Street Photography

Street photography is a genre of photography that is exactly what you think it is, photographs taken in the street. These photos are usually in an urban setting and depict objects or people going about their daily lives but with an artistic edge. Good street photographers can pick out unique or interesting occurrences that they see and photograph them in time, as everything (especially in busy streets) moves quickly. 

An influential street photographer that I like is Eric Kim. He is a popular photographer with a large online presence, he has a blog with advice for other street photographers and his own portfolio, a youtube channel and other online profiles. He has helped many other aspiring photographers through his many tutorials and work shops. This is an example of one of his pictures:

I like this picture because Kim has captured an interesting looking woman by chance and without set up. I also like the light coming trough her hat, creating a lens flare. The triangle created between the three faces and the triangle between he woman's hands and face lead your eye around the picture and is aesthetically pleasing.

Problems with street photography are that everything is moving quickly so you have to be quick with deciding whether or not to take the picture, from what angle, the list goes on. Therefore you can't stop to choose the perfect aperture and shutter speed. Another problem can be privacy, you are allowed to take pictures pictures of people on the street but they might not always react well to being in your photos. You don't know how everyone will respond when you take a picture of them. When asked if he gets any bad reactions from people taking pictures of them he said:

'Believe it or not, the majority of the reactions I get from photographing strangers are quite positive. My rule of thumb is whenever I photograph somebody, I make eye contact with them after, smile, and say "thank you".'

I like street photography because it can capture a quick moment in time that can tell a story. You see many interesting characters in the photographs and can encourage you to see things in a different light.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/21532400

http://www.streethunters.net/blog/2014/03/26/10-most-influential-active-street-photographers/

http://www.adammarelliphoto.com/2012/06/introduction-to-street-photography/

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/