There are as many approaches to street photography as there are streets in any major city. Some photographers use autofocus cameras and long lenses to capture realistic scenes from a distance. Some photographers point their manual focus film cameras at funny street signs. Others look for lighting shafts that fall between tall buildings.
My approach is to photograph couples in the NYC subway. Usually I get up close to the couple and photograph them with permission but sometimes I shoot candids. Many photographers choose to shoot in black and white while others choose to capture the multitude of colors found in major cities.
Often, the process a photographer uses to capture street images is just as interesting as the final shots. In his latest video, photographer James Parsons uses a Go pro to show his thought process as he searched for the best composition to photograph the various elements in front of him on the streets of London. He uses a Fuji x100v. This is a camera that we don’t seem to hear a lot about these days, but is a small, quiet and ideal camera for street photography. Because he was shooting in black and white, James was looking for ways to maximize the contrast between these two tonal extremes. Sometimes he shows why he chooses to frame his images in a particular way in relation to elements that distract or draw the viewer’s attention to the subject of the photo. . While my approach to street photography doesn’t have much in common with James, I find exploring his thought process very interesting.
