• Menu

How to Get Into Street Photography

Self Portrait in Nantes, France
Self Portrait in Nantes, France

There are hundreds of photography genres—landscape photography, environmental photography, black and white photography, architecture, nature, wedding… To each photographer his own.

To me, at first, photography was simply a way to record our travel memories—a nice sunset here, a beautiful beach there, and so on. I’ve been carrying a camera since my first trip to China in 1999 and I would impatiently wait for the films to be processed. Little by little, photography became a way to tell a thousand-word story with one picture. I guess if I had to pick a genre it would be documentary photography. But I was very awkward at it at first. Like a foreign tongue, photography needs practice.

One day, a couple of years ago, I was browsing through my pictures and I realized I rarely shoot people. In a way, landscape photography is easier for a beginning photographer, since you can take pictures freely (unless you are into airports and military bases!) and aren’t in a rush. On the other side, taking pictures of people, especially strangers, is slightly more difficult: you have to capture a moment, risk being seen and—gasp! — you may even have to talk to people.

Yet, street photography, the art of taking pictures of subjects in candid situations in public places, can be extremely rewarding. Little by little, I really got into it, and I learned to appreciate it.

First, I invested in a small 55-200 mm telephoto zoom lens. It allows me to keep a certain distance from my subjects (let’s face it, few people love to have a camera thrust in their face) yet it’s easy to carry around.

Then, I started with taking pictures of people at public events, such as demonstrations (in France and in Canada), gatherings (such as the Olympic Torch Relay or Hockey Day in Canada) or street performances (for instance at the Tulips Festival). During such events, people pretty much expect to see photographers around and they usually don’t mind having their picture taken. In some cases, I offer to send a copy of the pictures via email—street performers usually love it.

Eventually, I felt comfortable to take pictures of strangers in the street. I realized that people usually don’t pay attention to photographers and don’t really care. Some demand attention. Anti-abortion protesters absolutely loved having their picture taken, even though I’m pro-choice and definitely don’t support their views. I also took pictures of conspiracy theorists who didn’t mind it either—in fact, come to think of it, they probably thought I was part of the conspiracy.

Most of the time, I just keep my distance, that’s what zooms are for. Sometimes, people notice you and all it takes is a smile, you will see in their eyes whether they give you permission to take the shot. Just be casual and friendly, you are not doing anything wrong!

You won’t have time to adjust the various settings on your camera much, since street photography is all about capturing the moment. To me, the composition and the framing are the most important and I try to not care too much about minor imperfections. Some shots are not as sharp, as straight and as balanced as they should be, but I don’t care, they still mean something to me.

Share this article!
Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

View stories

Leave a Reply to shionge Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

8 comments