Summer is a great time of year to get out with your camera and capture activity on the streets, in fairs and at events. Attending a festival or gala allows you to take photographs without worrying about the reactions of your subjects, as people expect photographers at these types of events. They can be a great place to start with street photography.
Street photography is one of the hardest genres to master but its a genre that teaches you the most and I see it rather like a creative work out at the gym. This genre is all about capturing a passing moment that wasn’t there before and is usually seen as it happens or sometimes you can predict the likelihood of it happening.
Shadow play or an object that adds to a composition is an example of being able to anticipate a composition that will happen when all the elements line up correctly.
Street photography is all about creating a narrative in one image or humour or drama or even social commentary.
The essentials of street photography starts with getting the exposure right followed by getting the image sharp. The emphasis is far less on the technical side and more on the anticipation, composition and shooting at the precise moment everything comes together. Learning to adjust your settings as the light changes is what makes this genre so challenging together with the urban landscape that changes as you walk.
Street photography brings together quite a few other photographic genres like street portraiture, candid photography, urban architecture and in its own way could also be considered as great practice for travel photography especially if you shoot in a town or city that you have never been to before.
The image below of feet shadows is an excellent example of a picture taking opportunity that just happened before me. Standing at Worthing station early morning for the commuter rush I saw the layout of feet come together so it was just a question of waiting for the composition to improve. Whats the best camera for shooting this genre? The camera you have with you and for this image it was an iPhone 6.
London and Brighton are two of the best locations to shoot for varying reasons. Both have many tourists, so anyone using a camera isn’t out of place. Brighton offers a great urban landscape of the Lanes with some very interesting characters plus the beach and piers. London with its many landmarks and intense traffic offers many shooting opportunities whether shooting in a park to walking through Chinatown, Soho or even Camden Market.
About the author Stewart Weir:
Published internationally including National Geographic Traveller, Vogue (Brazil), The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, The Independent, The Independent On Sunday, Wales On Sunday, The Guardian, El Pais, Stern, Paris Match, The Face, Hello, Esquire, GQ, F1 Racing, Four Four Two, Stern, Le Figaro, The British Journal of Photography, Practical Photography etc. Also been commissioned to produce images for 40 books and has travelled extensively on assignments throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
Copyright © 1990-2015 Stewart Weir. All image rights reserved. Images taken by Stewart Weir within this article may not be copied or distributed without prior permission from Stewart Weir. IOP are not affiliated with these photo walks. You attend any third party event at your own risk.
