Shooter Files by f.d. walker

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33 Street Photography Photos From One Week in Budapest, Hungary

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My Eastern European Street Photography Tour ended in Budapest, Hungary, which was a great city to finish it off. I enjoyed all the cities I worked and photographed during this trip, but if I had to choose, Kiev and Budapest would be my favorites. Budapest has become a top spot for travel in Europe, and it’s easy to see why. The city has so much to offer that it would also be one of my top cities to live in Europe. Check out my 7 first impressions of Budapest to find out some of the reasons why.

And as far as Street Photography goes, the city grows on you the longer you spend exploring all it has to offer. So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Budapest…

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

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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

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

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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.

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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. 

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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

33 Street Photography Photos From 4 Days in Bratislava, Slovakia

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While working in Budapest, I decided to take a quick 2 hour train ride up to Bratislava, Slovakia to spend a few days in a city I didn’t know too much about. It’s not at the top of most people’s lists to visit when it comes to European capitals, but I’m more than glad I spent some time exploring this unique little city with my camera. It has a relaxing vibe with history, character and a ruggedness that comes without the fast paced chaos of bigger capital cities.

So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Bratislava…

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How to Shoot a Photo Project with the Same Look : Train Window Portraits

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Creating a Photo Project with the Same Look

Thinking of photography in the context of a series or project can be a great way to improve. It gives you a theme and vision to focus on, and then teaches you how to bring that vision to reality.

Afterwards, when you’re out shooting photography without any project in mind, it still helps you learn to be more effective in capturing your personal vision with each shot.

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A serious project should take years, not days, but you don’t have to let that intimidate you. Working on smaller, easier projects can be valuable too.

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

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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

15 Top Flickr Pages for Street Photographers

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Belgrade, Serbia 2015

I’ve written some popular posts on 15 of my favorite Photo Collectives for Street Photographers and 15 of my favorite blogs for Street Photographers so I thought I’d share 15 of my favorite Flickr pages for Street Photographers too.

There is an endless amount of amazing flickr pages so this is by no means a definitive list of the 15 best, but it is 15 of my favorite. I’m always looking for new photographers and flickr pages, but I follow all of these and would recommend checking them out if you’re into Street Photography too.

15 Top Flickr Pages for Street Photographers

(in no particular order)

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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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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

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

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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