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, street walks, street tips, safety concerns, 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 Barranquilla, came city #45 San Juan, Puerto Rico on the 100 City project. Due to some money-saving flight scheduling on my way to London for a workshop, San Juan became an unexpected addition. My time here came before Hurricane Maria, but weather conditions still kept me inside much of the time. So, while I didn’t get as much photography in as normal during the project, I still made sure to get as much shooting in as possible.
So here’s 22 photos that I was able to capture during my time in San Juan…
*My time in San Juan came before Hurricane Maria. All impressions are based on the city before the hurricane’s devastation to the city, which still hasn’t recovered. I’m a bit cautious of providing links to help because of the questionable corruption and some suspicious refusals of help coming from there, but here’s one link that includes 12 Effective Ways to Donate Money for you to choose from, if you would like to help.
City #49 San Juan had never been on my list to visit on the 100 City Project, but due to a money-saving flight opportunity on the way to London to teach a workshop, I chose to explore, photograph and learn more about this popular Caribbean destination. San Juan is an urban city, so it’s not like most other island destinations, but it has its fair share of beaches and tourist attractions too. Being the second oldest European-founded settlement in the Americas, there’s a lot of history here. You can see the colonial influence within the walls, but outside there’s a much different city that many visitors never venture. There’s a raw energy felt in San Juan, but its heavy tourist and USA influence takes away some of its authenticity and interest, in my opinion. Still, there’s a mix of latin, colonial, american, caribbean and urban city character all in one. Not every city contains a blend like that. Flights are cheap here too.
So here are my first impressions of San Juan, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…
Time for the New Year’s tradition here and share some photos from the old year to bring in the new.
While 2016 had been my busiest year yet on the road working on my 100 cities project, 2017 was even busier. I was on the road non-stop, clocking in at over 5,000 miles walked while covering 33 cities, including 26 major cities for the project. I started in city #41 Quito, Ecuador and finished in #66 Mexico City, Mexico, leaving 34 major cities left to do. I’m attempting to make 2018 even busier so I can get most of it finished before I start working on the book in 2019.
While focusing on the project, I was still able to make it to a few street photography festivals this year, including the London SP Festival as a judge and the Miami SP Festival as a guest artist speaker, which were great experiences. In addition, I led some successful workshops in London, Budapest and Havana, and plan on doing more in 2018. All in all, it was an extremely busy year with its share of downs and setbacks, but it’s only made me more determined to make this all work. The blog had a busy year growing too, as it’s now ranked #2 in the world in the street photography genre on feedspot. I have more plans for the blog this year, which I’ll share soon, but for now, thank you to everyone that’s been following along!
One thing I did decide this year was not to share all of my favorite photos yet, as I want the future book to be at least a third never seen work. Still, with such a busy year of street photography, walking an average of 15 miles/22km per day year-round, I have more than enough to share now too. So, here’s 50 photos from the year that take you through all 33 cities I photographed in 2017. It’s not a top 50 of my favorites, but some selections to share for now in bringing on 2018. So, I hope you enjoy.
Happy New Year to all and Cheers to 2018!
– Forrest
(in order of capture date) [Read more…]
