Street Photography is Universal

Of all the different kinds of image making that a photographer can undertake, street photography is the universal genre.

Can’t travel to the exotic destination of your dreams? Go to your nearest town and do some street photography. If there are people there, you can do street photography. You can make images of people doing what people do - everyday activities such as walking, running, walking their dog, riding their bikes, eating lunch at a sidewalk cafe, window shopping, visiting a park, doing Yoga, Tai Chi or just reading a book.

If there are people around, you can do street photography. There is always something to photograph because people are always doing something. If you look deeply enough, you can find something of interest in the supposedly mundane goings on of everyday life.

I got started in street photography because I wanted to be able to make photographs more often than just when I’m traveling or on vacation. You can’t photograph once or twice a year for a week and expect to get better as a photographer. That is what initially drew me into this genre of photography - the desire to make more photographs more often, and in the process to improve my photography.

If you want to get better as a photographer, street photography is one of the very best training grounds; why is that? Because it’s difficult. It’s challenging. You have no control over your subject matter and you have to learn how to anticipate and to nail the shot at just the right instant - “the decisive moment” as Henri Cartier-Bresson called it. If you are willing to step outside of your comfort zone, overcome your nervousness and photograph strangers on the street, you will improve and grow as a photographer.

It takes time to improve, but if you keep at it, your compositional skills and your images will slowly improve as you hone your visual skills, your perception and your photographic eye. Transforming your photography takes time - but it is time well spent if you are committed to image making.