{"id":7723,"date":"2012-06-25T11:07:18","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T18:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=7723"},"modified":"2012-06-26T13:37:40","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T20:37:40","slug":"what-kind-of-street-photographer-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/25\/what-kind-of-street-photographer-are-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What Kind of Street Photographer Are You? (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"garry<\/a><\/p>\n

(Above image \u00c2\u00a9\u00c2\u00a0Garry Winogrand, from his book: “The Animals<\/a>“)<\/em><\/p>\n

I just read a book titled: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking<\/a>, which was a book about introversion and the conflict they often encounter with extroverts in society. Reading the book as an extrovert, it gave me great insight on how introverts think, behave, and interact with the rest of the world from a psychological perspective.<\/p>\n

Being an extrovert myself, I often have a difficult time how introverts think, behave, and see the world. My girlfriend Cindy is an introvert, and I initially read the book to understand her better. In the end of reading the book, it gave me great insights about street photography as well, through better understanding different personality types. After chatting with my buddy Brian Sparks<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0about the idea, he thought it would be a great idea to share this idea (he is an introverted street photographer). So special thanks for him for giving me the inspiration to write this.<\/p>\n

Interested to learn more? Read on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Are you an introverted or extroverted street photographer?<\/h2>\n
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(\u00c2\u00a9\u00c2\u00a0Garry Winogrand)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In American society, it is often frowned upon to be an introvert. Starting from primary school, teachers generally force introverted children to participate (even though they may not want to) and treat being introspective as a \u00e2\u20ac\u009dproblem\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. If you think about the most successful people in America, they are often the extroverts– as they often make bold claims and are great at interacting with others. The problem is that extroverted leaders often screw up by being too bold, whereas introspective leaders often perform better by thinking problems out before addressing them.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing to note is that this is different across cultures. For example, in China and many Asian countries it is actually considered a positive trait to be introverted and self-reflective. There is a famous Chinese proverb that says something along the lines of, “The nail that sticks out the most, must be hammered down the hardest”.<\/p>\n

In street photography, it is not \u00e2\u20ac\u009dbetter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to be an introverted or extroverted street photographer. Both have different styles, and different approaches. These are some things i have noticed in terms of the differences:<\/p>\n

Introverted street phographers<\/h2>\n
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(Photograph \u00c2\u00a9\u00c2\u00a0Andre Kertesz. Kertesz mentioned that when he took the photo, he was feeling quite depressed and broken just like the bent seat).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my experience, introverted street photographers prefer to shoot alone and walk at a slower, more moderate pace. They prefer to approach the scene as a whole, often adding interesting juxtapositions and layers to their images. They don’t like to \u00e2\u20ac\u009dinterrupt\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or affect the scene, and take on more of the \u00e2\u20ac\u009dinvisible photographer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d approach.<\/p>\n

Street photographers in history who had more introverted personalities include the following:<\/p>\n