Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

Street Photography

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Tan Jackets”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

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. 

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Athens, Greece

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*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!

Athens

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How to Zone Focus :
Street Photography 101

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A Comprehensive Guide to Zone Focusing

Capturing life both candidly and in focus is one of the most difficult, yet most important skills to master in Street Photography. Life moves fast, life is unpredictable and life can happen at any moment around you. Other genres and subjects in photography allow you the freedom and time to set up each shot perfectly. Candid life doesn’t. Since it doesn’t get ready for you, you have to be ready for it.

So how can you make it easier on yourself to capture life in focus the moment it happens? By removing the need to focus your camera on the scene before making the photo. And how can you do that? By learning how to zone focus.

In my opinion, learning how to Zone Focus can be one of the most valuable skills you learn in Street Photography. It’s why I use this technique 90% of the time when I’m shooting Street Photography. 

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Istanbul, Turkey 2015

I’ve mentioned Zone Focusing in past articles and it usually brings questions from readers. It can sound more confusing than it actually is if you only give a quick overview. So I wanted to make a comprehensive guide covering all things pertaining to Zone Focusing. The how, why and what of Zone Focusing. Hopefully this guide can answer everyone’s questions and more, but if not, you can always ask me below in the comment section.

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Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Happy Valentine’s Day”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats (+ more…)

Story:

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…

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 400

Love Atop Belgrade

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…

Belgrade Serbia-33 Belgrade Serbia-26Belgrade Serbia-31

 

33 Street Photography Photos from 4 Days in Rome, Italy

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I made a stop in Rome for the filming of Street Hunter’s new Street Hunt: Rome episode. While there, I enjoyed so much of what Rome has to offer, from amazing food to overwhelming history. It was a very packed 4 days, but thanks to everything that went into the Street Hunt: Rome episode, I was able to get in a good amount of Street Photography too.

So here are some Street Photos I took in Rome that will hopefully give you a look at what it’s like to shoot there…

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Behind A Photo Project: Taksim Skies

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A Look Behind A Smaller Photo Project

I recently finished a smaller photo project in Istanbul and thought I’d share a more detailed look behind making a photo project like this. The project, titled “Taksim Skies,” wasn’t a large, complex or highly involved project. It wasn’t covering some serious topic or made for deep meaning. It was more of a smaller scale, artistic photo project, while being somewhat experimental and lighthearted. Hopefully describing each aspect of the project can help you see what goes into making a small photo project like this, while also telling you more about the project itself.

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Removing Chaos in Taksim Square

While living in Istanbul, Turkey, I stayed just a five minute walk from Taksim Square. If you’ve ever been to Istanbul, you know Taksim Square is at the center of the city, and always full of life. The largest metro station is here, the busiest pedestrian street starts here, Gezi Park is here, and the famous Republic Monument is here. This is also the place for big events, protests and political rallies. So you get a constant chaos of locals, tourists, commuters, street sellers, and political activists. Even on a slow day.

A day didn’t go by where I didn’t have to walk through Taksim Square. I always had my camera with me and spent plenty of time photographing this active spot too. But with people constantly moving in all directions, you get messy, crowded backgrounds where ever you look. So you’re forced to attempt to organize the chaos when shooting Street Photography here. I’m not a fan of messy streets of people walking in every direction because most photos end up looking the same. A person walking in front of other people walking. 

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So since I had to walk through this square every day, I decided to start a small photo project attempting to capture these people in solitude. I came up with the idea to use the sky as their backdrop and to take a few photos a day, over the summer, and see if anything could come out of it.

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Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Store Window Desire”

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Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

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.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 400