Street Photography is an art form all in itself. It is a timed dance we do with our subject AND the setting… a perfect moment, a caught emotion, all with the subject placed in harmony within the total scene. The Three Superpowers of Effective Street Photographers are real exercises that we will practice together.
There is a zone we step into when we are in this mindset. Our cameras become a part of our very being as we see the world as a composition of shapes and lines that fully fill our frame. People are not only our subjects, they are PART of an interconnecting design, a balance of everything we have CHOSEN to allow within our image.
Street Photography has a timeless magic that NEVER goes out of style! In addition to picturesque villages and landscapes, we also have incredible opportunity to hone our street photography skills… fun techniques we will be practicing together in Robin’s fun upcoming workshops, in Coastal Georgia, the Languedoc Region of Southern FRANCE, & THE CORTONA CENTER OF PHOTOGRAPHY Summer and Fall classes in Cortona, ITALY!
What are The Three SUPERPOWERS of Effective Street Photographers?
#1 – If you watch them closely… you will see that the very best street photographers have developed a cloak of invisibility. They have a knack for blending into the scene as they watchfully survey, checking the light and their camera settings, making sure they are set up and ready for anything. As they fiddle with their camera settings the bustling townspeople begin to ingore them, and forget they are even there. When the perfect moment does come, and an incredible subject appears, they are already prepared with the technical decisions… their exposures are preset and focus area preordained, so they are totally free to concentrate on pure composition. This is when the magic happens, and they are dialed into the heartbeat of the perfect moment, catching that shot, and it will not be overexposed or blurry.
#2 – Effective Street Photographers also seem to have the power to predict the future. They know where to be standing and already have their cameras focus and exposure preset, so all they have to do is wait for their subject to appear as they expected, magically aligned in the light, set against a darkened archway, not overexposed and not blurred, a moving foot frozen in perfect separation, just off the ground. Was it just luck? Not at all. They were ready; they thought and planned ahead.
#3 – When watching the great masters of street photography at work, you will be amazed at their patience. They do not rush. They are in their own dimension where they can slow down time. As if in slow motion, they fade into the crowd and become one with their scene, waiting as long as it takes for an interesting person to walk by, or for a perfect alignment of figures and architecture, light shapes against dark, or dark set against light… all crystallizing into that split second that makes ONE great shot! Working within this mindset, THEY DO NOT TAKE VERY MANY PICTURES! They are not gunning on continuous mode, they are watching and waiting with that special understanding, that is also a deep appreciation of the rhythms of the true pulse of life itself.
Coastal Georgia is the next scene where we will be practicing these fun techniques, as well as the Languedoc region of Southern France in May, and of course the winding streets and piazzas of Tuscany during the Cortona Italy Workshop in June.
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Below is info from our last Macon Georgia Spring Cherry Blossom workshop, and we will be returning in MARCH of 2019. CONTACT ROBIN FOR DETAILS
When we feel the entire scene coming into alignment,
that is when we snap, being careful not to cut off the feet!
“Street Photography” can mean just going out and walking around with your camera to see what you find. In a deeper sense, it means having a profound respect for what you do control, balanced with what you do NOT control.
On the flipside, our photos that are set up and posed should be balanced by something unexpected, that we do not totally control to add interest to the shot. For our last round of the day in Macon, Georgia 2018 we will work quickly with character actors in costume to design images that transcend the expected.
It’s all in the HANDS! Our Actor Friends know how to put on a show
and GESTURE is a big part of bringing their characters to life.
Our last shoot of the day is partially posed, partially with action.
Some fun and unscripted moments from our past Macon workshop…
If you are interested in honing your eye and photographic timing, and enjoying some fun camaraderie, then our small group workshop in MACON, GEORGIA is perfect for you.
The group energy and short morning discussion will rev you up and inspire you and each photographer will have room to spread out and shoot in there own timeframe in the afternoon. Each participant will be given a printed Field Card with the 5 directives that they will be practicing during the day.
Our mindset is to be prepared with our camera settings in case something happens quickly. This is the element of control that we bring with us. The second trick is to stay loose and expand your awareness, open your field of vision and see what might be coming our way. For example, If a man in a white hat is headed toward the darkened arched door of an old warehouse… Have your focus and exposure preset so you are READY to catch him when he gets there!
We will also have fun opportunities to direct our subjects, ask them to move into better light for us, or against a beautiful antique doorway from Macon’s fantastic historic architecture, which will be our incredible backdrop. Don’t be disappointed if you miss some shots, or have some almost great ones; it is like waiting to catch the big fish, and the patience and dedication that goes into the making is what makes those greatest of shots so special! It’s that momentary ray of light or a fleeting expression that we had no control over at all, that makes us appreciate this style of photography so much!
ONE MORE THOUGHT…
Quality over Quantity: It is not always easy to capture these serendipitous moments, but that is what makes the hunt so alluring! Just ONE spectacular image from a shoot is golden, and we should edit for the best of the best, post only this one, and not many shots from the day that are not as strong. If you do decide to show more than one, then each should be as great as the next. Many similar images, or switching from color to black-and-white versions is fatiguing to your viewer, who does not want to be your editor. As photographers, we make the decision on what is our best image to entertain our viewing audience.
I am deeply thankful for my teachers who taught me to see the world in my own way, a strong lineage I am honored to pass down to my students and I will be writing more about them this month.
©2018 Robin Davis, text and images, all rights reserved.
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