Are You a Street Photographer?
The subtitle of this post could be “Why I’m not a Street Photographer” because it’s not a genre that I’m not comfortable shooting but one of my (few) resolutions is to try to do it. I might even do a PhotoWalk in Downtown Denver and will post about it here as soon as some warmer weather is forecast, that way we can improve our street photography together.
While studying photography at the Maryland Institute of Art, I was privileged to have Jack Wilgus as an teacher. One of my fondest memories of Jack was his facetious comment about how some of the best photographs were made by students “in the break room.” Not real photographs, mind you, but all of those comments from my fellow students about the great photographs they were going to make. While some of those images may have actually gotten made, I’ll bet few of them actually produced the photographs they talked about so excitedly with their friends and Jack’s comments echo with me today.
We often get so wrapped up in what we’ve been doing for so long that we forget to explore the kind of new directions that attracted us to photography in the first place.
We digital imagers, for example, spend so much time being mesmerized by the pixels on our monitors we forget to make time to create some new photographs, something different from the last bunch of photos we made. I think it’s a good idea to not only take time to smell the roses but photograph them as well. Make yourself a promise this week that you’ll go out and make some new images.
Tip: What are your rights when photographing on the street? Bert P. Krages II attorney at law has developed a one-page flyer containing information on what your rights are when stopped and confronted by authorities. As the author of “ Legal Handbook for Photographers ,” Mr. Krages is knowledgeable about photographer’s rights. This document explains what your rights are, legal remedies if harassed, but most importantly how to handle these kinds of confrontations. Print a copy and keep it in your camera bag—just in case.
