Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides
*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, safety concerns, street tips, and more for cities around the world. I have personally researched, explored and shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for. So you can be ready to capture the streets as soon as you step outside with your camera!
After my detour to Rome, I made my way back to Eastern Europe in Belgrade, Serbia. The city isn’t known for its beauty, but in many ways it has something more than a pretty picture can give. It’s gritty and real. You can feel its dark past, but see its bright future. It quickly became one of my favorite cities in Eastern Europe.
So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Belgrade…
After the short detour to Rome to film the Street Hunt episode, it was back to Eastern Europe for more Street Photography. This time in Belgrade, Serbia.
“Belgrade” actually translates to “White City,” but I’d find “Gray City” to be more fitting. Belgrade is not the most beautiful city in the world, but it brings its own character that becomes beautiful in its own way. The city has been somewhat of a battleground over the years and this dark past still shows today. At the same time, you can see the positive transition the city is currently enjoying.
It’s also a very walkable city, which is great for exploring this unique Balkan city by foot. So here are my first impressions of Belgrade, from my personal Street Photography perspective…
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia by the Zeleni Venac bus station. This is a major terminal station located in the city center so it always busy. You get some interesting characters in this area so I spent a good amount of time here just people watching.
One part I really liked was the pedestrian tunnel that goes underneath the above road and opens up to the bus station. On a sunny day, the light is perfect for highlighting the people coming out of the tunnel, against the black shadowed background.
On this day, I was standing outside of the tunnel watching to see if I could capture anything interesting with the light, when I saw this man in a tan sports jacket walking from the darkness. Then I noticed a woman not far behind him wear a tan jacket of her own. She was walking in a slightly different direction than him so I tried to frame the shot with them slightly separated, while capturing them the exact moment they were both in the right light.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Kiev, Ukraine by the Gulliver Building. Since it’s also Valentine’s Day today, I thought I’d pick a photo to go with the holiday. And nothing says Valentine’s Day more than a big red heart.
The Gulliver Building is the tallest office building in Kiev and second tallest in Ukraine. It also holds the popular and trendy Gulliver Shopping Mall. So there’s a lot of foot traffic on the corner where I made this shot. The most noticeable part of the corner is the large “Kyiv” sign that attracts people posing for photos with it. What I liked most was how the sunlight was hitting the sign, intensifying the red heart’s color and making it stand out even more against the shadow.
So I watched this area for a little while to see if anything could come together for a photo. I saw a woman in a black dress standing just behind the heart. The way the sunlight and shadows worked together, it created an effect where you could only see her legs and high heels. Then on the other side of the sign, a girl came up to pose for a picture. Her white dress and red purse perfectly matched the sign.
There were other people walking around the sign, so trying to frame and time the shot so it only included the two women and sign was a little difficult, but I was able to capture this shot.
And as a Street Shot Sunday Valentine’s Day bonus, scroll down after the stats to see a few shots taken in Belgrade, Serbia fitting the theme of love…
Love was definitely in the air while taking a walk up above at Kalemegdan Park and the Belgrade Fortress. Here’s 3 shots taken from the walk to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day…
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia on Prince Michael Street. This is the main pedestrian and shopping street in Belgrade. It’s a great area for Street Photography, while also being a good center location to start and finish a day of shooting in Belgrade.
On this day, I was just finishing up a day of hitting the streets here. The sun was slowly setting, but still shining through in a few beams of light from between the store buildings. I found a spot where this was happening, which was also by a large store window that had a few lights displaying a provocative cologne ad. The ad was mostly in shadows, except the woman and man’s face were brightly lit up.
I wanted to see if I could juxtapose this ad lit up by the lights with a real person lit up by the sunlight. Walking my way, I noticed this woman with red hair, almost matching the color of the ad. Her head was turned in a way where I thought I could place the man’s face over her shoulder in a similar position to how the woman in the ad was to him. So while exposing for the highlights for effect, I framed and timed the shot just as she walked by the ad in that exact position. Natural and artificial light working together.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia near Republic Square. For a change, I chose a different type of street shot than usual this week.
I was walking down a narrow street from Republic Square towards Terazije. At one point, I looked behind me and noticed two middle-aged women walking the same direction as me. The first thing I noticed was the flats they were wearing. In the mostly colorless, haggard streets of Belgrade, the baby blue polka dot flats especially stood out. The woman wearing these retro styled flats was also carrying a large bag. There was basically no room on the narrow sidewalk, and the available background was either a car cluttered street or an ugly building. So I decided to try to create an interesting shot of just their shoes as they walked by.
I sat down on the door steps of a building and waited for them to walk by. Just as they did, I quickly took this shot. I tried to use her bag to help add even more focus to her shoes, while also timing it so I captured three feet spaced apart into almost a triangle. Lately, I’ve been interested in capturing people walking from this perspective against the street. It might not be interesting to most, but something about it is to me.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia at Kalemegdan Park by the Belgrade Fortress. This area not only has the best views of the city, but also has a unique atmosphere for Street Photography. Plenty of people come hang out around the large park and fortress, including locals. The light is interesting up here too, along with the backgrounds and scenery.
The sun was out and I was walking along the side of the park overlooking the river and city. People were enjoying the views and relaxing at the long row of benches. I noticed three older woman sitting on the benches, all facing backwards. I’m not sure why they were all turned opposite to the view. Maybe the sun was too bright or maybe they enjoy people watching more than views. Either way, I found them interesting, along with the juxtaposition, background, lighting and shadows.
So I took a couple photos. Two of them gave me a glance on the second shot, which I ended up liking better. There’s something about their natural looks, especially the woman on the far right. I’m not sure what they thought about me taking their photo, but they didn’t seem to care much. So I kept on walking towards the fortress, while enjoying the sunny day on top of Belgrade.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia near the Old Palace. It was a quiet day on the streets and I hadn’t seen anything interesting all morning. But then I saw this older woman bundled up in her fancy coat with its large fur hood over her head. Her glasses were large and fancy too so her whole look captured my eye.
We were the only two people on the empty street and she clearly noticed me as we walked towards each other. As we got closer, I knew I wouldn’t be getting a very candid shot so I decided to ask her if I could take her photo instead.
She reacted extremely surprised and confused at my question.
She then asked me “Why in the world would you want to take a photo of me? There is nothing interesting about me at all.”
I almost had to laugh as I looked at her and explained how wrong she was. At first it didn’t seem like she’d accept my request, but after explaining why she was worth capturing, she reacted flattered and said yes with a smile.
Normally, a smile feels posed, but there was something genuine about her smile. It contained part of her personality. So I captured her as is, smile and all.
While walking away, I thought to myself how so many people don’t realize how interesting and unique they really are. One of my favorite things about Street Photography is noticing and being able to appreciate the uniqueness of humanity, especially the ordinary people who really aren’t ordinary at all.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Belgrade, Serbia on Prince Michael Street. When I first noticed this woman, she caught my eye for obvious reasons. That huge neck brace, the color and style of her coat, her auburn hair and those sunglasses. She had character to spare.
So I got in position for her to walk by and took a shot, but unfortunately the background was way too busy and messy with people. There wasn’t a lot I could do about it where we were at so I hoped she would walk somewhere more workable for a better photo, but instead she walked into a shopping store. I was disappointed, but tried to forget about it and focus on the next shot.
It was at least a couple of hours later when I surprisingly saw her again walking towards the end of Prince Michael Street. Since I didn’t want to capture her within another messy frame, I looked for juxtaposition or something to combine into the frame to make it more interesting. I didn’t see anything as she walked closer, but noticed where the sidewalk curved there was some nice sunlight with a background of shadow. So I had my camera exposed for the highlights and positioned myself to capture her as she walked into the light, while keeping only the black shadow as the background.
Although she never reacted or said anything, she must have noticed me as she let a slight smile come across her face as she walked by. Sunlight and shadow is always fun to play with, but even better with someone with so much character.
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