Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Almost”

61 Photos-42

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken around Bab Doukkala in Marrakech, Morocco. I had just finished making my way out of the medina and started exploring outside the wall. This actually became one of my favorite spots for street photography in Marrakech. The Grand Taxis, for long distance travel, are all located here and there’s plenty of merchant stands around too. It’s more open so you get good light, the long stretch of Grand Taxis bring a lot of activity, and most of the tourists don’t venture this far out of the medina. 

Marrakech is known for being a difficult place to shoot Street Photography. There’s so much to capture here, but most want money first, or they don’t want any photos at all. They are very aware of any nearby cameras too.

While walking down the street, I noticed this man looking up into the sky with a ray of light hitting the side of his face. I knew I’d have to be quick and wouldn’t have time to get any closer before the moment was gone. I also saw there was more going on around him, so I fit it in. 

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite quick enough, as the extremely attentive man on the right put his hand up just as I clicked the shutter. So it’s another “almost” shot, but it probably would have been better closer up, anyway (as cropped below). That’s way too much cropping, in my opinion, but it would have been nice to be able to get up as close as this during the actual shot. That’s Street Photography, though. Moments happen in the blink of an eye and you have to be in the right place at the right time.

Look up marrakech-1-2

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/5.6
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 1600

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Setting Up”

61 Photos-45

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken at Jaama el Fna in Marrakech, Morocco. Jaama el Fna is the main square in Marrakech and it’s really like no other square in the world. It is truly gigantic and can be overwhelmingly chaotic with so much going on. It fills with juice and food stands, street performers and hustlers, tourists and locals, monkeys and snakes, and everything else you can imagine. 

Just before sunset, the square’s outside restaurants start setting up for dinner. They put up the poles and temporary rooftops, set up the tables and get everything ready for the night, which is when the square gets especially packed. 

I was walking around the corner of one line of restaurants when I ran into the scene in the photo. The light, shadow and layers of all that was going on immediately caught my eye, but when the boy’s hand pointed up, I quickly reacted by taking the photo, without time to think. Fortunately, instincts composed well enough on their own.

For anyone visiting Marrakech, I’d really recommend visiting the square around an hour or two before sunset. Not only is the light the best, but you get plenty of activity and life without it being too crowded yet. The square’s so big, you can easily spend hours exploring and photographing the area.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

61 Photos-45

Street Shot Sundays
Photos of the Week:
“More Budapest Trolley Shots”

Budapest Hungary-52

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

For this Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week, I’m sharing a few photos instead of just one. They were all taken in Budapest, Hungary at the trolley stop by Fővám tér. Last week, I shared another photo taken here too. As I said in that post, this spot became one of my favorites in Budapest. So I ended up spending a lot of time walking around the area with my camera.

Budapest Hungary-40

On one side of the trolley stop you can get some great light when the sun is out. It shines right into the old yellow and red trolley windows so if you expose for it, you can get some nice light and shadow effects with the people inside. 

Budapest Hungary-28

All three photos above were shot in the same way. The trolleys come every minute or two so I’d just walk along looking for anything interesting when each one would come. Then, with the settings exposed for the highlights, I’d quickly capture any interesting people or scenes I saw inside the trolley windows where the light was how I wanted.

The trolleys, colors, architecture through the windows, and the people inside them, all go along with a feeling I get in Budapest that I really like. An authentic, older city full of life.

Stats:

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

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Trolley Banana”

Trolley Banana-1

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary by Fővám tér. There’s so much going on around this area that it became my favorite spot for Street Photography in Budapest. The variety of scenery and life is great.

One of my favorite parts of the area is the busy trolley stop in between the square and the Great Market Hall. There’s a good mix of people, the light is great, and I like the old yellow and red trolleys. The trolleys come on both sides every minute or two so sometimes I’ll walk around this spot seeing if any interesting shots come along on either side. 

On one trolley side, you have the light shining and on the other, you don’t. So shooting manually, you do have to make sure you have your exposure settings constantly adjusted. For this shot, luckily I had my settings already adjusted for the dark side because it happened in an instant reaction.

I was walking along looking at something ahead of me when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a woman feeding a young boy a banana through the trolley window. It was such a weird moment/scene that I immediately reacted by turning, lifting up my camera and taking the shot before even thinking. 

The fast reaction turned out to be necessary because as soon as I took the shot, the moment was over and the trolley was leaving. The reflection added something to the photo too, but for this shot it was all instincts and reaction before anything else. 

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/4.0
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Dog Owners in Budapest”

Budapest Hungary-9

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary at St. Stephen’s Square by the famous basilica. If you travel to enough cities, you start to notice there are cat cities and there are dog cities. Living in Istanbul, it’s overwhelmingly clear it’s a cat city. They’re everywhere. Budapest, on the other hand, is definitely a dog city.

Budapest is not a stray dog city, though. You’ll see people walking their dogs at all times around the city. Most are the smaller breeds too, with pugs and french bulldogs seeming to be the most popular.

For this shot, I wasn’t out looking for photos, but was walking to a café to do some work on my laptop. I always have a camera with me, though, and saw these two older women on a park bench with their dogs. They had an interesting look, to me, that went along with brown bench and green shrub background. They almost looked from a time in the 1970’s. They were both holding their small dogs in their laps too.

So I pulled out my camera and walked up to take their photo. The little chihuahua on the right was not pleased about it and went a little crazy, but despite the ladies’ expressions, they didn’t mind and let me take another. Unfortunately, there’s a little back focus in this shot, but I still prefered its candid and unposed look to the second shot. Here’s that second shot below, though, with that chihuahua still going crazy.

budapest dogs-1

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/4
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 1600

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Floating Hat”

61 Photos-37

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Budapest, Hungary at the Budapest-Nyugati Railway Terminal. This is one of the main train stations in Budapest and lies at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Váci Avenue. So it’s in the heart of the city where there’s always a lot going on in the surrounding area. 

I was staying only a couple blocks from here so I’d walk by it daily and usually stop to photograph around the streets outside of the station, where there’s good light and plenty of people. It’s not the largest station in Budapest, but sometimes I’d also take a quick walk inside to see if anything was going on.

From the distance, I noticed an older woman dressed in a long black wool coat with a pink wool hat. She was walking down the platform and with the sunlight and shadows, you could really only see her hat, almost like it was floating. So I hurried down the platform to get a closer shot. I tried to capture her with the floating hat effect, but also so you could see her long shadow in front. Then she walked into the shadow and onto the train, while I went back outside to capture more of Budapest.

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

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

fitness street photos-8

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

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

sunlight shadow-2-2

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

 

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

covers-1-3

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

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week: “Polka Dot Flats”

Belgrade Serbia-5

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

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. 

Stats:

  • Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
  • Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm 
  • Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
  • Aperture: f/4
  • Shutter Speed: 1/500
  • ISO: 800

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-f.d. walker

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