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, 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!
*A new interview series with a play on “20 questions,” where I try to mix it up with different questions. Some serious, some not so much. I’ll also be focusing the series on some of the best street photographers from the cities I visit around the world during my 100 Cities project.
My recent month in India started in Chennai, home to the most interesting and chaotic urban beaches I’ve ever been too. And also home to the talented photographer, Gurunathan Ramakrishnan, who thankfully agreed to take on this edition of “20 Questions.”
Gurunathan’s photographs really bring you into the life of the scenes he captures. Not only can you feel what’s happening, but he’s able to put his own touch on what you feel and see. Often times there’s a little mystery and surrealism, or even humor, added to the complex scenes he’s able to find within ordinary life. His eye for observation, color, and contrasting scenes help make the ordinary look extraordinary. And Chennai provides a perfect environment for this talent.
So now time for 20 Questions in Chennai, India with Gurunathan Ramakrishnan…
[Read more…] about 20 Questions in Chennai, India with Gurunathan Ramakrishnan
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Main Street near the Red Mosque. Main street is one of the busier streets in the city, just east of Fort on the north end of Pettah. There are shops, banks and plenty of traffic here (vehicle, foot and cow). It also leads to Sea Street and the popular gold markets.
As I was walking along a covered sidewalk here, I noticed this interesting looking security guard sitting in his chair alongside an old blue wall. There was also a small cat just around the corner from him and a man stopping along the wall to comb his hair. I saw this scene unfolding ahead as I was walking up so I stopped just in front and quickly framed them all in the photo before it was gone.
While the security guard’s expression comes off a little unfriendly in this photo, the opposite was true. Colombo has the most camera friendly security guards and policemen I’ve ever met in my life, and he was no different. This photo was followed by a large smile, wave and a “thank you.”
Marco Polo called Sri Lanka the finest island in the world and before the Sri Lankan Civil War, it was a top tourist destination in the world too. Since the civil war ended in 2009, it’s regaining all those visitors too. While most come for the beaches, rain forests, ancient sites and more, Colombo is the biggest city and main way on and off the island.
On some recommendations, I made sure to stay longer than most so I could really get a feel for this city, and I’m glad I did. It was one of the better street photography experiences I’ve had. I loved the mix of urban city, island life, chaos and friendly people. You can check out my 7 first impressions of Colombo from a street photography perspective and stay tuned for an in-depth street photography guide to the city, but in the meantime, here’s some street photography I was able to capture during my time in Colombo…
[Read more…] about Street Photography from 5 Days in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Colombo is the commercial capital and largest city in Sri Lanka, but most people don’t come to the island for city life, they come for the beautiful beaches, nature, and “Cultural Triangle.”
Before coming to Sri Lanka, I talked to some photographers who found Colombo had plenty to offer itself, though. Maybe it’s more worth it for street photographers, but I ended up staying almost a week in Colombo because of how much I liked it. If you enjoy cities in India, then Colombo shouldn’t be disappointing, but it also has its own character that makes it different too.
So here are my first impressions of Colombo, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…
[Read more…] about 7 First Impressions of Colombo, Sri Lanka (From a Street Photography Perspective)
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey. Last Christmas, I gifted myself a fujifilm flash and cord for some off-camera flash street photography. I have photographer friends that are into flash religiously and I’d been wanting to try it out more. Natural light will always be my main focus, but flash is fun, adds an interesting dynamic and is great when the light out isn’t so great.
When I returned to Istanbul early this year, the city was covered in snow. After spending most of the year under Istanbul’s hot sun, the cold temperature and darkness were a complete change for photography. So it was the perfect chance to start using my new flash.
One evening as I was shooting around Taksim Square, the snow/slush/rain started coming down. While my camera isn’t weather proof, I tried to carefully get some flash shots in. I saw this man walking with a clear umbrella and an interesting look with his hand around his neck, so I walked over to get the shot. I also wanted him illuminated underneath the umbrella for both effect and so there wouldn’t be a flash reflection on the plastic umbrella. So I quickly lowered the flash underneath and took the shoot just as he was in front of me.
While flash isn’t very noticeable during the day, it is once the sun goes down. So this shot actually sparked an interesting conversation. After finding out he was from France, moved to Istanbul, and some other quick life facts, the slush turned to heavy rain and it was time for me to call it a night so I’d have my camera working another day.
* “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.
William Klein (1928-Present)
American photographer known for creating his own influential style that ignored all the rules.
*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, 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!
A little while back I decided to include a few posts/stories about some of the negative experiences that have come about from shooting street photography during my 100 cities project. I want this blog to be open, honest, and hopefully interesting, so that should include the times that don’t go perfectly too. In the first post, I wrote about a physical confrontation over street photography that I had in Istanbul. While they’re very rare, confrontations can occur in street photography, but for this post I wanted to cover something that happened to me that I never would have expected.
During my visit to Chefchaouen, Morocco, I was actually arrested for street photography. But it wasn’t as simple as that. The story behind why and how is the most surprising part, and now that I’m free, it’s also the most entertaining part, for me…
[Read more…] about Street Stories: Arrested for Street Photography in Morocco
This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken in the medina near Bab Rcif in Fes, Morocco. In a country full of elaborate medinas, nothing compares to the one in Fes. It’s more like a whole city and you could easily spend days walking around and getting lost in the maze. The medina here is as much for the locals living within its walls as the tourists visiting.
I had just started the day and entered the medina through the Bab Recif gate. Much of the medina is so narrow and packed that the sunlight is blocked out, but along this busy alley, there were some sun rays shining in beautifully. I noticed a large mirror that reflected against an area where one of those beams of light hit. So I waited to see if I could catch someone against it at the right time.
I saw this woman dressed in blue with a yellow bag coming so I got in the right position for the frame to include both her and her reflection, with the alley in between. Luckily, the sunlight hit the lens just right so it added those two sunbeams in the shot too.
