Street Photography Workshop

Last weekend I went on a two day street photography workshop that was run by Maciej Dakowicz and David Solomons.  The first day started with some theory work in the classroom.  We learnt about different street photographers and some of the techniques they used.  Next came three important lessons about what makes a great street photograph and the session was finished off with lessons on lightning and shooting at night.  All the images in this post were taken by me during the workshop, they may not be great images but will serve me as good reminders for the different techniques that were being taught.

More of my images from the workshop can be found HERE

Street photography is a type of photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches and shops.  Street photography uses many techniques that are similar to documentary photography and there is a great deal of overlap between the two.  Documentary photography is more of a social investigation and often has motives to improve society - there is often a higher level of emotional intensity in documentary photography.  There are some great photographers, such as Dario Mitidieri, who can flit between both worlds.

On photo sites like Flickr it is very easy to find street photography groups with whom you can share your images.  One of the better groups is HSCP (Hardcore Street Photography) and many of the images we were shown during the workshop came from members of this group.  Once you start getting very good then there are more professional groups such as iN-PUBLiC who can provide access to publishers etc.

If you want to start out in street photography the basic guidelines are really very simple:

• You should shoot with one camera and one lens - preferably a fixed/prime lens between 28 and 50mm.  I brought along four different lenses to the workshop and had to lug them around all evening as they were left unused in my camera bag.  
• Use digital, especially if you are starting out, as you need fast feedback to see if you are getting the basics like exposure and shutter speed right.
• Don't use a telephoto lens, they are for nature, sport and perving and are therefore not suitable for street work!  When using my Canon 5D Mk2 all of my shots were taken using either the Canon 35mm f2 or Canon 50mm f1.8 lens.  I had a Lumix GX1 with a 20mm f1.7 lens as a small back up but I rarely needed this camera.
• Always carry spare batteries and memory cards (if it's cold keep the spare batteries in an inside pocket to keep them warm and stop them draining too quickly).
• Wear comfortable shots and anticipate changes in weather.

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when shooting in public is fear.  Unfortunately to be a good street photographer you need to overcome this fear and not be afraid to point cameras at people.  One way to practise is take your camera somewhere where they are expected ie tourist attractions and use this to be able to blend in with the tourists.

One important tip we learnt was not to look sneaky.  You may be able to get a secret snap of your subject if you shoot from behind an obstacle but someone else is bound to notice you and may challenge you.  Confidence is massively important - I found that looking like I knew what I was doing really helped, especially when asking people if I could take their portraits.

A few points to note about street photography and the law:

• It is legal to photograph people in a public space in the UK.
• If a building is on private property they may be photographed from public land i.e. the street.
• You can be asked to leave private property ie a pub by the owner if you haven't asked for permission to shoot pictures there.
• A police officer or security guard cannot make you delete a photograph, even if taken on private land.
• You do not need permission to exhibit your pictures, publish them in magazines or on the internet but a model release may be required if the image is being used for commercial purposes.

David Solomons, one of the workshop tutors, breaking the rule about looking sneaky :)

First stop for our practical street workshop was to the pub.  It seems that a mild case of alcoholism is great for building the confidence.  Whilst this was useful at getting rid of some inhibitions about taking photos I found that it made me forget all the important details like checking the full frame and making sure all of the settings were spot on.  Definitely a case of finding the ideal balance of alcohol in the blood stream :).  Whilst we were trying to capture candid shots we also had the task of trying to get posed portraits of complete strangers.  This was a good task for confidence building and, as it was Halloween, there were plenty of people out in fancy dress and thus were easy targets for getting pictures.

All the shots below were taken near Piccadilly Circus with a bit of a drift into Chinatown, Soho and along the theatre district.  I asked for permission and posed the subjects in almost every shot - the zombies and woman in front of the advertising board were taken as candid images.  Everyone I spoke to was more than happy to have their picture taken and I was never threatened or turned down.  Almost all of the pictures were taken using the 35mm lens and so I was only two or three feet away from the subjects.

The second day of the workshop started with a review of the previous day's images and tips for picking images for final selection.  I had taken about 300 shots during the previous day/night and in all there was only 2 or 3 that the tutors thought were any good - although several more that I was happy with!  The final session of the afternoon was a trip to Brick Lane for more portraits and candid shots.  Anyone wanting to practice this sort of photography should head on down there - it is full of characters and photographers and so you won't even raise an eyebrow as you work.  The following four portraits were all asked for; the difficult bit was waiting for the subject to stop hamming up for the camera and then relax for a more informal shot.  I even managed to find someone relatively famous to take a picture of :)

I was still looking for interesting street scenes and the following four are my favourite from the afternoon.  The first three are candid images, they aren't perfect but I'm really pleased with the way they came out.  The final image was posed for me by the subject, a lovely lady who put up with me leaning directly over her shoulder for a good few minutes until I got the shot I was after.

I had an amazing time during the workshop and I feel that my whole view of photography has improved as a result of the lessons and practical elements that it covered.  I have become far more critical of my own images and have been forced not just to blindly accept mediocre images any more.

The ten things I learnt from the workshop:

1. Don't be afraid of rejection if asking for a portrait or of an aggressive encounter when taking candids.  Not everyone is an ex-cage fighter psycho killer and most people are friendly if you explain honestly what you are doing.
2. When shooting at night make sure you find a good source of light (as you wont be using a flash)
3. Don't silhouette your subject unless it's a deliberate choice, if they've agreed to a portrait then move then to face the light.
4. Shoot in manual mode during the day, a setting of f11, 1/500 and ISO 400 is a good starting point.  If you need to change for a specific shot then do it using shutter/aperture priority mode and then go back to full manual.
5. If shooting at night with a modern camera then don't fear ISO 1600 or 3200  - there may be some noise when you zoom in on the image on screen later but you can still print with amazing quality.  The important aspect is shutter speed as you need to be able to work at 1/200 or faster to capture candids.
6. Busy streets are great for action but really hard to get a clean shot of the subject.  Use a shallow depth of field or better still change your position to isolate your subjects.
7. Walking through a street may get results but it is easier to find a good spot and wait for the action to come to you.  Especially true if you find somewhere with good lighting or an interesting background.
8. Don't rely on taking one picture of the 'moment'.  If you spot a scene developing then take several different pictures to work the scene - it was the thing we got told off for the most as even the great photographers may take 10+ shots to get the perfect one.
9. Before you hit the shutter release you must try to look at the whole of the frame, there's nothing worse than capturing a great moment only to realise you've clipped out a hand or foot or that something really distracting is in the corner of the shot.
10. Don't take pictures of people on their phones (we all did!), it's been done to death and you should only consider it if your subject has an interesting face, is doing something unusual or is in fabulous light.

Photography without leaving home

A current trend amongst a small group of photographers allows them to get photographs from all over the world without having to leave their homes.  Notice that I use the word 'get' rather than 'take' as this trend is use Google Street View to acquire images.

Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world.  It was launched on 25 May 2007 in several cities in the USA and has since expanded to include more cities and rural areas worldwide. 

The images are taken from nine cameras mounted on the top of specially adapted cars.  The pictures are then stitched together to create an image you can rotate and zoom in/out of.  In areas where access by car is impossible the Google team have used tricycles, or even snow mobiles.  It has been announced today (24 Oct 2012) that Google are going to use man portable back packs to allow images of popular trails in the Grand Canyon to be captured.

The current coverage of Street View is shown below:

Street View Coverage as of Oct 2012

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage planned (official)

   Countries and dependencies with full or partial coverage planned (unofficial)

   Countries and dependencies with museum views only

   Countries and dependencies with no current or planned coverage

Much of the Street View data is processed automatically by computers.  Their software automatically detects faces and if it deems them to be recognisable blurs them out.  It also does the same for license plates.  Users who spot something they consider objectionable can contact Google and have the image altered.  Other than that there is little other filtering of the images.

So where do the photographers come in?  These individuals spend hours trawling through the published Street View images looking for hidden gems.  It could be haunting landscapes, interesting architecture, candid documentary or street photography style images.

Jon Rafman

In his series "9-eyes" (named after the camera system) Rafman has picked a wide variety of interesting shots from the Street View files.  His current project is still a work-in-progress but I've selected some of my favourites below.  You can see more of his images HERE 

Clement Valla

When the images from the Google cameras are stitched together it doesn't always go without a hitch.  Valla looks for errors in the panorama algorithm that have created unusual landscapes.  Perhaps he should get himself an iPhone before Apple has a chance to correct all it's mapping errors? :)  Looking at Valla's website it is interesting to note that he regards himself as an artist and not as a photographer.

Doug Rickard

Rickard has used Street View's images to compile a series of images that show the back streets of modern America.  Whilst it would be easy to simply grab a few shots and publish them, the real skill is to select images using the mindset of a photographer to pick ones that are well composed and tell a story.  Rickard's images are very placid and serene and there is a definite calmness to them.  He has altered the colour balances of the original images and given a more retro look.  Some of Rickard's images are shown below but more can be seen of his series HERE.

Have a go yourself!

Inspired by this article I had quick virtual drive around some of the streets on the outskirts of Detroit.  In about five minutes I found some okay shots and added some filters to get rid of the 'google' look, hopefully a weekend of street surfing will turn up something more exciting.

Drug Free School Area

New Home to Rent: Trucks Optional

Envy Me Salon : Islamic Centre

Ghosts of World War II

Cherbourg 1944

You may have seen my post a few weeks back where I talked about photography tricks that just didn't work if poorly applied.  If you didn't you can pop on over to it HERE.  One of the tricks I mentioned was using two images as layers and changing the opacity to create two pictures in one.

Photographer and historian Jo Teeuwisse uses this technique to create some amazing and poignant images. She calls her series 'Now and Then, the Ghosts of History'.  She was browsing in a flea market and came across a box of around 300 negatives from the Second World War.  She digitised the images and then set off to the locations to try to retake the photo from the same view point.  By using layers in Photoshop she added the original 1940's images to create ghostly troops walking through modern streets.  Since then she has searched the internet for more images and used then to create dozens of different series of images.

More of Jo's images can be seen on her Flickr site.  She has also included the original shots she used to make her compositions, useful in working out the techniques she uses.


The work is similar to that of photographer Sergey Larenkov, who has created several extensive series - the highlights of which are shown below.  The full series can be access from HERE.  I find the work of both photographers very inspiring and it has given me an idea to try something similar for my local town.  I may not be able to find pictures of troops parading through the streets but there must be some vintage images that I could combine in a similar manner.

Leningrad/St.Petersburg, 1941-2011. People's volunteer corps is going to the front.

Leningrad 1941 / St Petersburg 2012: Victims of Shelling

Berlin 1945 / 2010

Paris 1940 Parade of the Occupiers on the Champs Elysees

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012

The results of this year's Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year have been announced and some of the winning entries released.  All images taken from the BBC News website and are copyright of the respective photographers.  Text from the official WPotY website, where many of the images are available to order as a print.  Here are my personal favourites from this year's crop of prize-wining and specially commended images.  If you want a larger view then just click on an image.

Bubble-jetting Emperors

Penguins, it's always penguins.  If you want to win something in a wildlife photography competition then you need to get yourself to the Antarctic with a waterproof camera and some thermal clothing!

OVERALL WINNER: This was the image Paul had been so hoping to get: a sunlit mass of emperor penguins charging upwards, leaving in their wake a crisscross of bubble trails. The location was near the emperor colony at the edge of the frozen area of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. It was into the only likely exit hole that he lowered himself. He then had to wait for the return of the penguins, crops full of icefish for their chicks. Paul locked his legs under the lip of the ice so he could remain motionless, breathing through a snorkel so as not to spook the penguins when they arrived. Then it came: a blast of birds from the depths. They were so fast that, with frozen fingers, framing and focus had to be instinctive. ‘It was a fantastic sight’, says Paul, ‘as hundreds launched themselves out of the water and onto the ice above me’ – a moment that I felt incredibly fortunate to witness and one I’ll never forget.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV + 8-15mm f4 lens; 1/1000 sec at f7.1; ISO 500; Seacam housing.

Flight Paths

WINNER YOUNG WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER:  Harvest time at Owen’s grandparents’ farm draws in the birds of prey to feed on the fleeing small mammals, and it also attracts Owen, with his camera at the ready. ‘Seeing this red kite with an aeroplane in the distance was a moment I couldn't miss,’ says Owen. The shot is symbolic for him for two reasons. It was taken at the centre of the Bedfordshire site chosen for London’s third airport back in the late 1960s. ‘Opposition to the planned airport stopped it going ahead, which is why I can photograph the wildlife on the farm today.’ At the same time, British red kites also faced extinction following centuries of persecution. But following reintroductions, numbers have increased dramatically, spreading east from the Chilterns.

Nikon D90 + 300mm f4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter; 1/1000 sec at f5.6; ISO 500; Manfrotto monopod.

Secret Lives

It almost looks like a stuffed squirrel but the soft lighting in this image is brilliant.  The reflection of the squirrel in the mirror adds an extra dimension to the shot and I think the silhouette of its hands gives it more character.

WINNER URBAN WILDLIFE: Once, some 40 or so years ago, a family of 13 people lived in this cottage in Suomusjärvi, Salo, Finland. They have long gone, but though the building has fallen into disrepair, it is still a winter home to many woodland creatures, including this red squirrel, which lives in the attic. Kai has spent the past 15 years documenting the secret life of such places. ‘Deserted buildings are so full of contradictions,’ he says. ‘I am fascinated by the way nature reclaims spaces that were, essentially, only ever on loan to humans.’ 

Nikon D3S + 70-200mm f2.8 lens; 1/30 sec at f4; ISO 1800; hide

Warning Night Light

It's all in the eyes!  This great shot is full of menace and the low light and contrasting colours adds to the overall effect.

WINNER ANIMAL PORTRAIT: One evening, while walking along the riverbed of the Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, Florida, USA, one evening, Larry came across a group of alligators. It was the dry season, and they had been gorging on fish trapped in the pools left behind as the water receded from the river. One big alligator had clearly eaten its fill. ‘It wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry,’ says Larry. ‘So I set my tripod and camera up about seven metres in front of him and focused on his eyes.’ Just after sunset, Larry set his flash on the lowest setting to give just a tiny bit of light, enough to catch the eyeshine in the alligator’s eyes. Like cats, an alligator has a tapetum lucidum at the back of each eye – a structure that reflects light back into the photoreceptor cells to make the most of low light. The colour of eyeshine differs from species to species. In alligators, it glows red – one good way to locate alligators on a dark night. The greater the distance between its eyes, the longer the reptile, in this case, very long.

Nikon D2X + 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 lens; 8 sec at f8; ISO 200; SB-800 flash; Gitzo 3125 tripod; Manfrotto 468RC2 Ball Head.

Snatch and Grab

The overall winner in this category was some penguins leaping about in the air, a great shot but something I've seen a few times before in galleries etc.  This shot however is fantastic and is a great capture of the speed and drama of a Golden Eagle in action.  Run fox, run!

SPECIALLY COMMENDED BEHAVIOUR BIRDS: Stefan hiked for five kilometres in thick snow in the Sinite Kamani National Park in Bulgaria to reach a hide known to be a golden eagle hotspot. It was one of the coldest winters in recent years, and using a vehicle was out of the question. On the second day, he spent a long while watching a golden eagle eating a carcass. ‘I was able to get some great portrait shots,’ says Stefan, ‘but what happened next took me by surprise.’ A red fox sidled up and tried to snatch the meal, but the eagle was having none of it. ‘After a short, fierce spat, the fox fled with the eagle literally hard on its heels.’ A golden eagle can kill prey even bigger than a fox, but with a carcass to defend, the eagle was almost certainly just trying to scare the fox away rather than grab it.

Nikon D3 + 600mm f4 lens; 1/1000 sec at f5.6; ISO 400; Gitzo tripod; hide.

Practice Run 

The face of the baby gazelle says it all and I'm sure we'll all had days at work where we feel like it does :)

WINNER BEHAVIOUR/MAMMALS: When a female cheetah caught but didn’t kill a Thomson’s gazelle calf and waited for her cubs to join her, Grégoire guessed what was about to happen. He’d spent nearly a decade studying and photographing cheetahs in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, and he knew that the female’s behaviour meant one thing: a hunting lesson was due to begin. The female moved away, leaving the calf lying on the ground near her cubs. At first, the cubs took no notice of it. But when it struggled jerkily to its feet ‘the cubs’ natural predatory instincts were triggered,’ says Grégoire. ‘Each cub’s gaze locked on to the calf as it made a break for freedom.’ The lesson repeated itself several times, with the cubs ignoring the calf when it was on the ground and catching it whenever it tried to escape – ‘an exercise that affords the cubs the chance to practise chases in preparation for the time they’ll have to do so for real.’

Nikon D3 + 300mm f2.8 lens; 1/1250 sec at f2.8 (-0.7 e/v); ISO 400.

Hare in a Landscape

I couldn't finish a post without including a black and white image and so here is the winner of that category.  It is such a simple image but it is really eye catching.  It goes to show that you don't need to travel to far off lands or even get close to your subject to capture a winning image.  I does make me wonder just how few pixels you could devote to an animal to still call it a wildlife shot :)

WINNER NATURE IN BLACK AND WHITE: This steep, ploughed field, in Burgenland, Austria, with a ribbon of dazzling yellow oilseed rape on the horizon and a swathe of green to the side, was just what Robert was looking for. ‘But it lacked a focus point’, he says. As if on cue, a brown hare entered stage right from the grass and sat motionless on the furrowed soil. ‘But once I saw the image in black and white,’ says Robert, ‘not only was the stark geometry highlighted but also the small hare became the centre of the composition rather than being lost among the colour.’

Canon EOS-1D Mark III + 500mm f4 lens; 1/640 sec at f11; ISO 250.

Klein and Moriyama at the Tate Modern

The approach to the Tate Modern on Bankside, London

A few posts back I mentioned my outrage at the Phaidon 55 book on Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama.  Since then every photo magazine I look at has been going on about how amazing his work is and how important the images are for the field of street photography.

I must admit that the constant deluge of images has had a positive effect on me and I can see some artistic beauty in them (in some of them anyway).  In order to broaden my horizons further I thought I better go along to the Tate Modern and view their special exhibition on William Klein and Daido Moriyama.

Just in case you didn't know the exhibition was on!

Due to other commitments I only had an hour at the gallery.  Having been to several exhibitions this year I thought that it would be enough time but I was wrong.  This is one of the largest photography exhibitions I have seen and the space devoted to the two artists is extensive.

A very small portion of two of the Klein rooms

The photo above shows part of the Klein space.  I hadn't realised that he was also a videographer and there were two of his films on show on a constant loop - I didn't have time to watch both but they will be something I include on my next visit.  The picture doesn't really show the scale of the images on display.  The 'small' white panels on the left of the shot have been used to divide the room and they are over two metres high.

Some of Klein's work has been displayed in a contact sheet style as seen in William ABC  these panels were very large in size and totally dominated some of the rooms.

Entry to Moriyama's rooms

As I moved through the Klein galleries I recognised several of the images from his work.  I am not very familiar with much of it but have ordered some of his books to brush up on this important street photographer.  Aware of the time I pressed on into Moriyama's gallery space and was greeted by an image I knew only too well from my previous post: a prostitute smoking a cigarette.

The fish net tights are almost hidden away

Walking through the gallery and studying the pictures I found that several images jumped out at me, all ones that I had seen in photo magazines over the past few months.  It took me a while to find the famous fish net tights shots (as seen on a recent cover of the BJP magazine).  Individually there were several images that I thought were weak, just snap shots that had been converted to black and white with the contrast cranked up to full.  As a series they were far stronger and served to show the Shinjuku region of Tokyo in a dark but interesting light.

The dog!

One whole wall was devoted to the various version of the stray dog image that I so lambasted in my previous post.  The original image is the small shot in the bottom left of the frame and was detailed and only slightly over exposed.  It was interesting to see the process that Moriyama had gone through to create his perfect vision of this image.  I think there is a lot of character in this simple capture and have grown to like this image.  I'm sorry that my photo is clipped but these were massive images and I only had a 50mm lens on my camera.

As you leave the final room you are taken through into the exhibition shop.  There is a really wide selection of books from the two artists complimented by some general works on street photography.  I was lucky that I managed to escape the building spending less than £100 and could so easily have spent a fortune.  I was quite excited by the prospect of getting my hands on some issues of the 'Record' magazine but at £33 each (gulp) I had to put them back on the shelf.  One thing that was missing from the store was an exhibition book that covered the works on display - perhaps there were licensing issues?

After I got back home I went through the street images I had taken whilst at the Tate.  So, in homage to Klein and Moriyama, I present my photo 'Mirrored' taken right outside the front door of the gallery.  Perhaps I need to add more contrast and grain? :)

Mirrored