Your Street Photography

Entrance

Sebastian Jacobitz 2
Preface

Entering the genre of Street Photography can be a tough challenge. You

enter a world without guidelines and boundaries. This freedom can be
quite overwhelming at the beginning and seem more like a hindrance
than a benefit.

This book serves as a companion, helping you as you make your first
steps on the street and supports you on your way. Obstacles will be in
your way to your individual fulfillment and often development is a one
steps back, two steps forwards progression.

Along your steps, the chapters will work as assistance and facilitate your
progress, but it won’t solve problems for you. Personal investment is still
required to move forward.

1I
 Table of Contents

1 - What is Street Photography

2 - Why are we photographing

3 - Controlling your Camera: The Exposure Triangle

4 - Accepting Failure in Street Photography

5 - It doesn’t have to be perfect

6 - Perceive Opportunities

7 - The Comedian with a Camera

8 - Perfect Conditions

9 - Your Street Photography Play book

10 - You are not your Picture

11 - The Social Media Fallacy

12 - Talent vs. Training

13 - Bringing Depth to your Picture

14 - Be an Insider – not a Bystander

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 1 What is Street
Photography

There is no real standard definition of Street Photography as there is no

upper organization that defines all photography genres, so people will
interpret this term differently. One common denominator is the following
definition: Street Photography is ... the documentation of human life in
public space. This is a very easy and straight forward definition of a com-
plex topic.

Basically this means that any photograph in public that involves some
kind of human element is a street photograph. This also shows that we
don‘t need to take this term literally. The „Street“ can be any public space
whether outdoor or indoor, like a museum for example.

The Purpose

What‘s the use of Street Photography? In general we want to document

the contemporary life. It is a record of human life of this very timespan
and future generations will look at today‘s photos, like we look at photos
from the 1950s. A lot will change and who knows what might be of interest
from modern photography? Maybe people will be confused with the heavy
use of cellphones and people looking at displays, or they are interested
in modern fashion and how people dress. Vivian Maier is a very popular
figure of Street Photography and even known amongst people that have
absolutely no interest in this kind of Photography otherwise. But even they
I
like to experience the life of Chicago in the past through her photos and
appreciate the work she did. Without the work that we invest today, there
would be no outcome in the future and photos can „mature“ through the
decades and become increasingly interesting in the future.

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There are a lot of uncertainties and no one can predict how the future
will look like, but most likely people will still be interested in human life
from the past. If Street Photography wouldn‘t exist, the documentation of
modern life would be based on countless numbers of selfies, which only
tell part of the story of today‘s life and can‘t be representative for a whole
generation.

Of course we have to be realistic and if only a handful of pictures will be

some sort of relevant in the future, this is already a great quota - given
the mass production of pictures today. Therefore a lot of motivation sim-
ply stems from creating pictures that tell a story and are beautiful to look
at. These pictures provide entertainment to the viewer just like a good
book or painting does.

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 Candidness

I put a lot of value in the documenting aspect and therefore I believe that
a picture should be candid and unposed to qualify as a Street Photo-
graph. If our goal is to photograph the human life on the streets of today,
we should interact as little as possible before taking the picture. Other-
wise what we photograph isn‘t the true human life, but a show people put
on in front of the camera.

By this definition, in my opinion posed street portraits don‘t qualify as

Street Photographs because they aren‘t candid. They are spontaneous
outdoor Portraiture Photography and unable to document the real life.

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The Subject

Since the human life plays a big role in Street Photography does that
mean that a photo needs people to be labeled as a true Street picture?
In my opinion not every Street Photograph needs visible people to count
as Street. It is more about documenting human life or the modern society
and as such symbols of the aforementioned are also suitable to repre-
sent today‘s life.

Pets are often seen as a representation of their owners and therefore

pictures of dogs or cats can also count as Street Photographs without
directly showing humans. Other examples can be shadows, waste or
media like magazines, that show to some degree what our modern soci-
ety is interested in and what headlines were of importance.

Snapshots vs Series

This is one of the most notable differences between Photojournalism

and Street Photography. Although the latter is sometimes described as
some kind of journalism to make it appeal more seriously and raising the
standard, they are still two different kind of things. Photojournalism has
a higher topic and every photo has a connection to this topic and are
related to each other. They serve to tell the complete story and often are
accompanied by a written text that helps to understand the context of the
pictures.

Street Photography on the other hand doesn‘t have a cohesive topic.

Usually people just photograph what they are interested in. Over time
they might develop an individual style and their particular interests are
shown in their body of work, but that doesn‘t mean that they tell a story
from beginning to end. Every picture counts individually and stands on its
own merit. Ideally a Street Photograph shouldn‘t need a written descrip-
tion and if it does, it probably lacks in storytelling or other departments.

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The Conclusion

Street Photography is the documentation of candid human life in the

public expressed by single pictures.

Now that I described what this genre means in my eyes, this shouldn‘t
narrow your way of working. If you like taking posed street portraits you
should continue to do so. As much as I narrowed down, what disquali-
fies as Street Photography, there is also a lot of room for innovation and
displaying human life that is often overlooked in today‘s photography.
Exploring different genres can also open the mind for different views in
Street Photography and thinking in stereotypes isn‘t helpful either if you
like what you do.

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2 Why are we photogra-
phing

Everyone has their own story and motives why they exercise the art of
photography. To some, the goal is to create beautiful pictures, to others
the journey is the reward and results are not the most important aspect.
Street Photography in itself can be very unrewarding and difficult. There-
fore I believe that everyone who chooses this genre of documenting the
human life, has a deeper meaning to express himself. In this chapter I will
explain my very own story on why I pursue this way of photography.

„We see the world, not as it is,

but as we are“

The Beginner‘s Path

I started out the way that probably most beginner take. I grabbed a tripod
and did some long-exposures on the street during the yearly „festival of
lights“ in Berlin and photographed the illuminated buildings. It was a great
and fun activity but something was missing. Of course the pictures were
far from perfect, comparing them to other photographs of the same loca-
tion, they were honestly pretty bad. But that didn‘t matter too much to me
and wasn‘t really a let down since taking the pictures itself was quite fun.
Arranging a composition, letting the life flow through the long-exposure
and being impressed how the camera captures the light, made me curi-
ous enough to try and improve my photography skills.

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But something was missing and I didn‘t quite know at that time what that
special something was. Of course it was fun, but it wasn‘t truly fulfilling to
me.

In October 2014 I had a accident that changed my view on a lot of things.

I tore my patella tendon during a football match, restricting my mobility for
the following six weeks and binding me on crutches until early of 2015. It
was then that I realized what I missed the most - life itself.

The Human Factor

The pictures that I took until that point became irrelevant to me because
they were missing the human factor. There weren‘t any emotions involved
- they were dead. It was then that I decided to display humanity, but wasn‘t
sure in what form that would be. Curious about photography in general
I stumbled upon a Youtube Clip of Bruce Gilden showing how he photo-
graphed people on the street.

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It weren‘t the pictures that left me speechless, but the way this guy was
acting on the street. Dressed like he is on the way to a safari trip equipped
with a simple camera and a flash, the proximity he shot the photos was
insane to me. It was against everything I learned so far in life and ex-
pected him to get beat up on the spot for taking pictures this close. But
the more I discovered his body of work the more I respected his way of
working.

I was curious if something similar was possible in my hometown (Berlin

- Germany) and if I could push myself to take pictures in public and even
people I didn‘t know.

When I got my DSLR in 2014 I was pretty anxious to take pictures in

public in general. I wasn‘t fully aware of how the Canon 1100D worked
and when you walk openly with a camera people notice you and some
might even get suspicious.

First Challenges

In early 2015 I finished some university exams and had the following
spring break waiting for me. So i decided to dedicate that time to Street
Photography and overcoming my fear to take pictures in public. At first I
saw it as a simple challenge, maybe even a test of courage. But the driv-
ing force was the curiosity and the reactions of people around me when
I take pictures openly.

Then came the first walk where I wanted to take pictures like all the great
Street Photographers on Youtube did, that just walk through the city, like
they own it. Reality hit me pretty hard on that day and it was nothing like I
hoped it to be. It was a rainy and cold day in February, not really the ideal
setting to take a walk, but I wanted to take pictures anyway, so I grabbed
my camera and drove downtown. During that time I took the total number
of two pictures. Yes you read it right, two pictures, one not even contain-
ing any people and was a „test-shot“ of my camera settings.

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Devastated by this result I doubted myself, if this is really what I wanted
to do. It was nothing like what I read about Street Photography and what
a joy it should be, to take pictures having a chat here and there and com-
ing home with a whole bunch of beautiful captures and experiences. I
even dared myself to ask a couple of strangers to pose for me so I could
take portraits of them. All three of them thankfully declined.

The following week I didn‘t want to do anything concerning photogra-

phy. But then slowly I felt the urge to try it again and do it better. What
I experienced the previous week might just be a slip and that I have to
get better in order to experience the same joy like other photographers I
admired. So i chose a different location and walked for about two hours
and took maybe 10 pictures. Not the greatest result, but at least I expe-
rienced some progress, I was getting closer and more comfortable in
taking pictures in public. The following picture shows one of my earliest
shots I ever took on the street.

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It was a starting point and an initial position for the following progress of
my photographs. Uplifted by that day I dedicated more and more time into
this hobby that has become one of my greatest passions. I was far from
where I wanted to be, but I felt closer to my goal than before that walk.

Feelings of Success

The first picture that I was content with is shown above.

It was taken maybe a month later than the prior. I had no knowledge of
composition rules, or other „measurements“ of a good picture. I was just
interested in the similarity between these guys and the background, that
seemed to blend in very well. Still shooting with my Canon 1100D and the
18-55mm Kit-lens I was also getting closer. This one is shot at 39mm and
I got less anxious about shooting in the public. The previous weeks I got
really positive reactions of the people I photographed and noticed that
most people are pretty relaxed about it. Most fear is just in our own mind

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that doesn‘t conforms with the reality I found.

Since I was still unable to perform any sport activities, photography be-
came a substitute. When I shot the photo above, I instantly knew that it
might turn out well and was getting really excited. Shooting this keeper,
was like scoring a goal in a football game. The adrenalin rush, the excite-
ment and to see how they turn out later kept me motivated. Photography
gave me the same feeling I had on the pitch which I am obsessed with
for over 20 years.

It was this feeling combined with the finding how challenging Street Pho-
tography is, that I stuck with this genre. There is not really one way to
master this field and everyone has to go their own path to achieve their
aim. Some want to shoot really up-close and others want to create beau-
tiful novels including the human factor.

I have no idea what the future might bring for me, but I am happy that
photography is a way to express myself, to let out and capture emotions,
to meet other photographers and share amazing pictures all around the
globe.

Exploring the urban nature and documenting human life also helps to
understand your own personality. Your character is showing through the
pictures you share and what you are interested in. Therefore document-
ing the life in public isn‘t really about observing others, but finding out
who we really are. Street Photography is like a deep inner monologue
with myself and feels like meditating. You get in the „zone“ can free up
your mind and just live in the moment.

If you are interested in Street Photography one of the most important

lessons early on will be about yourself and not photography. About your
personality, your interests and what your goals in photography and even
life are. It might not be easy because we don’t dedicate that much time
anymore to ourself, thinking about who we truly are and going out to

11
shoot. But Street Photography is honest in the sense, that you won’t be
able to feign. If you are a shy person you might need to invest a lot of
time to become more open and feel comfortable while taking pictures in
public. Others might be the happy-go-lucky type of persons, but might
lacking a good sense of humor.

Your pictures might reveal these traits and your personality, but this
doesn’t man that you can’t develop in these areas too. Improving in Street
Photography can’t be disconnected from personal development. There-
fore a lot of time will be dedicated to the right mindset, open up your view
on certain things to show different perspectives and encourage you to
think about these topics yourself.

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3 Controlling your Camera:
The exposure Triangle
I don’t want to talk about gear and equipment too much in this book, but
there are some essentials every photographer should understand. Be-
fore dealing with composition in Street Photography, you should be able
to display what you see the way you want it to be. The picture evolves
in your mind and is realized with the help of your camera. Every crafts-
man should be able to operate his tools and therefore every photogra-
pher should know how to control his camera. The following chapter will
describe the three main parameters of shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
It will help you to expose your pictures the way you want them to be and
shows how different shutter speeds affect the picture.

ISO

APERTURE SHUTTER SPEED

Shutter Speed

The exposure duration is set by the shutter speed. The faster the shutter
speed, the less light will be captured by the camera sensor. The shutter
duration is measured as a fraction of a second. A duration of 1/200th of
a second is twice as fast as a shot with a duration of 1/100th of a second
and the slower speed allows more light to hit the sensor.

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 The minimum shutter speed shouldn‘t be slower than the reciprocal of
your focal length.

Example: If you are using a focal length of 50 mm, your shutter speed
shouldn‘t be below 1/50th of a second or your images will loose sharp-
ness

Short focal lengths are best suitable for „motion blur“ shots because you
can lower your shutter speed further. With practice and steady hands
you can even go below the reciprocal of your focal length to increase the
blurriness of movement. Cameras with a build in stabilizer can also help
you to further reduce the shutter speed.

For your everyday street photography I’d recommend a shutter speed

not below 1/100th of a second, otherwise fast moving people, bikes or
cars will already be blurry which you don‘t necessarily want. On sunny
days you can even go to 1/500th of a second which makes things much
more easier and increases the chance that fast moving objects will still
be sharp. Having a fast shutter speed is also beneficial because you can
take pictures while still moving.

1/50th 1/100th 1/500th

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Aperture

The second aspect of your settings is the aperture. The aperture works
similar like the human eye, specifically the iris. In darkness your iris will
open up allowing more light to enter and to see better in low light con-
ditions. When switching scenes from low light, to bright light you will be
blinded because your iris has to adapt to the amount of light first - also
the reason why pirates wore eye patches.

The aperture not only influences the amount of light entering the sensor
but also the depth of field. Having an open aperture creates a shallow
depth of field and a wider depth of field is created by closing the aper-
ture. The same effect can be created by squinting. If you are slightly
shortsighted you probably will do this when reading a text that is too far
away. By squinting you close the „aperture“ of your eye and create a
wider depth of field, meaning that more space in front of your eye will be
in focus.

Because our lens is a circular object we have to apply different rules for
the amount of light entering the camera depending of the used aperture.
The aperture is defined as the ratio of focal length to the diameter of the
entrance pupil. Meaning that a lens set at f/1.0 is fully opened, at f/2.0 is
half closed and at f/8.0 only is one eighth opened.

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Since the lens is circular you can not say that a fully opened aperture lets
in double the amount of light compared to a lens operated at f/2.0.

The figure above shows the different „f-stops“ signifying that f/1.4 is an
f-stop away from f/2.0 having the same difference like changing your
shutter speed from 1/100s to 1/200s.

ISO

The ISO defines the sensibility of your sensor, or at least it simulates it

in digital cameras. In analogue cameras without any sensors the ISO is
set by the choice of film. Most commonly were ISO 100 or ISO 400 films.
The amount of captured light is linear in ISO steps meaning that ISO 200
captures double the amount of light compared to ISO 100 and ISO 400
is four times brighter as ISO 100.

In digital cameras you want the camera to work with the lowest ISO pos-
sible because higher ISO rates increase the noise.

By understanding these basic principles you are able to picture the world
as you see it and not as the camera wants it to be. It also opens the
opportunity to create motion blur pictures, silhouettes or underexposed
pictures in bright light situations. This said the conclusion shouldn‘t be,
that only the manual mode is suitable for street photography, but that it is
wise to use it selectively when the P or other automatic modes don‘t get
you the desired results.

You can also study the camera settings of my photos via the EXIFs on
my flickr page, as well as the ones of other photographers, as long as
they provide these data.

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4 Accepting Failure in
Street Photography

Getting into Street Photography can be a difficult task. You might have
some feelings of success, but there also setbacks and moments where
you think about quitting. Especially the often times when you don‘t get a
shot that you really like and doubt if the invested time is worth it. But after
some period, I realized that the invested time is more valuable than any
result and is an achievement itself.

„The journey is the reward“

If your goal is to be become a better photographer, one quick assumption
is, that your pictures have to get better over time. While this is true, it is
only partial helpful to measure your progress in your pictures. Let‘s say
you wanted to take pictures today and compare them with images you
shot yesterday. There might be the chance that you pictures are worse,
but does this mean that your skills as a photographer deteriorated over
night?

Obviously this isn‘t a healthy scale, a few days have little influence on
your ability to shoot on the street. But what is a suitable time frame? A
week, a month or a year?

The first 10.000 Shots

There is a famous saying, that your first 10.000 pictures are your worst
and not „worth“ showing. Taking 10.000 pictures on the street even in the
digital time is still a lot of shutter releases. Considering, that you were less
confident at first and probably shot fewer photos, often missing interesting
situations, it takes even longer. It might take you a year to take the 10.000
shots, but does this mean every shot that will be followed after reaching
the goal is a masterpiece?

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In business there is the concept of a learning curve, meaning in general
that in the beginning you have a very fast and steep capability of acquir-
ing new knowledge, that slows down the more time you invest. Transfer-
ring this to photography, this means that your progress is clearly visible
in the beginning and becomes less transparent the more pictures you
take.

When starting out, most have no idea of the exposure triangle, how the
focus works or any of the settings of my camera. You just shoot what-
ever was in front of your lens. Of course most pictures are technically
underwhelming, some are overexposed, others not sharp enough. After
maybe 100 of those accidents we start to rethink our process and begin
to learn how our camera works and how we are able to expose them
correctly and get the sharpness right.

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As a beginner I thought, the only true way of photographing could only be
possible by using manual mode. So I started working out different setups
and learned how the focus works. After maybe a 1.000 shots I had the
technical aspects of the camera under control. Comparing those first 100
pictures with the latter there is a clear visible progress and I was proud
about myself. But what now? I had already „mastered“ the techniques, is
every picture now worth showing and a masterpiece?

Beyond Technique

Very clearly this is not the case, now that the pictures are correctly ex-
posed and in focus, the progress becomes more subtle, but also more
rewarding in the long run. This is where the composition becomes mean-
ingful and advancement has to be hard earned.

Even veterans have difficulties finding the „right“ picture on some days
and return home without a single image they feel happy about. Why
shouldn‘t you be allowed to have some off days?

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When even more experienced photographers have days where there
isn‘t any great opportunity for a „keeper“ you and I shouldn‘t be discour-
aged by this often perceived failure. In fact I wouldn‘t call it a failure but
a learning experience, which is more valuable than any „keeper“ on an
easy spot.

In university, maybe 25% of

Robert Frank took about 28.000 pictures
the students I started with,
for his famous book „The Americans“. Out
graduated. Were this the
of the 28.000 he selected 83. He needed
students that were the most
27.917 errors to create a masterpiece.
successful from beginning
to end? Well, there might be some high-achiever that are, but mostly it
were the students that learned how deal with failure and took every failed
exam as a learning experience, that passed every exam in the end and
were rewarded with a degree.

It isn‘t very different in photography. I got really lucky in the beginning

with shots I am still happy about, but these days were followed by weeks
of pure void. If I measured my progress on the basis of my results, I
probably should have come to the conclusion to just stop and search for
a different hobby. But even during the time of no results I was still happy
because I felt it was worth it and even without great pictures to show off
I felt I was getting closer to what my goal in photography is.

Don‘t let the results dictate how you should feel about your photography
skills. If you invest the time you are willing to invest and actively learn,
you will get your desirable shots anyway. Anything else is out of your
control and shouldn‘t be of your concern.

Be confident in your abilities, contend in shooting on the streets and

continuously learning. The results will follow and the perceived „failures“
are just potholes on your way to success where there isn‘t any shortcut.

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5 It doesn’t have to
be perfect

Photography can have uncountable rules to live by. It is good to know

them all and to follow them to create pictures that are eye pleasing. But
often overly perfect composed pictures can lack the action and intimacy
that is wanted in Street Photography.

That shouldn‘t sound like I feel that all the different rules are unnecessary.
Often times photographers will tell you to ignore certain rules, because
they wanted the picture that way. More often it is the lack of understand-
ing, that leads to pictures that break every rule possible and are unpleas-
ing. Just like in music, you can‘t just „improvise“ by randomly clicking the
shutter and expect to create a masterpiece. Even open music styles like
Jazz have strict rules. Within these rules the musician is free as he pleas-
es, but first he has to know the limits, to play by ear second.

Following Rules

Much like the twelve-tone technique, pictures can be arrange very strictly.
This is definitely one way to create meaningful images that will be accept-
ed by a broad audience. The following picture is an example how powerful
leading lines can be. Just by following this simple rule and arranging the
lines to emerge from the corners and leading to the center, the viewer
has a very easy understanding what the photographer wants us to show.
This makes it pleasant for our eye to follow this movement and creates a
valueful image.

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As beautiful as these technical composed pictures are, they often lack
the action, that really lets the spectator immerse in these pictures.

On the other hand there are pictures that don’t employ complex compo-
sitions. They might appear as snapshots, but have a fascination that is
difficult to explain. One gets really engaged, because of the extraordinary
motive, the perspective, or the story that might be behind this picture.

The viewer experience

The following picture isn‘t very complicated in terms of composition. The

emphasize is put on filling the frame, by placing people‘s back in the
foreground, increasing the feeling to be really part of the scene, instead
of being a distant spectator.

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Following the famous quote by Capa: „If your pictures aren‘t good
enough, you aren‘t close enough“, this doesn‘t mean that you have to
take pictures with a longer focal length to get a more narrow frame. The
essence is to create an intimate relationship between your camera and
the subjects, letting the viewer immerse into the scene.

Implications for Street Photography

Often enough I hesitate to take a picture because I have the feeling that
something might disturb the picture and that it might not be „perfect“.
Maybe there is a distracting background, the lighting is not ideal, or the
framing is not optimal. But does this mean I shouldn‘t take the picture?

In the world of digital photos, taking a picture doesn‘t come with great
costs. You don‘t have to spend money for new film and develop it after-
wards. If you don‘t like the picture after reviewing it, you can still delete it
without any additional cost.

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Always waiting for the perfect photo opportunity, to arrive, means to miss
a lot of great pictures that might turn out even better than expected. In
conclusion this means to take the images the best you can by following
the compositional rules, the scene allows you to.

Not every shot you take has to be a gem and overcoming this mental
block opens your eye for interesting stories that are worth telling and still
be engaging for the viewer.

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6 Perceive Opportunities

This chapter is a comparison between the card game poker and street
photography. There are similarities that both topics share and I want to
elaborate the development and progress of poker players, as well as pho-
tographers.

Beating the Odds

There are a lot of prejudices connected to poker and while some are true,
others are results of nescience. First of all, yes there is luck involved in
poker, but that doesn‘t mean it is a game of pure luck. Let‘s compare the
casino game roulette with hold‘em poker. In roulette you bet where the
ball will end up and depending on your betting pattern you receive a pay-
out. The opponent in this game is not another player sitting at the table,
but the casino owner. In order to be profitable, the „house“ has an inherent
advantage and will win in the long run. This means, there is no strategy
available where a player can win against the casino owner long-term. In
conclusion there is no skill involved and there aren‘t distinctions possible
between good and bad roulette players. If your friend wins a turn at the
roulette table and you lose, that doesn‘t mean, that he is a better player
than you but, that in this particular run he got the luck on his side.

Poker works differently in the way that you don‘t play against the casi-
no but against real players. While there is still luck involved, there are
also strategic elements that allow different skill levels of poker players. Of
course that does mean, that even the worst poker player can win against
the best player in one showdown. But if both would play a higher amount
of duels against each other, the probability that the better player would
succeed will increase.

25
Always waiting for the perfect photo opportunity, to arrive, means to miss
al

The aforementioned strategic elements can be manifold. On the one

hand there are bluffs, where you try to win by signaling that you have
a strong hand and try to bully your opponent into forfeiting. This means
there is psychology involved, but the biggest factor that makes the dif-
ference between two players is how well they understand the probability
calculations and their chances on winning the hand that is played. Gam-
blers don‘t care for such things as probabilities, for them everything is
luck based. That means that they will often overestimate their chance of
winning and blow a lot of money, where a good player knows the odds
and only invests an amount of money that allows him to be profitable.

Let‘s say you have a home-game running with your friends where you
are casually playing against each other and are having fun. One night
you go home and feel miserable because you lost again and your friends
are bantering about how much of a bad poker player you are. You want
to take revenge, so your solution is to improve your play. You read books
about mathematics and watch videos about body language that will help

26
you to estimate how good the hand of your opponent is. The next time
you face your friends you lose yet again. How could this be after all that
time you invested in becoming a better player?

Becoming a better Player

As already mentioned there is luck involved, so in this short timespan

and amount of duels against your friends there is still a chance that you
will lose although you are certain that you are the best poker player at
the table.

You might ask what this prologue has to do with photography.

In chapter 4 I presented the chart on the left side that shows the differ-
ent stages of a photographer. In contrast to the chart of the stages of
a photographer, is a typical chart of a poker player that shows his win-
nings over a certain amount of games. Important is the fact that there are
enough games played, so the chart becomes significant.

27
On the left chart the green line shows the quality of photos, whereas
the red line on the right chart represents the winnings. Both values are
comparable because they are the outcome of the particular activities.
Interestingly enough both charts have some concurrent characteristics.
At first the results tend to get better. Then, after a phase of steady incline
a downswing sets in, which will be nullified over the following time. In the
long-term perspective we have a clear sign that we are improving, that
our knowledge is steadily increasing and that our results are getting bet-
ter. However, this doesn‘t protect us from short-term downwards spirals
where we are getting worse and worse results, although we try our best
to improve.

This is especially true for street photography. Unlike posed portraiture

photography, in the street genre we are seeking for candid moments.
The element of luck is certainly a contributing factor for the photos that
we get, but that doesn‘t mean that street photography is a game of pure
luck.

28
Your true Abilities

You might have a bad day, week or even a month without decent pic-
tures, but that doesn‘t mean that your true ability as a photographer got
worse. Photography, just like poker, is a game with incomplete informa-
tion, which makes it even harder to determine what your current true
ability is. There is no ELO system or a circuit point system that displays
your current rank.

But rather than to worry where you currently stand and compare your-
self to other photographers, you should actively try to improve and in
the long-run the results will reflect the chart on the right side, where you
might have some setbacks, but the outcome is increasing in terms of
quality.

This also means, the only way to get photos that reflect your true skill
as a photographer is to go out and shoot. The more time you spend on
the streets, the more likely it will be that you have the chance to catch
splendid scenes full of emotions. In the long-run everybody gets dealt
the same hands - it is not about the cards you currently have, it is about
how you play them. The same applies to street photography. Even if you
think you live in a boring city or area, there is probably still room for im-
provement.

The conclusion for me as a photographer is to take as many chances as

I can get to get the results I desire. Progress is a two steps forward, one
step back kind of process and can only indirectly be measured through
the pictures that you are getting. Life and photography is not about suc-
ceeding 100% of the time. It is about giving all you got, to maximize the
success rate.

Luck definitely is a contributing factor in street photography, but is out of

your control and shouldn‘t be of your concern. If you invest your time in
becoming a better photographer the outcome in terms of better photos
will follow eventually - it is just a matter of sample size.

29
7 The Comedian with
a Camera

As a Street Photographer I often see myself as an entertainer who wants

to tell a story in the form of a picture. Sometimes the audience will get my
story and other times there will be dead silence. Therefore it is important
to understand how to tell a narrative properly and how even the most
mundane story can turn into an interesting adventure.

The Importance of a single Picture

Street Photography is all about telling a story in a single picture. The easy
thing is, that instead of a short movie or multiple frames you only need to
take one picture to tell your story. On the other hand, the hard part is that
you only have one picture, a fraction of a time that ideally tells an enter-
taining, critical or complex story.

Where film maker or comedian have a longer time to build up tension,

introducing characters and delivering the punchline, we as photographers
have maybe 1/200th of a second. While the former may envy photog-
raphers, because we can tell a story in only one frame and don‘t have
to develop a complex storyline, this also means we have to compress a
comprehensive story in one single frame.

For me there are two important parts in telling a story with a single image
in Street Photography. First you need to spot an interesting scene that
has the potential for an interesting story. This mostly depends on your
character and your ability to absorb your environment quickly. Different
personalities will discover varying storylines that they find worth telling.
Some find interest in social criticism, others are interested in humorous
juxtapositions and again others want to showcase the edgy urban life.

30
As there are different genres in literature, movies or music there are
different points of interest you can focus on in street photography. An
advantage that we, as „snapshot“ experts have, is that we can tell a dif-
ferent story every new day. One day you might feel under the weather
and spot different scenes in comparison to days where you are perfectly
content.

Spotting an interesting scene depends a lot on your character and your

ability to notice your environment. Some might even go so far and state,
that either you are gifted with this talent or not. I don’t support this argu-
ment, but it is true that you need a lot of experience and an open mind
to notice natural photo opportunities. Especially when your are shooting
alone on the street it is difficult to improve this talent, because you aren‘t
realizing which opportunities you missed. Going on a walk with like-mind-
ed photographers can help discovering the cities with different eyes and
mindsets. You might notice interesting subjects that you wouldn‘t notice
otherwise.

This first subject is what is in front of your camera and is basically the
content of your story. What you want to convey is covered in the first part.

31
The second main aspect of telling an interesting story is how good your
storytelling itself is. Let‘s say you found an interesting scene and are
absolutely drawn into it. You take a snapshot and show it to your friends
later. They are puzzled what you wanted to express with this picture and
don‘t understand it. You explain some background information, what you
wanted to tell and why it is a great photo in your opinion. Now it clicks for
your friends and they understand your side of the story.

Putting a picture on its own Merit

Now, the thing in street photography is, if you need a lot of background
information to understand the worth of a picture, it is difficult to under-
stand for the viewer who puts value on the picture and not on the ac-
cessory text informations. In photography the way we tell our story is
through composition. Within the composition you can put emphasize on
certain aspects of your story, or willfully leave some details out. Every
little detail that you decide to include or eliminate alters your story and
how interesting it is to the viewer.

“If you can smell the street by looking

at the photo, it’s a street photograph.”
Bruce Gilden
Keep in mind, that the viewer has only that one photo that makes or
breaks the story. You as a photographer that was present on the scene
have a lot more data. Not only have you the time frames before and after
you took the photo, you also have the sound, smell and general feeling
of the location. If you want to tell a good story try your best to appeal to
all the senses of the viewer, not only the visual aspect is important, to
draw your viewer into the photo he has to be addressed in multiple ways.

32
A comedian or entertainer has his audience he wants to entertain. Some
may appeal to a very broad audience, their jokes are easily understand-
able and suitable for the whole family. On the contrary other comedians
may have a more narrow audience, they have certain topics that not ap-
peal to everyone, but are still entertaining to the audience they address.

Have your own Sense of Humor

As a photographer it is a very similar deal. Some stories are easy to com-

prehend because they are very present in the picture, others are very far
fetched and only people with the same sense of humor might understand
them. The way to communicate through photographs is the composition.
If only a fraction of your audience gets your punchline because they have
a different sense of humor, that in my book is acceptable. But if your
audience is not even able to understand your expressions because you
don‘t speak the same language, through composition, then this is one
thing you have to work on.

33
Like comedians have to work on how they deliver the jokes, their timing
and presentation, we as photographers have to perfect our composi-
tions. Otherwise you might have the best stories in front of your lens, but
if you are not able to express yourself through your pictures, your brilliant
stories are a lost cause.

34
8 Perfect Conditions

A lot of people are asking me what the best conditions for street photogra-
phy are, claiming that it might be impossible to take decent pictures when
the weather conditions aren‘t ideal. While I have to agree that the motiva-
tion might take a hit when it‘s cold outside, there is also a valuable lesson
to be learned under harsher conditions - embrace the difference.

A week ago we made sure that we have enough spare time to explore
new streets, cleaned the lenses, charged the batteries and arranged a
meeting with fellow photographers. The weather forecast is perfect, sunny
and it seems like the perfect weekend. Then, as usual, two hours before
you want to leave, it starts to rain cats and dogs. In a rush of anger you
cancel your meeting, throw your bag in the corner and complain why of all
things, this always has to happen to you. As a photographer we were all
at this point sometime ago and instead of browsing through our newest
trophies that we shot today we were watching the newest episode of our
favorite tv show.

„Perfect means never“

To prevent such a disaster from happening again and to make sure the
weather conditions are perfect for your next photo tour, you downloaded
the newest weather app, subscribed to the news and started an online
course of meteorology. But is this really the solution? Should we make
our photographic adventures dependent on external factors we can not
influence?

35
Honestly, even when it might be raining,or it is dark and cold outside
there isn‘t really anything holding us back from taking exceptional pic-
tures anyway. Cameras of today‘s standards are all built to withstand a
short time in the rain and even my cheap Canon 1100d survived some
heavy pouring rain without a problem.

Embrace the Extraordinary

Photographing under such „harder“ circumstances also has a lot of posi-

tive effects. Your pictures will be easier to stand out of the mass of street
photos that are taken, because most people aren‘t willing to shoot in the
rain. This means that although you might just take „average“ pictures,
that they might be of higher interest than your everyday sunny photo-
graphs, because of the increasing rarity. Everybody can shoot under per-
fect conditions, but it is way harder to catch the beautiful atmosphere of
a rainy day.

36
You can also use these different conditions to your advantage. Are you
complaining that there is a huge puddle in front of you and you feet might
get wet? Get low on the ground and use the water as a reflection, while
other people walk by.

Is there a window with raindrops, maybe a bus stop or something simi-

lar? Take a photo up close in front of the window of the people that are
waiting. A picture that might be pretty boring any other day, profits from
the details that the drops add.

So if you are asking yourself the next time, what time might be perfect for
the next shoot - it is now. If you really want to take photos, the weather
shouldn‘t be an excuse, but be used in your advantage. If you are willing
to embrace that no weather can hold you back, you are already ahead of
those who think otherwise.

37
9 Your Street Photography
Play book

We all have our “off-days” were we feel uninspired and it seems like noth-
ing is happening that is worth photographing. To overcome such a low,
it can be helpful to use some standard themes to get yourself on track
again. Therefore I will present some methods and standard motives that
you can try to recreate even on uneventful days.

1 – Reflections

For these kind of pictures all you need is a plain field that functions as a
reflection. Best suited are shopping windows or any other kind of glass
surface. Keep an eye that no column or other object interrupts the plane
so that your illusion won’t be broken. Another important aspect is your
background which shouldn’t be too packed and rather minimalistic.

38
2 – Mirrors

In the style of the first topic you can also use mirrors to your advantage
to create juxtapositions between the reflections of the mirror and its sur-
roundings. Mirrors also create natural framings and can either be the full
focus or an addition to your picture.

39
3 – Silhouettes

As a requirement for this task we need a bright light source to create a

high contrast between the figure and the background. Naturally, a sun-
ny day is best suited for these kinds of photos, but other light sources
especially in night time photography can work well too. When creating
silhouettes we don’t want the subject to overlap with the background and
the cleaner the background is, the easier it will be to create this effect. All
you need to do now is to shoot in the direction of the bright light where
the contrast is the highest. Normally you want to shoot in the direction of
the sun, but like in the example below any high contrast between figure
and ground can work.

40
4 – Through the Window

Outside pictures into the inside of a coffee shop or cafe are quite popular,
because they give insight in an environment where people are more nat-
ural and less aware of being in public space. Often times when shooting
on the street, people will notice you early on and take on a staged pose,
destroying the purpose of the picture.

41
5 – Framing

Instead of windows you can also be on the lookout for other objects that
serve as a frame for your photo. In this case you be more creative to
shoot through anything that fits your lens and can serve as a surround-
ing. You can also mix the framing with a slower shutter speed to add
some blurriness and create a dynamic movement of the person entering
the frame.

These were my 5 little tips of photographs that should be possible to

recreate in most areas. Even if you find yourself uninspired that certain
day, searching for the right spots can still be a fun task and help you train
your visual sense. Focusing on a single task for maybe one day, also
helps you to implement these elements more naturally in your everyday
photography.

42
10 You are not your Picture

The following article will be about how you can receive meaningful criti-
cism and how to handle it lightly. Today‘s problem, especially in the Street
Photography community, is that it is very hard to receive constructive cri-
tique and the main cause is that the recipients often take it the wrong way.
The root problem is that most photographers identify themselves through
their pictures and project every error of their work on themselves. This is
understandable because the personality is reflected in the photos. How-
ever, your ability of taking pictures shouldn‘t define you as a person or
„hurt“ you in any way when receiving criticism.

Constructive Criticism

As a beginning photographer, getting constructive criticism from experi-

enced photographers is probably one of the best ways to improve. Since
I had no person in my direct surrounding that I could ask for help, I tried
to reach out to different online communities. Given that the main platform
I used was Flickr, it was obvious to engage in groups or threads that are
dedicated to review the uploaded pictures.

About a year ago when I started progressing into Street Photography I

tried my luck and uploaded a picture where I was certain that it was better
than average and would receive mostly positive critiques. Of course this
wasn‘t the case and some people were very honest about it and revealed
the flaws of this picture. While I should have been thankful to receive
honest and constructive criticism it also felt like I got betrayed by my own
expectations. I was very convinced of the quality of this picture so I tried to
justify why these people gave negative reviews and collected arguments
in my favor.

43
Most of us photographers know this feeling and while it is humanly, it is
not a good advisor for personal progression. As I said in chapter 7: The
Comedian with a Camera, there can be different opinions about pictures,
but one should always be open to criticism and not try to block opinions
that may not in ones favor.

Receiving negative Feedback

Although the negative feedback hurt at first, I have slept on it for a night
and the next day my „anger“ faded a bit. Now I could actually understand
their arguments and from today‘s point of view they were absolutely
right. My work did lack in some departments and the picture wasn‘t any-
thing special. Accepting this insight isn‘t easy in the beginning because
it means that we have weaknesses and nobody wants to have his weak
spots exposed. But that is the truth, nobody is perfect and we have to
accept our flaws. Even better, we now have something we can work on.

44
Now that we accepted that we aren‘t perfect we have to try to view our
own work from a third person point of view. If you are bonded too strongly
with your picture you are more likely to ignore any criticism. Distancing
yourself from your work will help you to judge it more objectively. The
most effective measure to have a neutral point of view can be achieved
by letting your pictures age before editing them. It is very tempting in the
digital age to review your picture the instant you arrive at home.

What can be an advantage, because you know the results faster and are
able to sort out obviously failed pictures, could also be a disadvantage
because you are still loaded with emotions. These emotions will nebu-
lize your evaluation and create a honeymoon phase. Therefore it will be
helpful to let your pictures mature a bit before touching them. I‘d recom-
mend waiting at least a week before trying to judge whether a picture can
hold up to your high expectations or not.

Platforms for meaningful Criticism

The third step is about receiving meaningful critique. The easiest way to
receive a lot of feedback would be to upload your pictures in said „cri-
tique“ or feedback groups. Whether on Flickr, Facebook or any other so-
cial media platform shouldn‘t make a huge difference. But keep in mind
that anyone could give his feedback and there is no way to determine
the expertise of these photographers. Therefore you should take these
opinions with a grain of salt.

From my personal experience it is very difficult to receive or give feedback

over the internet. We had the attempt of creating a „smallish“ community
of around 100 people whose passion street photography is in Germany.
It only lasted a few months until different opinions lead to fewer activity
and let this project collapse. Therefore my advice is to write directly to
street photographers who are your role model whose work you admire.
Most of them will be open to at least give a few comments, but don‘t ex-
pect to receive an essay for free. Some photographers are also active
on Youtube and have critique categories where you can submit a photo.

45
To receive critique in written form the Street Photography website Stree-
thunters.net lets you submit pictures. Beneficial is the very complex
feedback you will receive, but due to the quantity of submissions it is not
guaranteed that your picture will be reviewed.

Lastly my favorite way of giving and receiving criticism is in local groups

or personal discussions. Nothing can replace a good face to face talk
about pictures with photographers who are honest about your work. The
internet might be fit to give you a first tendency about your picture, but
quality in-depth analysis is best suited in personal interaction.

In summary my steps to receive meaningful feedback and working with

criticism are:

Accept that you are not perfect - Having weaknesses is absolutely natu-
ral. Experts will expose those flaws, but rather than justifying them, see
them as opportunities for improvement.

Distance yourself from your picture - Let your pictures age for a while
until you don‘t feel emotional attached anymore. This helps you to view
your own work more objectively.

Seek out to local photographers that are willing to discuss your pictures
and are open for discussions.

46
11 The Social Media
Fallacy

I found my way into photography around a year ago, taking pictures of my

local football team and sharing the pictures with them. It was a great feel-
ing getting the direct reactions and compliments from my colleagues. But
I knew sports photography wasn‘t really my favorite genre and I enjoyed
Street Photography way more. Getting feedback on this kind of photos
on the other hand is very difficult, because it is more a niche genre and
harder to evaluate. People could easily relate to the football pictures, be-
cause they were a part of it and were emotional attached. So social media
became the stage for my street photos and at the same time social media
influenced the way I viewed Street Photography.

The Honeymoon Phase

I started out on Flickr, uploading my street pictures, to gain some reac-

tions and feedback. At first, I just uploaded about anything I liked and my
photostream was kind of „messy“. Different aspect ratios, black and white
pictures followed by color images and no cohesive style. Since I just start-
ed getting into photography this is to be expected, but the most important
aspect was that I had fun with it. Honestly, getting reactions and interact-
ing with other photographers was probably what kept me motivated to
shoot. Filling my feed with pictures of other photographers I adored was a
great inspiration and defined my goals as a beginner in photography.

But shortly after, the honeymoon phase ended and I realized that social
media also has negative impact on the development as a photographer.
In the beginning I only used Flickr. It is a great platform to share your im-
ages and easily manageable unlike Facebook or Instagram where you
need some followers first until you feel that your pictures actually have
some sort of „impact“.

47
One of the greatest features of Flickr is their Explore, which is a daily
frontpage where they display the 500 most interesting pictures uploaded
the day before. There are some strict rules on how their algorithm works,
for example you weren‘t allowed to post your picture in more than 10
groups if you wanted to get featured. After having followed some pho-
tographers, participating in various groups on this platform and getting
some feedback, I set my goal to get one picture featured in the explore,
because I envisioned how great it must be to get thousands of views,
likes and comments on a picture of mine.

Increased Standards

Then the day came and a picture of mine got featured, gathering some
ten thousands of views and a couple of hundred likes. Of course it was
great to see that my pictures where actually getting some attention and I
would have never imagined to achieve this. But once I reached that goal I
kind of felt stressed out, because I felt that every picture that follows next
has to excel the previous one, getting more views, likes and comments.

48
This entitlement in itself was unrealistic, because a photographer can
only be featured every so often on this platform, leading to even more
frustration because my pictures weren‘t getting the attention I thought
they‘d deserve. The next step for me to create pictures that are more
engaging was to analyze how the images that rank higher up are com-
posed. What I found out was, that pictures of certain styles i.e. silhou-
ettes, shots through windows or objects are performing very well.

So I started copying and recreating them, to teach myself how to achieve

this certain style which seems to be very popular and earns a lot of views
and likes. Though I gained a lot of engagements, I realized that I am not
really a fan of the current state of Street Photography and that all of the
recognition is in vain if I am not 100% convinced of my own work.

All the pictures of silhouettes, puddles or tunnels don‘t fulfill me and I

don‘t think they will even stand the test of time. In ten years those pic-
tures will have no value in showing how the life at this very moment was
when the picture was taken. They are artificial images, that indeed have
a visual appeal, but aren‘t true Street Photography in my opinion.

49
There is a reason why the emphasis on the visual quality of a picture is
so popular today. It is quickly comprehensible and in times of millions of
uploaded pictures every day, it either has to be love at first sight or the
image will be abandoned. Don‘t get me wrong, I still enjoy some of the
current state of Street Photography. But with the increasing influence of
social media we lost the balance between meaningful series with a deep
story and fast food snapshots.

Your Satisfaction first

In hindsight it is way more satisfactory for me to gain less likes for pic-
tures that I truly stand behind, than trying to create pictures just to please
as much viewers as possible. This also means that you shouldn‘t follow
the hype. Just because a picture has a lot of likes, it isn‘t a seal of qual-
ity. Don‘t let yourself influence too much from the social media universe,
trying to get as many likes as possible and leaving the trail you‘d like to
pursue. In the end, your „like“ should matter the most to you and deter-
mine if you are content with your pictures or not.

50
12 Talent vs. Training

Good photographers are often praised for their „good eye“ and their abil-
ity to see things, which others don‘t. Fairly quickly the discussions turn to
a direction where these photographers are described as being gifted or
amazingly talented. This leaves the assumption that you either have to be
born with a great eye in order to perceive your surrounding in this special
way, or you won‘t ever learn it. I am not a believer of this thesis and put an
emphasize on the training aspect. Even if you think you are not born as a
natural photographer you still can practice and become a master.

The 10.000 Hour Rule

In 2008 Malcolm Gladwell published a book called „Outliers“. In this book

he describes the 10.000 hours, which states that everyone can be a mas-
ter by practicing a certain craft for 10.000 hours. This is a very simplified
view on this subject, but at least you can interpret it as a rule of thumb.

There is another study conducted at the Berlin University of Arts that

comes to the same conclusion. Classical musicians that wanted to be
professionals needed to practice around 10.000 hours by the age of 20 to
have the chance of pursuing the career of a musician.

One advantage of photography is, that it isn‘t age depended. Musicians in

this study faced manifold health risks and injuries following the tight prac-
tice schedule. Photography isn‘t this straining for the body and there is no
age limitation. This means you can follow your own pace and don‘t need
to be in a rush to achieve the training hours as fast as possible.

51
Quality over Quantity

Another thing to remember is, that we did talk about quantity, but not
quality. There are photographers out there that may photograph for over
40 years, but didn‘t actively try to create better pictures. They view it as a
typical leisure activity and are having fun exercising it, they don‘t typically
care too much about their results and as a consequence their pictures
didn‘t improve much over time.

On the other hand you can be a quiet ambitioned photographer and

reach a high level after only photographing for a year. The difference lies
in the quality you spent on the time photographing. If you are consciously
trying to improve, review your mistakes and educate yourself, you will
see better results in a faster time than people that only photograph and
don‘t spend time in the education part.

52
Improving your Talent

Let‘s get back to the ability of having a „great eye“. Can people that think
they don‘t own this ability, practice in order to better absorb the environ-
ment and discover interesting scenes? In my opinion this is absolutely
possible and photographers that are praised for their creative visions,
weren‘t probably not born with it, but earned it through hard work.

In music there is the concept of perfect pitch. Meaning that you are able
to detect the pitch of a tone with absolute certainty. While some people
have a natural and cultural predisposition to gain the perfect pitch, others
have to put in a lot of hours to earn this ability.

If musician can train their sense of hearing like that, I believe it is possi-
ble for photographers to improve their visual sense as well. So here are
a few tips on how to learn to „see“.

In our everyday‘s life we mostly function in an auto pilot state of mind.

We don‘t need to do everything consciously because we do it everyday
and our mind doesn‘t need to focus on these trivial tasks. Do you remem-
ber your commute to work and all the people you encountered? Unless
something unusual happened you probably won‘t have a memory about
your way to work, because it is something you do every day.

Next time you leave your house try to consciously absorb your surround-
ing. Even if you don‘t have a camera with you and don‘t plan on tak-
ing photos, you still can look for great opportunities, juxtapositions or
anything that catches your attention. If you leave the auto pilot you can
practice your visual sense by actively noticing your environment along
the way.

53
Another task you could do would be to focus on certain things. When I
walked on crutches, I suddenly had the feeling to be surrounded by peo-
ple that also had crutches. This is because our mind can be very selec-
tive and highlights certain things, while filtering other subjects that might
be not of our interest.

The next day you want to photograph you can try to only capture peo-
ple with hats or that wear a certain color. The assignment is up to you
and you are free to focus on subjects that you feel might be important to
you. As soon as you only focus on your task and neglect everything that
doesn‘t fit your assignment, you will be surprised how many photo oppor-
tunities you will have and how differently you observe your environment.

An additional assignment that is often used in photography schools is the

alphabet task. Your duty is to find objects, signs or structures that look
like letters. This will help you to boost your creativity by thinking out of the
box and observe the world more abstractly.

If your goal is to become a better Street Photographer, spent your time

consciously, stop the auto pilot and observe your surrounding from dif-
ferent perspectives.

54
13 Bringing Depth to your
Pictures

Photos are a two dimensional reproduction of a three dimensional reali-

ty. To maintain an interesting narrative it is essential to draw your viewer
into the scene. Having him stand far away like a silent observer can have
interesting aspects, but usually we want the viewer to be part of the story
and living the moment right in the middle. Especially in Street Photogra-
phy where our goal is to convey the attitude towards life of a certain time,
having pictures that let the viewer relive certain moments will improve
your stories that you are telling tremendously. Layering is one of the most
powerful tools to recreate a lifelike image, rather than an obvious flat pho-
to.

The master of Layering

Layering is also one of the most complicated compositional tools to learn

as a photographer. Therefore I will use the work of W. Eugene Smith as
examples of the mastering of layers and how they make a difference. In
comparison I will present two of my own pictures. One where I am content
with the layers and another on that might have a good story but looks very
flat.

In general a picture consists of a foreground, a middle-ground and a back-

ground. As a beginning photographer I found the best way to use layers
by filling every one of the three basic layers. Placing the subject in the
middle-ground, having something of interest in the foreground and back-
ground can be your first practice when putting an emphasize on layering.

55
 W. Eugene Smith - Country Doctor

The first picture is taken from his series „Country Doctor“. We can see
a rather average story of a doctor giving an injection. What is outstand-
ing in this picture is the way Smith framed it. He was standing outside
the car, but rather than focusing on the doctor and his patient alone he
included the boy in the foreground and the scenery in the background.
If you would try to ignore the boy in the foreground, there would be a dis-
tance created that wouldn‘t draw the viewer into picture, but makes him
feel like an outsider.

The layering in the picture before is rather natural and was already pres-
ent in the scene. But sometimes, we as photographers have to con-
sciously work a scene to create the illusion of depth and layers. There is
a reason why landscape photographers often place a rock in front of their
sea. It is not that they are rock enthusiasts, but that this object creates a
scale and helps us interpret the endlessness of the sea.

56
 W. Eugene Smith - Nurse Midwife

Putting an emphasize on the Foreground

In this case we don‘t have a rock but a rather mundane candle in the
foreground. When telling your story it is more important to fill the remain-
ing layers rather than trying to add to the story on every layer possible. It
might not add to the story itself, but it helps telling it and visualizing the
scene. An interesting photo not only consists of an interesting story, but
also of an appealing narrative.

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Being stuck in two Dimensions

This picture of mine is an example of a flat visualizing of the scene. Not

only does the image consist of two layers it also doesn‘t have anything to
fill the void in between. This makes the subjects look disconnected from
the background and an unlifelike picture. Having people in the back-
ground without distracting the viewer from the middle-ground and adding
something in the foreground could have helped tremendously to tell the
story of the two juxtapositioned persons. For the foreground I could have
added a bypassing car or another person‘s back to also create a triangle.

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This is an example of mine where the layering is working. The main sub-
ject is in the middle-ground with a nice gesture talking to a woman on
the left. In the background are newspapers and windows to border the
scene. The important aspect is that the complete depth of field is filled,
making it a strong lively scene.

Layering is probably one of the most complex topics in photography.

You not only have to focus on one or two subjects, but the whole frame
becomes increasingly important and you need to be aware of every level
that you include. Everyone can get a few snapshots every now and then,
but consciously applying the tool of layering will even increase your rath-
er average images when you feel nothing much of interest is going on
around you.

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Don‘t try too hard in the beginning to only add objects that make „sense“
and add to your story. Concentrate on the main subject and then try to
add an object in the foreground disrupting your view. After a time, the
way you see will change and you will apply those powerful tools more
naturally and they won‘t interrupt your flow of taking pictures. Nobody is
born with the perfect photographic vision and you have to practice hard
to embrace natural aesthetic in your images.

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14 Be an Insider – not a
Bystander

The first lesson learned in Street Photography derives from Capa‘s famous
quote: „If your pictures aren‘t good enough you are not close enough“.
Now if you would take his words literally it could mean that you can im-
prove your pictures by taking a longer lens. Technically speaking your
pictures are now closer on the subject, but this is not what Capa initially
meant. Therefore I will interpret my understanding of „closeness“ in Street
Photography. Along with the article will be pictures of the 1st of May festi-
val in Berlin, called „Myfest”.

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Getting closer

One part of the quote is easy to understand and a helpful lesson to learn
in the beginning. When we start our journey in Street Photography, we
often are too far away. Whether we are too anxious about photographing
in public, or we have the urge to include as much in the frame as possi-
ble. We are too far away from our actual subject and the story we want
to tell. It becomes increasingly difficult for the viewer to understand what
the photographer wants to tell him, when the main subject only takes
up a tiny fraction of the picture. The picture hasn‘t a clear focus no „sto-
ryline“ that the viewer can follow and therefore will more often than not
become uninterested in the picture.

So the first and obvious takeaway is true. If you move physically closer to
the subject the photo will often be better compared to a more distanced
one. You don‘t have to take the Bruce Gilden approach and stuck your
camera in the face of a person, but if you have the feeling to be too far
away from the street scenes moving closer will help you to get into the
scenes.

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Emotional Connections

The way how I interpret is that not only the physical distance matters, but
that it is more important to be part of the scene that you want to photo-
graph or to be an „insider“. When I started in photography I worked on
a series about my local football team that I was a part of. Being a play-
er myself helped me to gain insight into the team, the atmosphere and
what where interesting scenes to photograph. This knowledge helped
me focusing on interesting subjects rather than having to experience ev-
erything for the first time and teach myself how the football thing works.

Street Photography is usually not about such a continuously topic and

it is hard to gain a deep insight when you wander through the streets.
There are a lot of unique events happening that you can‘t be an „insider“.
Along these singular events are also reoccurring topics that might catch
your interest. There could be street musicians that catch your attention
and you want to photograph.

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If you approach the street musicians like most photographers would,
you’d probably stand a few meters away in line with the audience and
get your pictures from there. While this is a good start there are better
opportunities to really get into the scene. Try to break out from the au-
dience and work the scene by taking pictures from different angles and
spots. Most musicians or artists don‘t mind if you walk around them and
look for a better spot, as long as you don‘t disturb them and a nice tip is
always appreciated.

From a viewer‘s perspective, would you rather look at a picture from the
audience far away that anyone could get, or at a picture from the stage
that makes you feel like a rockstar yourself? This might be a bit exagger-
ated, but this is the bottom line of Robert Capa‘s quote.

The right Tools

This is also the reason why I switched from my old Canon and a ~80mm
lens to a RicohGR with a 28mm lens. Whenever I tried to take pictures of
crowds on street festivals like the „Myfest“ I had to distance myself from
the crowd and take a few steps back with the 80mm lens. In my opinion I
could feel this disconnectedness on my pictures and they wouldn‘t really
show what I truly felt during the festivals. Having the shorter lens really
helps me shooting from inside the crowd. They might not be so well com-
posed, but more importantly for me, the viewer can more easily reenact
the atmosphere, the emotions and gets drawn right into the picture.

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To conclude this article there are two topics I wanted to cover in this
chapter.

If you want to feel closer and create pictures that let the viewer emerge
into the photo, try to work the scene by photographing from different
angles, viewing points and simply doing it differently than the majority
would do it. Having a relatively short lens can help you work the scene in
crowded and dense situations and helps you to photograph from inside.

The other important aspect is to work on a project that only you are
able to cover. If you are part of a club or group that follows an interest,
you should try to tell the story from your perspective. No other person
will have the insight that you have and even if you think that the activity
or your job might be too mundane to be worth a photo series, you are
wrong. You are one of the few that are able to share this unique per-
spective and there are more people out there than you think that would
appreciate such a series, because they would never be able to follow this
adventure otherwise.

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