{"id":54170,"date":"2017-06-27T23:31:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T06:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=54170"},"modified":"2017-06-28T00:07:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T07:07:35","slug":"street-photography-manual-by-eric-kim-the-fundamentals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/27\/street-photography-manual-by-eric-kim-the-fundamentals\/","title":{"rendered":"STREET PHOTOGRAPHY MANUAL by ERIC KIM: The Fundamentals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"54023\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/27\/why-i-have-such-a-big-ego\/img_0447-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1327&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1327\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Eric kim street photography suits\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?fit=800%2C531&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1-800x531.jpg?resize=800%2C531\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-54023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?resize=800%2C531&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?resize=768%2C510&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?resize=180%2C119&amp;ssl=1 180w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dear friend,<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s go in a fun street photography adventure: I wanna share some secrets, brutal truths, and honest advice on how to elevate yourself as a street photographer: to take your work to the next level, to conquer your fears, and fulfill your personal maximum.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/8c48xq0rweowoyf\/STREET%20PHOTOGRAPHY%20MANUAL-%20Fundamentals.pdf?dl=0\">Download PDF ><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Preface: This is not for the weak of heart.<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"54034\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/27\/why-i-have-such-a-big-ego\/img_0536-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?fit=1999%2C1161&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1999,1161\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Eric kim street club\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?fit=800%2C465&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1-800x465.jpg?resize=800%2C465\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"465\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-54034\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?resize=800%2C465&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?resize=768%2C446&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?resize=180%2C105&amp;ssl=1 180w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0536-1.jpg?w=1999&amp;ssl=1 1999w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re easily offended, please don&#8217;t read this. Of course this is all my opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Now we&#8217;ve got that out of the way, let&#8217;s continue my friend.<\/p>\n<h2>Street Photography, Defined.<\/h2>\n<p>Okay my definition of street photography:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  Sociology with a camera.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Street photographers seek to analyze, critique, and understand society by using the camera as a research tool.<\/p>\n<p>So if you&#8217;re interested in street photography, you&#8217;re a <strong>street sociologist.<\/strong> Welcome aboard.<\/p>\n<p>What is sociology? It&#8217;s a discipline that seeks to make order of our crazy social world. It&#8217;s seeking what makes us human.<\/p>\n<h2>Why I love street photography<\/h2>\n<p>Street photography is for everyone. It is democratic. You can shoot with your phone, or any device with a camera or lens.<\/p>\n<p>You can shoot on a phone, film camera, tablet, or any device that can record light.<\/p>\n<h2>Definition of a Photographer<\/h2>\n<p>What is a photographer?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Photo: light<\/li>\n<li>Grapher: writer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A photographer is a writer of light. Or a light writer.<\/p>\n<p>Your camera is your pen. You can create reality however you see it. The best photos are the ones that are opinionated, exciting, fun, non-boring, dynamic, and tell a story.<\/p>\n<p>If we think of writing and poetry, it goes back thousands or years. What makes good writing or poetry?<\/p>\n<p>Writing: good story, good actors, good emotions, and good beginning and endings.<\/p>\n<p>Poetry: the flow, cadence, and choice or words. Painting vivid imagery. Elevates the soul.<\/p>\n<p>Do your photos do the same?<\/p>\n<p>Some ideas:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Everyone who lives in a city and shoots photos is a street photographer. What makes living in a city different from living in the countryside?<\/li>\n<li>What do you love and hate about city living? Document that.<\/li>\n<li>Use the easiest camera for you to make photos on. Often your phone, or a point and shoot camera. A good writer doesn&#8217;t fuss over their pens. What matters is the quality of the words that comes out, not what the ink looks like.<\/li>\n<li>Shoot what interests you. If something is boring to you, don&#8217;t shoot it.<\/li>\n<li>Get close: physically, emotionally, and spirituality to your subjects. Put yourself in their shoes. Shoot with your heart, and when in doubt, take a step closer to your subject.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Boring street photography<\/h2>\n<p>OK, everyone is a street photographer. But most street photography is boring.<\/p>\n<p>How do you make a non-boring or interesting street photograph? Some ideas:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Don&#8217;t just shoot people walking by walls at touristy landmarks. More easy for others to replicate your photos.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t photograph during flat light; dramatic light during sunrise and sunset have more drama and excitement. A tip to know when the light is good: is your shadow longer or taller than you are? <\/li>\n<li>Avoid making a photo that can be replicated by Google maps or Google Street view. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Thank you Charlie.<\/h2>\n<p>So great street photographers don&#8217;t compromise. They stick to their own creative vision. They don&#8217;t settle for boring photos.<\/p>\n<p>I am inspired by my friend Charlie Kirk. He was deeply inspired by Garry Winogrand, who made dynamic, multi layered, and exciting street photos.<br \/>\nWhen my friend Charlie shot on the streets, a lot of people didn&#8217;t like his aggressive style. But they loved his photos.<\/p>\n<p>Charlie had a lot of courage to stand up to online haters. But to be frank, Charlie&#8217;s haters were just envious and jealous of his skill, bravado, and courage. Charlie inspired me to be more courageous and aggressive with my street photography.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you Charlie, I consider you to be my photography teacher, mentor, guide, and friend. I owe you so much.<\/p>\n<h2>How to take your street photography to the next level<\/h2>\n<p>Some ideas:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tilt your camera<\/strong>. Make more dynamic and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153edgy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d street photographs by incorporating un-straight horizons. Study the work of Garry Winogrand and Charlie Kirk for inspiration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Use a flash<\/strong>: Flash will add more drama, suspense, and sex to your photos. Study the work of Bruce Gilden, Weegee, Anders Petersen, Jacob Aue Sobol, Dirty Harrry, and Eric Kim.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don&#8217;t overlap subjects<\/strong>: A simple way to make better photos: avoid overlapping subjects. Add space between your street photos.<\/p>\n<h2>Be unique.<\/h2>\n<p>Be unique in your street photography. Don&#8217;t let anyone make photos that can easily replicate yours.<\/p>\n<p>Another tip:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  The harder it is for you to make a street photograph, the less likely it can be replicated.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A hard street photograph isn&#8217;t necessarily a good one. Yet, it certainly is less boring to look at.<\/p>\n<p>And <strong>the only cardinal sin as a street photographer: sharing boring photos.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can make boring photos. Just don&#8217;t share them.<\/p>\n<h2>What is your street photography batting average?<\/h2>\n<p>In terms of my batting average, I make 1 street photograph I&#8217;m very proud of from every 1,000 photos. If I make one good street photograph a month I&#8217;m happy. If I make one great street photograph a year, I&#8217;m ecstatic.<\/p>\n<p>Most master street photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Josef Koudelka have only admitted making 1 good photo a month.<\/p>\n<p>The easy way to get more home runs in your street photography: <strong>swing your bat more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That means, shoot more street photos to have a higher likelihood of you making a good photo.<\/p>\n<p>Easy way to remember this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  JUST SHOOT IT.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>To conclude this chapter, some things to consider:<\/p>\n<p>You are a sociologist with a camera. That is what a street photographer is. How are you using your camera to analyze society, human beings, and yourself?<br \/>\nAvoid making boring street photos by adjusting emotion, drama, and soul into your photos. Capture hand gestures, eye contact, feelings of doom and gloom, war and peace. Be a poet with a camera.<br \/>\nWhat makes your street photography unique? Share your thoughts on <a href=\"http:\/\/forum.erickimphotography.com\/\">ERIC KIM Forum<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Also for inspiration on the go, buy <a href=\"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/product\/street-notes-mobile\/\">STREET NOTES MOBILE EDITION<\/a>: a Street Photography Workshop on Your Phone, for everyday inspiration &#8212; either at the coffee shop, your morning commute, or when you need assignment ideas when shooting on the streets.<\/p>\n<p>Be strong,<br \/>\nEric<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/street-photography-101\/\">STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 101 ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear friend, Let&#8217;s go in a fun street photography adventure: I wanna share some secrets, brutal truths, and honest advice on how to elevate yourself as a street photographer: to take your work to \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_0447-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1327&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54170","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=54170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}