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Art and coincidence: perfect examples of the decisive moment

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Photography has been with me for as long as I can remember. In my childhood, my father had an old Zorki camera, the Russian Leica II copies, and he had a habit of developing films from our trips in the darkroom. That place with unfamiliar smells and substances had a unique charm for me.

I always asked to be there and learn myself the process of film development, as seeing the blank paper turn into an image was magical to me. Later on, I was accepted to the Faculty of Art and focused on visual arts and analog photography.

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Photographer rigs an IMAX projector lens to a Canon EOS R

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When shooting street photography, you’ll most likely choose a small and discreet lens. But sometimes it’s worth experimenting with bulky ones, and Jay P. Morgan sure took it to a new level. He rigged a huge IMAX projector lens onto a Canon EOS R camera. He used a very DIY approach to make it work, but it was worth the effort because the photos are truly something else.

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These 22 “street photography” pictures are just what you need if you are in lockdown

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In this gloomy time, I think we all need a bit of laughter, but also a bit of inspiration to start observing the world around us. Hong Kong-based photographer Edas Wong brings humor and street photography together. His “accidental” photos will give you the giggles I’m sure you need, but also motivate you to get outside with your camera and look at the world from another point of view.

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This article sparks outrage after calling street photography “gender-based violence”

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An opinion piece in the NY Daily News recently caused quite a stir after referring to street photography as “gender-based violence.” The author shares her encounters with street photographers, two of which ended in her calling the police. She even proposes a law that would “protect women against all nonconsensual, exploitative photography and videography.” As you can imagine, her opinion wasn’t appreciated by street photographers or anyone who appreciates this photography genre.

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How to take street photos like Vivian Maier

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Vivian Maier is probably the biggest photographic phenomenon of 2010s. After her negatives were discovered, her immense talent was shared with the world, and there’s even a documentary about her. If you look up to her work, Frederik Trovatten has a really interesting video for you. In the very first episode of How to Take Photos Like…, he analyzes Maier’s work and tries to replicate her unique style.

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If Sharpness Truly Mattered Cartier-Bresson Would Be a Joke

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While teaching a recent workshop I joked that street photography was the only genre where people would buy £3k worth of cameras and lenses and then deliberately use them to make out of focus, grainy, imperfect images. This led to a pretty interesting discussion about the merits to imperfection, and I think some of those points are worth sharing here, as it really helped contextualise some of the students ideas about their work, and allowed them to shoot a little more freely, chasing down perfection in moments rather than technicalities.

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Six techniques for getting better at street photography

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It goes without saying that if you want to get better at something you have to practice. Simple, right? The thing is, that unlike more structured pursuits such as sports or music, the idea of practicing street photography seems a bit hard to wrap one’s head around. But before we get into that, we should establish the best methodology for practice in in general.

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Do you know your top five photographs?

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How many people remember my interview with Eric Kim? This was a huge deal for me! I remember when I first started shooting street, his blog was one of the first that I came by. It was filled with so much information, but what was more interesting to me were the interviews he did with other street photographers. These interviews helped me discover so many photographers, Brian Day, Damian Vignol, Josh White… I could name so many. I just remember thinking, my work is going to be next to theirs… again it was just really exciting for me.

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5 pieces of street photography advice you should ignore

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Street Photographers are not known for their reserve. We are happy to give advice on gear, framing and technique. But I believe the best photographers are those who also seek advice and look to learn from others. But not all advice is equal, and some ideas are outdated, narrow minded, or just plan wrong. In this article I am going to go question some of the advice that has almost become folklore in Street Photography, and pose the question, is it time to move on?

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Nothing touches, but everything is connected: Studying figure to ground in my composition

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Figure to ground means that a subject or idea (figure) is clearly defined against a background. This can be achieved through technical means, ie depth of field, or compositional means. My preferred method is to make sure that everything in my photographs fit neatly in place. Unless elements are specifically interacting then they do not need to touch. No lampposts coming out of heads in portraits, no walls going through bodies.

Everything where it needs to be, like pieces of a puzzle.

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