VSP Workshops Blog

The Art of Street Photography….finding your spot…

Street photography is a pretty broad term to be honest. Nonetheless when photographers mention it, I think for the most part we all share a fairly united vision of what it refers to. Interestingly, over the years of running various ‘street photography’ themed workshops with various teachers, there have been some very consistent messages by way of advice and teachings.

One thing that seems to be an approach shared by many pros in this field is the importance of picking your spot. Sometimes we tend to imagine the street photographer akin to the butterfly collector running around with a big net. There’s definitely something to be said for trying to control the elements around you that you can influence – such as when you shoot (the light) and where you shoot. If you meander through the streets constantly, hoping to pounce upon a moment – well it may eventually happen – but who knows what kind of background you’ll get, what the light will be like.

The video below is a selection of sounds and images – moving and still – taken from our Easter Sicily workshop. Being at Easter, the workshop deals mainly with the island’s Easter celebrations, during which what seems like the entire island comes out to take part and witness the very dramatic processions passing through the streets. Whether or not there are a million and one things unfolding before you in the street or not, taking charge of the elements you can to some degree control will put you in a very good position. Some photographers make a point of always starting out with the light – for example looking for strong light, soft light, the edges or light – places where the light is doing interesting things. Other photographers may be particularly drawn to silhouettes, shadows or strong colours. In reality a photographer needs to be in tune with all of these visual elements – but with street photography, where you have to struggle against the distractions all around you, you can really benefit from giving yourself some kind of a thought-process – or creative workflow.

If you think about it – even when we suddenly see something that we want to capture with our camera – we do a certain amount of work there and then on the spot. We get the right exposure, depth of field, choose vertical or horizontal. Really what we’re talking about above is part of that same process – but just not waiting until you see a moment you want to capture before doing it. The moments when nothing is happening are when you should be getting yourself into position – looking for the good spots.

So the next time you’re out doing some street photography, instead of just waiting for something to happen – look around to see where the best place may be to shoot in. It doesn’t need to be an exact composition – but rather a general area where the visual elements are interesting. Then wait – see what happens.

We’re still running our Sicily workshop and 2010′s dates will be 29 March to 4 April. For further details on the workshop see here.