Street Photography Tips for the Avid Explorer
Street Photography Tips for the Avid Explorer :
Street photography is fascinating because it forces you to shift your perspective on your immediate surroundings. Its history highlights the art form’s power to reflect the urban experience, by surrendering to the unexpected and capturing the aura of everyday city living. So for those who love exploring, street photography can be a good way to chronicle your travels.
Even though the essence of street photography is accepting that you can’t control everything, there are some things you can do in preparation so that the pursuit is less daunting. If you’re looking to take to the streets with your camera, here are some tips that can help you.
Understanding your area :
Before heading out, do some research about the area that you’re visiting. Try to understand the people, architecture, cultures, and customs that color the world you’re stepping into, and find what elements you want to highlight. Do you want to highlight what a place is known for? Or do you want to focus on something people don’t really know about the area?
For instance, if you’re visiting a street like Rodeo Drive, renowned for being the most expensive street in the world, you can either choose to focus on the luxury and reinforce its reputation or explore its margins to reveal alternative realities about the place. What’s important is that as a storyteller, you’re able to approach the street with some semblance of what to expect.
Bringing the right equipment :
Lugging around a huge camera can be counterproductive to your discreteness. Specialty cameras like artistic rangefinders are particularly useful for street photographers and explorers because they’re lighter, less noticeable, and offer great control. The Leica M11 and the Fujifilm X-Pro3 are some popular choices for street photographers.
Research and experiment on your lenses as well, and figure out which ones work best for the kind of photos you want to take. Wide-angle lenses can make for dynamic inclusions by broadening your frame, while telephoto lenses can help you take more intimate photos of your subjects. You could also consider whether you’re gonna go with more convenient fixed lenses or more versatile zoom lenses. It’s all about what works best for your project!
Training your perspective :
A good way to train your street photography skills is to heighten your observation and find something fresh to approach a scene with. Consider this Soho photographer who keeps reinventing the same area through his photography. His skill is in allowing his environment to add depth and dimension to his photographs.
The streets are always shifting so paying attention to things like rain puddles, stark shadows in broad daylight, night scenes, animated conversations, and the blur of cars rushing past can elevate your photos. Alternatively, you can approach people on the streets and offer to capture their personalities and tell their stories through your photography. Ultimately, it all falls down to how resourceful you are as a photographer and how well you can make use of your surroundings to inform your shots.
When you do street photography, most of the scenes and circumstances that you capture are serendipitous and it’s a wonderful way to let your imagination roam and train your skill as a photographer. If you love exploring, then elevating your stories through street photography is the best way to experience your travels.
