{"id":25063,"date":"2015-09-29T01:15:11","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T08:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=25063"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:14:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T19:14:15","slug":"the-street-project-by-steve-simon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/29\/the-street-project-by-steve-simon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Street Project by Steve Simon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pic<\/p>\n

(Editor’s Note: Words and Photographs by Steve Simon<\/a>. Steve is a very passionate photographer, author, and an educator that has traveled the world shooting for various brands, companies, and organizations. His work focuses on street and documentary photography. He shares with us today how simple it is to start a street project and how it will develop your photography further. All words and photographs are by Steve Simon.)<\/em><\/p>\n

We all have a unique vision of the world and photography is such a great way to express your vision. The more you shoot, the more focused and recognizable that vision becomes, a style if you will. But you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t set out to create a style, your style reveals itself when you get through a volume of work. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unconscious and not contrived. Others might see it before you do\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re too close to your work to always recognize it.<\/p>\n

I have been a street photographer since I first picked up a camera as a young kid, wandering the streets of Montreal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Pic
Mother and Son on Montreal bus, taken with my Nikon FM and 35mm lens when I was 14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my experience, one of the best ways to develop as a street-shooter is to take on a project. It helps you to find meaning and purpose in your picture-taking process and you will learn much about yourself while elevating your personal photographic vision.<\/p>\n

When working on one story over time\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe inch-wide, mile deep approach\u00e2\u20ac\u201d it challenges you to see new details, notice nuances, get deeper and deeper in your process. You know what you have which often tells you what you need and where to find it.<\/p>\n

\"Pic
I spent some time at Coney Island this summer creating a set of images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to the project, the idea is everything. Think big. Find that story or theme that inspires you to commit and drives you to work hard, moves you past frustrations, through obstacles and pushes you towards a photographic place of competence and excitement you cannot even imagine when you begin work on it.<\/p>\n

If you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t decide on a grand project, try a short term one first: a person, an event, business; a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153day in the life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or portrait series. It can be urban landscapes specific to one block or one city, or other groups of images with a common thread that ties them together, like shooting in the rain.<\/p>\n

\"Nikon<\/p>\n

\"Rain2\"<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

\"Rain4\" \"Rain5\"<\/p>\n

Look for subjects and environments that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to enjoy and have fun with. Access really is everything to maximize shooting possibilities and strengthen the work. Choose a subject that you have unfettered access to. Having a mission or artist statement for the project can help clarify and focus your vision for a consistent point of view, as well as form a framework for future shooting.<\/p>\n

Many of your best ideas will come from your own life;\u00c2\u00a0 your personal experiences and exploring your connections. Be original, authentic, and true to who you are as a person and photographer when looking for your passion project.<\/p>\n

Look at photo books for inspiration. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all been done before, do it better; do it your way.<\/p>\n

You might pick a project that scares you a little. If you’re still a bit nervous approaching strangers, maybe a street-portrait project is a good choice. If it moves you away from your comfort zone, I find I learn the most and it liberates me from my routine and it is very rewarding photographically and as a life experience.<\/p>\n

\"Pic
Street portrait in Harlem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About Steve<\/h2>\n

Steve Simon is a passionate street photographer based in New York City. He runs Street Photography Workshops around the world. There is still space for his New York City Street Intensive workshop in October. You can sign up here:<\/p>\n

(Editor’s note: Steve gladly offered us a 10% discount for his upcoming New York City Street Intensive Workshop\u00c2\u00a0when you use the offer code “streettogs<\/strong>” [without the quotation marks]. It’s going to be 6 days of shooting, learning, and exploring New York City. Check out the link below for all the information you need)<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thepassionatephotographer.com\/shop\/the-passionate-street-photographer-workshop-new-york-city-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

You can see more of his work from his blog:\u00c2\u00a0www.thepassionatephotographer.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow Steve on these social media channels:<\/strong><\/p>\n

twitter\/stevesimon<\/a><\/p>\n

facebook\/thepassionatephotographer<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/instagram.com\/stevesimon\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s Note: Words and Photographs by Steve Simon. Steve is a very passionate photographer, author, and an educator that has traveled the world shooting for various brands, companies, and organizations. His work focuses on street and documentary photography. He shares with us today how simple it is to start a street project and how it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[372,17],"tags":[1622,1769],"class_list":["post-25063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-photographers","category-posts","tag-steve-simon","tag-street-project"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25063","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=25063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}