Street Photography 101
I embarked on a challenging journey into the world of street photography and I am going to say now it is not as easy as it looks. These are some of the top things I have learned while hitting the streets.
Be Ethical.
The city offers plenty of things to photograph just be mindful of some general ethics. For example, I do not photograph homeless people or people in mental distress. I don't think that it’s appropriate to exploit people who are already in a terrible situation. I created this rule on a simple notion, I myself was once homeless when I was younger. It’s not a great feeling and having a camera in my face would have been embarrassing. I completely understand that some homeless people may add that look to a photo but trust me there are other things to photograph. This of course changes if the point is to bring awareness or if this is part of a photo essay.
Another thing NEVER to photograph is drug use or illegal activity this can put you in a dangerous situation. You can be chased or even robbed or worse I stay away from areas where this occurs. A great example was while wandering the back streets of San Francisco I happened to see a really cool photo of a man getting off the bus however there was a car that was far from the bus. The moment the camera went to my viewfinder the people in the car hid and started to get aggressive. It was at this time the driver shouted and told his friend that I was not even photographing them. This de-escalated the situation but it was a learning experience for me and taught me to be more careful.
Know your Gear
I learned quickly that street photography is fast, there is so much going on people walking by, traffic, and so many different sounds at first it can be overwhelming. I come from a landscape/Nature background so the world of street photography is a whole other beast. I had to understand my gear and know how to use it fast. I would strongly suggest getting a handle on the gear and practice, practice, practice. Get in the habit of know-how to meter light and quickly adjust the F-stop and shutter speeds on the camera. A bonus is to understand how far subjects are by using the meters and feet on the lens. The way I learned this was by walking around my neighborhood and pointing the camera at objects and getting any idea how far 3 feet or 6 feet.
People are not always happy.
I recall the first week I started doing street photography here in San Francisco I was trying to take a picture of a graffitied wall that I found interesting. However, a woman walked into my shot once she heard the shutter go off it set her off as well after being cussed out and being accused of trying to take her picture without permission I learned that people aren’t always friendly. In the United States, the general law is straightforward people can be photographed in public spaces this does not mean that people are going to be happy. When I do street photography I am always looking for candid moments with little to no interruption to the person’s life I tend to look through my subjects. I like to act like I am photographing something that is in front of them or act as if I am a tourist. There is the option to ask the people for their picture but usually, 8 out of 10 it's going to be a solid no. My advice is to be fast and keep moving don’t point the camera at people for too long or spend too much time focusing on a single person.
Black and White is powerful
My advice is to start with black and white film it’s a little easier and can be a little more forgiving especially when navigating through a city. I am not saying that it’s impossible to shot in color but it may be slightly harder since colors can be difficult to capture. I think my favorite feature of black and white film is how easily it can be pushed to provide a more contrasty look which can add to the story of black and white street photography. I learned about pushing film about a year ago and fell in love with the results. The art of pushing black and white usually starts with an ISO 400 film stock and rather than shooting it at box speed the film is overexposed by 1+ stop meaning it’s shot at ISO 800 or 2+ stops ISO 1600.
Get Out Often
Street photography is a marathon; to succeed, you must go out often and walk the streets. I will go out sometimes 3 times a week and even this is not enough. So many moments are happening right this second that can make a difference in your portfolio. The art of street photography is to be consistent and get out as much as possible, if you have a day job set some time before starting work to get out in the morning hours. If you work in the city take your camera to work and wander around during lunch. It’s not impossible to get out more it just requires a little more creativity and planning. A great example is that recently I started learning the bus system here in San Francisco I can hop on the city bus and explore new areas I had trouble getting to with by my car due to parking. If I can’t find something interesting I just get back on the bus and try a new area. I wake up at 6am get my coffee come home wait for the sun to come up a bit and then get on the bus and explore the downtown area for an hour and come home.
Less is more
When venturing into street photography less gear is better. When I hit the streets I have 1-2 extra rolls of film, the camera, and one lens. I do not carry multiple lenses or have extra cameras I want to make sure I am not second-guessing myself when I am taking pictures. This happens often maybe you start taking pictures and then see something really cool and usually without thinking you switch the lens to see how it would look and like that the moment is gone. Then in the process of switching the lens back to the original something else happens and again the moment is gone. I usually will shoot with a 50mm or a 35mm but I will only take one lens so I can focus on the streets so I am not tempted to switch during the day.
My Camera bag contains the following:
Canon VT Deluxe w/ 50mm Lens
Light Meter
1 roll of B&W and one roll of Color