Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides
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…
*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, sample walks, 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!
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.
In the middle of my Eastern European Street Photography Tour, after Kraków and Prague, I had to make a detour to Rome, Italy to join the StreetHunters.net team for the filming of their new Street Hunt: Rome episode, which covers a Street Photography walk of Rome. This gave me the opportunity to be a part of scouting the city for production, be included as a Street Photographer in its filming, and spend some extra time there devoted to more Street Photography. We even had a local photographer to help guide us, which made experiencing this historic city that much better.
Rome is at the top of my list of cities because of all it has to offer and how much of it you can’t find anywhere else. Walking around Rome is truly an experience like no other. So here are my first impressions of Rome, from my personal Street Photography perspective…
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.
I spent over a week in Kraków and Prague, but didn’t get in as much Street Photography as I would have liked, unfortunately. Bad weather and friends visiting kept me off the streets as much as I had planned. So although I didn’t get as much solid Street Photography done as usual, I still wanted to put together a post of some of the photos I made in both cities.
Kraków and Prague are very different from each other, while still sharing similarities. They share an old world, magical vibe and make for some interesting exploration and scenery on foot. Carrying my camera around, with hands fully gloved due to the cold, made experiencing these cities even more enjoyable.
So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Kraków and Prague…
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.
After Kiev, Lviv and Krakow, the next stop on my Eastern European Street Photography Tour was Prague.
I’ve actually traveled to Prague once before, but it was over 7 years ago. So you might call this 7 First Impressions of Prague in 2016. With how much Prague has recently changed, it felt like going there for the first time in many ways, anyway.
This fairytale of city has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe very quickly over the last decade. There’s plenty of reason why too. There’s really no other city like it. When it comes to Street Photography, though, too much tourism saturation can be a negative at times.
Being a special city like Prague brings both an amazing setting and crowds of people to share it with. So here are my first impressions of Prague, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…
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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