Thread: On Street Photography by Russ Lewis

On Street Photography

that was a good read. And a good reminder to myself that even though I don;t shoot street photography, I need to share fewer photos online.

Originally Posted by Luke

that was a good read. And a good reminder to myself that even though I don;t shoot street photography, I need to share fewer photos online.

That was the only bit in the article I didn't agree with. I don't mind sharing howlers, because currently I don't know the difference between a howler and a good picture.

Originally Posted by Luke

that was a good read. And a good reminder to myself that even though I don;t shoot street photography, I need to share fewer photos online.

hmm well it depends what one's motives are for sharing ... if I only posted the ones I thought were really top notch, I wouldn't need a Flickr account at all ...

Thanks - a good read. I agree with a lot of his approach and, like him, accept that very different approaches can work well too, even approaches, like Bruce Gildens that I personally find intrusive and distasteful. Eric Kim is another guy who's work I admire but I've seen videos of him working and they make me cringe.

I think the best part of that piece was in one of the follow up comments, which read:

In response to the statement that "Behind the Gare St. Lazare" was luck, he (Cartier-Bresson) said: " It's always luck." If you've done much street shooting you know how true that is. Of course, you have to be prepared for the luck when it happens, but that doesn't make it any less luck.

You have to be there and you have to be hyper-aware and receptive and very intuitive with your camera and I guess that's the "skill" part. But almost every decent street photo I've ever gotten has felt like luck when I finally saw what I had.

In reading through his advice, I felt like my weakest point is in being a ruthless editor. I show way too much of my work, largely because a lot of times other people help me realize that a particular shot is better than I initially realized, and that a particular shot that I liked, well... I might be the only one who connected with it. So I realize that's probably my weakest point, and then I looked through his web gallery and I had to laugh, becaus I think it's his also! Some really really fine work (he has a shot from 1968 that immediately became one of my favorite street photos ever) but lots and lots that I didn't think much of at all... It's tough to be brutal with yourself!

-Ray

Originally Posted by Ray

...In reading through his advice, I felt like my weakest point is in being a ruthless editor...
-Ray

That's it in a nutshell for almost all of us. I sometimes (rarely :) ) have flashes of inspiration while shooting, but it has never happened while editing!