Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides
* “Master Profiles” is a series profiling all the great photographers of uncontrolled life. Unlike the rest of the blog, I’m doing these in a straight profile format to make it easy for quick access to facts, quotes and knowledge on all the masters. I’ll also group them together here every time I add a new one.
Vivian Maier (1926-2009)
Street Photographer known not only for her photos, but also her unique story of being completely unknown until after she passed away.
I’ve compiled a list of 15 of my personal favorite photography collectives. These collectives aren’t limited to one genre or style, but should appeal to anyone who loves Street and Documentary Photography.
These collectives are filled with some of the most talented photographers from around the world. Hopefully, after going through these amazing collectives you can find some new photographers and work to follow too.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken on a train ride just outside Poltava, Ukraine. I was visiting my good friend in Poltava and she was taking me to see some of the smaller villages in the area. It was the type of older, simpler train made for short commutes instead of long distance travel and I decided to walk around to see if I could find anything interesting. In between the cabins, people come to smoke and I noticed this older man watching the rural landscape roll by as he smoked his cigarette. What interested me the most were the multiple reflections going on in the scene. I made the shot through the door window of the cabin so you could see the reflections of different windows, scenery and people, while leaving the front of the man the least affected. The woman to the right looked back at me just as I snapped the photo.
My trip in Eastern Europe started in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev. Ukraine became my best travel surprise in a while and Kiev was a big reason why. I lucked out with the weather and saw nothing, but sunshine my whole week in Kiev. It was warm, beautiful and the perfect weather for Street Photography.
While the light was amazing, there was plenty more that I loved about Kiev for photography. It was one of the most photography friendly places I’ve been to, there was so much life to capture, it had its own unique atmosphere and while very walkable, the metro was great too. On top of that, Kiev is a beautiful city that costs a fraction of any other large European city right now.
Outside of photography, there’s plenty to do and see, amazing food, culture, architecture, and a great vibe. I could imagine spending a lot more time in Kiev and loving every minute of it. I can’t recommend the place enough.
For more on my impressions of Kiev, check out the post I wrote about the city from my Street Photography perspective here.
And for 33 Street Photography photos I captured during my week in Kiev, just start scrolling…
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Kiev, Ukraine at Kontraktova Square. It was starting to get dark, but there was still a lot of activity going on since the square is by a metro, tram and bus stop. I was walking by the long line of mini-market kiosks and fast food joints when I noticed this bright yellow currency exchange store in the middle. I also noticed a small boy standing in the doorway holding a paper bag and wearing what looked to be a school uniform. His blonde hair and the way he was dressed added to the colorful scene. His expression also showed he wasn’t too happy waiting there, which makes sense considering Ukraine’s current currency problems :) So I made the shot just as he looked at me, while keeping his solemn expression.
My Eastern European Street Photography Road Trip started in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev. I spent a few weeks total in Ukraine and to say I liked the country would be a major understatement. I loved Ukraine and it was one of the best travel surprises I’ve had in a while.
I’ll have a few posts covering the places I visited in Ukraine, with a focus on Street Photography and the many reasons I liked Ukraine so much.
I’ll start with Kiev, though, and a few first impressions of the city, from my personal Street Photography perspective.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Kiev, Ukraine by Independence Square. On Sundays, they close down the street by the square so people can walk freely everywhere. This attracts plenty of people and activity. I didn’t understand what the event was, but for some reason a few people were holding these gigantic nets of yellow balloons, waiting to release them into the air. This woman stood out in her pink shirt and bucket hat. She was very stoic and didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything, just tightly holding the balloons. I also liked how the sunlight really made the yellow of all those balloons stand out and how it left a shadow around her eyes. I made the shot, trying to show just how many balloons she was holding, while also keeping her expression and character unchanged. She never paid me any attention, just kept holding those thousands of balloons.
Eolo Perfido has lived around the world, but for much of his life, including now, the city of Rome has been his home. He has worked with some of the greats in photography, including Elliot Erwitt and Steve McCurry, and while his career focuses on advertising and portrait photography, Street Photography has become a big passion of his as well.
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Istanbul, Turkey in the Balat neighborhood. I was looking at this colorful wall when a girl ran over to the door to go inside. I brought my camera up to take a photo, but she ran inside before I could make a good shot. I could hear laughter coming from inside and then suddenly a different girl opened the door to look at me. It only lasted a second as she quickly re-closed the door, but I was able to capture this shot in that split second. After that, the curious girls looked at me through the window a few times while laughing and closing the curtain each time I saw them.
A month ago I had the honor of being included in the new episode of Street Hunt from StreetHunters.net. In the Street Hunt videos, Spyros Papaspyropoulos, co-founder of Street Hunters, leads a filmed Street Photography walk in cities around the world. For his newest episode, he came to my current home, Istanbul.
