Most of the time when I’m out in the streets taking pictures, I’m looking for stories to tell and for beautiful moments to capture. I walk around an area, scrutinizing every possible corner, hoping to find something worth pushing the button of my camera. Quite often, I end up talking with the people I’ve tried to take a picture of or with other people intrigued by my behavior. During these interactions, I always try to get a portrait of the people I’m talking with. When the light conditions are good and the person cooperative, these portraits can turn out pretty good (as this one for instance: http://www.simongarnier.org/2-portrait/ or this one http://www.simongarnier.org/silly-in-the-city/). More and more, I think that I should introduce in my photo walks one hour dedicated to this exercise only.
Clay Enos has mastered this exercise. Besides his studio work, he goes out in the street and takes pictures of passers-by. The result is often very powerful while keeping a strong connection with the real, ordinary world of the real, ordinary people he photographs. I strongly encourage you to visit his website (http://www.clayenos.com/) and to watch this short video where he explains how he works in the street with his $10 do-it-yourself outdoor studio. 100% natural light, 100% natural human interactions.
Joel Meyerowitz on street photography
UPDATE – Chun Tong Chung (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hideousmanki/) kindly informed me of an awesome vintage documentary about Joel Meyerowitz’s work filmed in 1981. You can find it on the iN-PUBLIC collective’s website at this address: http://www.in-public.com/news/2011/3/1981.
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When a master of street photography, the great Joel Meyerowitz, decides to put together a video to explain how he works, the only thing you can do is watch and learn. The quality of the video is not great, but the lesson is priceless.