious \u00e2\u20ac\u0153deliberate practice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and put in your 10,000 hours of photography to become an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153expert\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in photography. However you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be unhappy when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out shooting, and feeling like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing it against your will.<\/p>\n

Most people I know who shoot street photography do it as a hobby\u00e2\u20ac\u201c a passion, something they love.<\/p>\n

Life, family, jobs are stressful enough. Why add unnecessary stress to something we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re passionate about? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget, street photography should be fun (not causing us additional stress or anxiety).<\/p>\n

So in that sense, I feel that we should embrace more spontaneity, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153going with the flow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wu-wei\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in our street photography.<\/p>\n

What does this mean in a practical way? Here is what I generally tend to do:<\/p>\n

1. Always have your camera with you<\/h2>\n
\"85770034\"
Garden Grove, Los Angeles 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I make it a point to always have my camera with me, no matter what. I generally always have my Leica MP in my messenger bag or backpack, and if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just going to the grocery store, I bring along a point-and-shoot Contax T3. I find that the best shots always showed up whenever I left my camera at home, so I made it a point to never leave home without a camera.<\/p>\n

On top of that, some of my best photos have been in really random moments: pumping my gas at a gas station, in a restaurant on the way to the restroom, inside the restroom, inside a super market, and tons of photos in caf\u00c3\u00a9s (where I always get my best writing done, like right now).<\/p>\n

By always having your camera with you, you will always be able to capture any wonderful spontaneous street photography moment. I recommend carrying around your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153main camera\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c but even an iPhone or smartphone can be good enough (better than nothing!)<\/p>\n

2. Make photography fit into your lifestyle (not vice-versa)<\/h2>\n
\"86120001\"
Garden Grove, Los Angeles 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One difficulty many of us face is having enough time to go out and shoot. We have busy day jobs, families to attend to, financial matters, and other boring stuff of everyday life.<\/p>\n

Not many of us are able to carve out huge blocks of time to go out and shoot, so I recommend trying to find time to shoot in the cracks in-between your daily life.<\/p>\n

For example, shoot a little bit on the way to the office. Shoot during your lunch break. Go on a walk or take photos inside a cafe during your coffee break. Go take photos when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out with your kids. Take photos if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re stuck in traffic from inside your car (be careful). Take photos when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re shopping for groceries. Shoot when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the office or in-between appointments. Take photos at the gym you go to. Take photos at church, temple, or any community center you frequent. Make photography a part of your daily life as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stream of consciousness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c or a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153photographic diary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

As a practical note, I just try to take at least one shot a day, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to force it. Anything that slightly catches my attention, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just take a photograph without discrimination. Every photograph I take doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be the most interesting photograph.<\/p>\n

3. Take your time<\/h2>\n
\"86050016\"
Grand Ledge. Michigan 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Realize that great photography takes a long time. I think most street photographers I know and admire only admit to taking one good shot a month, and maybe one great shot a year.<\/p>\n

Street photography is hard. Damn hard. The hardest type of photography out there. There is so little control we have, and there is so much spontaneity. As David Hurn from Magnum says, we can only control two things in photography: where we stand and when we click the shutter.<\/p>\n

Assuming you get one good shot a month, that is 12 good shots a year. 12 shots is a good to make a nice series for your website. If you shoot for 2 years, that is 24 good shots\u00e2\u20ac\u201c suitable for a exhibition. If you shoot for 3 years, that is 36 photos\u00e2\u20ac\u201c good enough for a medium-sized book.<\/p>\n

So don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try to rush things in your photography. Take your time. Go with the flow\u00e2\u20ac\u201c but still try to shoot whenever the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n
\"01940008\"
East Lansing, Michigan 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think ultimately when it comes to photography, life\u00e2\u20ac\u201cwhatever, we need to exert some effort. We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make street photos without leaving our house. We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make street photos without a camera in our bag. We won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what a good photo is without studying the masters. We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make photos without hitting the shutter. We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make street photos without getting fast the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fear\u00e2\u20ac\u009d barrier and by hesitating. There is a lot of hard work that needs to go in terms of building our photographic knowledge, and by going out and actively shooting.<\/p>\n

However if street photography is truly your passion and love\u00e2\u20ac\u201c all of this stuff should be effortless. You should be looking at greet photos all the time (not because I encourage it) but because you naturally love doing if. You should be investing in photography books that you are a passionate about (because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hungry for great images that touch your soul). You should be out hitting the streets because it is like a fire that burns inside of you\u00e2\u20ac\u201c by staying inside home all day you will go insane. You meet other equally passionate photographers because you are naturally drawn to them\u00e2\u20ac\u201c you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t force yourself to meet up with them (just to network). You work on a certain photographic project because it is meaningful to you, and there is an important message you want to convey.<\/p>\n

So in this regard, everything we are passionate in life should be effortless. Meaning, your body and mind naturally gravitates towards photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201c and becomes obsessive, and puts in the hard work and hours.<\/p>\n

\"03010032\"
Garden Grove, Los Angeles 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working on a photography project that no longer interests you, or if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not passionate bout it\u00e2\u20ac\u201c I recommend ditching it. Sometimes this is hard to do because of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sunk cost bias<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (like how we tend to go all-in in a game of poker if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already lost 75% of our chips). Or how we tend to stay in bad relationships if weave already invested 10 years of our life in it. Real winners are the quitters, who know when to quit when something is no longer worth it, or interesting.<\/p>\n

If you shoot digital and it no longer makes you happy (and you want to try film<\/a>), go buy a cheap film camera and go for it. If you shoot film and it no longer makes you happy, invest in a digital camera (or even use your smartphone) and go out and shoot and see if you like it.<\/p>\n

Curiosity, passion, and wonderment is a powerful tool we should embrace. Naturally gravitate towards what really turns you on.<\/p>\n

If you find it hard to go out and shoot street photography, perhaps it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the right genre of photography for you. Which is totally fine (who says you have to be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153street photographer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d anyways?) If you enjoy shooting flowers, go for it! Even Lee Friedlander<\/a> went through a phase of shooting flowers in-between his urban street photography.<\/p>\n

Do what makes you happy. Disregard the expectations that others out on you, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t force yourself to do things in photography that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make you happy. The most important person to impress is yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u201c everything else comes secondary.<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, I recommend reading: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tao of Street Photography<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Zen in the Art of Street Photography<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just finished reading a book titled: “Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. It was a fascinating read on the paradox of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wu-wei\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is a concept in Taoism of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153action without action\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. This means nature accomplishes everything without effort. Similarly, we should be able to accomplish many things in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/86220012.jpg?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}