“Show Notes”
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Marcus says street photography is about capturing incidents happening around you. He also says there is so much to learn from street photography that all photographers should be doing it. He says the need to work at the moment as you see things is perfect training for other types of photography.
Equipment
A street photographer needs to be mobile and discrete. So, no huge camera bags. A camera and a lens or two. He says the lens should be 50mm or wide angle, and the photographer then needs to be close and involved with their subjects. Some street photographers use flash for street photography.
Location
Marcus says it needs to be where people gather. Otherwise, it’s landscape photography. Martin Parr photographs in gas stations, country fairs and other places. Tony Ray Jones is another street photographer. He photographed a lot of beach towns on the East coast of Yorkshire.
How
Marcus says you need to be invisible as a street photographer. Marcus says one approach is “shooting from the hip”. So, having the camera by your waist. Marcus also thinks pre-focusing also helps. Marcus says misdirection is another approach. He says to get your camera out walk towards them, but photograph off to the side. But with a wide-angle lens, they are still in the shot, but it doesn’t look like you are photographing them. The third option is simply to ask people’s permission to photograph them. They will very often say yes. Sam asks about the issue of photographing people without their permission. Marcus says the law is on your side as a street photographer taking photographs.
Marcus’s final approach is called “pick a spot” This approach is to find a photographic location and wait there for people to go past.
What are you looking for?
To start with, take some photographs. It doesn’t matter what, just warm up. Then, you are looking for people interacting with each other. People interact with the background or environment.
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“Show Transcription”
Sam: Hello Marcus, how is everything with you?
Marcus: Things are good Sam, thank you very much, things are good, and yourself?
Sam: Very good, thank you, very good, and you were off on a photo shoot this morning, were you?
Marcus: Do you know what, I was, and I was thinking on the shoot about what I’m going to be talking about this afternoon, well not in depth obviously, because that would not be correct, but I was thinking, and yeah, I think what I’m going to talk about, which is street photography, is going to be really useful for all types of photography, and I’m going to explain what I mean by that. So yeah, I’m talking about street photography.
Sam: Excellent, okay, sounds interesting, well take it away then.
Marcus: Okay, so I’m going to start off in classic fashion with a little quote from Wikipedia about what street photography actually is. Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public spaces. Usually, let me finish, usually with the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by careful framing and timing, yes.
Sam: So it’s actually more about the incident than the street itself?
Marcus: Yeah, I mean obviously it’s a broad subject, street photography, but yeah, it’s about what goes on on the street as it were.
Sam: I mean it sounds slightly from Wikipedia’s description like press photography in some ways, it’s saying there’s stuff going on and you’re capturing it as it’s happening.
Marcus: Well, this is what I’m saying, Sam. This is why I think—this is why I put this podcast together—because I think street photography, what you can learn from it, is so profound that it applies to so many other types of photography. You know, this morning, as I was saying on this shoot, I was photographing in an automotive training academy, and it’s all, you know, fairly wide. It’s all action going on—people moving around quite quickly—you know, busy backgrounds, busy scenes, poor lighting. But all the skills that I learned as a street photographer—and believe me, when I started off in photography, I spent years just walking the streets, looking for photographs—all those skills that I picked up, I think, have helped me get to where I am today with my compositions and my framing, etc., if that makes sense.
Sam: Yeah, so it kind of gives you training for that—doing things quickly but doing it right.
Marcus: Ah, that’s exactly right, Sam. And how else do you do it? It’s like a marathon runner or an athlete who’s going to train—they’re going to do intervals, they’re going to do conditioning or whatever. What can you do as a photographer to get a better eye? You’ve got to take photographs, and you’ve got to take them in challenging environments, and that’s what street photography is.
So, let’s dive in straight away with equipment. The main thing about street photography is that you want to be mobile, you want to be able to react quickly to the ever-changing environment, and you want to be discreet. You know, you can’t really—you don’t want to stand out. So, you need compact equipment. One camera—obviously, traditionally a film camera—but nowadays, one camera. Some mirrorless cameras are very good for street photography; they’re small, they look like old-fashioned cameras, they don’t really stand out. You want one lens or a couple of lenses. A wide lens is the normal route to go down—you know, a 28mm, maybe a 35mm, or maybe a 50mm—something within that range. And I’ll explain why that is a bit further.
You don’t really see street photographers going around with a telephoto lens. You might think, “Oh, that’s going to make it easier—then you can just photograph people from a long way back and not be noticed.” But that’s not what it’s about. Street photography is about being involved with your subject.
Sam: Yeah, so it’s not picking something off from miles away. It’s almost—you know, you need the wide angle because you’re in the hustle and bustle where it’s all happening.
Marcus: That’s right, Sam, exactly. And there are certain things about a wide-angle lens—they focus quickly, you don’t need such high f-stops to get a big depth of field—all these things make them very useful. You know, and yeah, again, I’ll unpack that a little bit further.
So, lenses—sometimes there are street photographers who use flash photography and are known for it. People like—well, the name I always mention, of course, is Martin Parr. I mentioned this on the show—he is well known for flash. Bruce Gilden is another photographer who uses flash photography. So, yeah, there are people who do that.
Sam: And then, presumably, we’re just talking about a nice, simple flash on top of the camera—so it’s there, ready to go? Simple.
Marcus: Exactly. Definitely. I mean, you know, if you’re really into using flash—and I did use a lot of flash—you can actually get a short lead to take the flash off the camera. You hold it in one hand—it’s quite tricky—you hold it in one hand, and then you sort of hold the camera in the other, and you’ve got to balance between the two. But that does give you great control over your lighting.
And, of course, ideally, you’re going to be shooting in manual mode.
So, when people normally think about street photography, they think about cities—New York, London, or whatever. But it doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be in places where people gather. I do think, as a rule, you can say that street photography has got to have people in it, really.
Sam: There’s not much action happening otherwise, is there?
Marcus: Yeah, I mean, you know—it becomes landscape photography otherwise, doesn’t it?
Sam: Yeah, I guess so. Unless the absence of people is notable—if you know what I mean. Like, I don’t know—it’s Times Square, but there’s nobody there. And then that’s noticeable because there’s nobody there.
Marcus: Yeah, exactly. But normally, they have people in them. But as you say, it’s not just cities. I mean, again, going back to Martin Parr—he photographs country fairs, he photographs supermarkets, he photographs gas stations—you know, lots of very diverse spaces. But traditionally, it’s done in a city, you know, or a small town.
Another photographer—and I will have quite a lot of names here, Sam, so I’ll get those to you to put at the end of the show notes. Another photographer from the ’60s, called Tony Ray-Jones, is one of my favorite photographers. He photographed on the beaches—like the east coast of England beaches. Or the northeast coast, in fact—around your manor, around where you used to live.
Sam: Okay, yeah—Bridlington and Whitby and all of those.
Marcus: Exactly. Those kinds of places, yeah. And do check him out—Tony Ray-Jones. He is magical at how he captures street photography. He just captures the moment unbelievably.
Okay, so we’ve talked about equipment, we’ve talked a bit about location—let’s now move on to how you do it. I’ve written down the word invisible here, okay? So, we’re going to start off with—Henri Cartier-Bresson, the very famous street photographer, used to say that he was invisible. I used to read that thinking, What does that mean? How can he be invisible? But there are ways you can do it.
The first way that our listeners might want to try is what we call “shooting from the hip.” Have you heard of that phrase at all, Sam?
Sam: Yeah, my father does it at parties. He annoys everybody because he’s taking their pictures, and they don’t notice.
Marcus: That’s exactly right. Well, that’s how you become invisible. So, shooting from the hip is basically, yeah, not looking through the viewfinder. You have it on your lap or in your hand, down by your waist, wherever you’re walking along, and you’re going to have to pre-focus the camera. So, you’re going to need a lens that you can pre-focus with—a distance scale on there—and you might set it at, like, two metres or something.
Sam: Or, if you’ve got digital, can you not just hope that the autofocus, like, sorts it?
Marcus: You can do. I mean, when I was doing it, I did it all on manual focus, which I think, sometimes, is even better. Maybe these days, with a mirrorless camera, it would focus fast enough. It’s surprising how slow they do focus, and it’s always in poor light. If you can get the idea of pre-focusing manually—using a distance scale—that is a really handy skill to have.
Another way you can do it, okay, is you’re going to be shooting people that are, like, two metres away. Focus on something with autofocus that is two metres away, then lock the focus point by turning the camera to manual. And then you’ll know that, with a wide-angle lens—again, 28mm or 35mm—set at f/8, anything will be in focus, really. It’s got such a depth of field.
Sam: You’ve got a pretty big range of error there, haven’t you?
Marcus: Big range of error, Sam, and it just means your camera’s going to shoot really, really quick. It doesn’t need to focus—bang, you’ve got it. So, shooting from the hip—that’s one good way of doing it, of not getting noticed and getting really up close to people.
The second way I’ve got here is misdirection.
Sam: That sounds like a magician’s box of tricks now.
Marcus: It does. That’s why I had a pregnant pause there—hoped you might say that.
So, what that means is—and again, you do need a wide-angle lens—I became quite good at this, much to my sort of, well, whatever. What it basically means is, let’s say you’ve got a subject that you want to photograph. What you do is spy them from a little way out, and then you put your camera to your eye and start walking toward them. But if you’ve got a wide-angle lens, you can sort of point your camera away and have them on the side.
So, even if you’re really close to them, it looks like you’re photographing what’s behind them. People don’t think you’re photographing them. I know it’s a bit sneaky.
Sam: Right, because you’re not pointing it right at them.
Marcus: Yeah, so if you’ve got a 28mm lens, you can get them slightly to the side, frame the shot, take the shot, and then—when you take your camera away from your eye—this is where the most important moment is. Do not look at them. Carry on looking behind them, as it were.
Then, you can look at your camera, bring it back to your eye, and just keep doing that—reframing it. I know it’s sneaky, but it does work if you want to get up close to people.
The third way is, obviously, asking permission, which is my preferred method. People are flattered if you ask them to take a photograph. The more confident you are in asking people, the more you do it, the more likely they are to say yes.
And I think that just covers a lot of ground, really. Yeah, they’re happy about it. Make sure you get their email—you can send them the photograph, all sorts of stuff. You can do that.
Sam: Okay.
Marcus: The final way.
Sam: Because I mean, I was going to ask with the other ways about permission. Because what are your thoughts about the taking photographs without people’s permission? What’s your thoughts on that?
Marcus: Well, I’ve got a little bit about ethics at the end, which I will cover. But it’s worth just going onto that now, because what you’re saying is really important. And it’s actually, it’s what stopped me doing street photography and moving more into working with people who are getting paid. Because I did feel quite bad about it. But legally, you are allowed to photograph more than one person. The person’s individual, it does become a little bit sketchy, I believe. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know, obviously, the ins and outs. And it does get complicated. But really, for a street photographer, the law is pretty much on your side. You can do what you want.
Sam: Okay, so it’s more down to your conscience and how you feel appropriate. I guess it depends on what you’re photographing and what’s going on, doesn’t it? As to kind of, you know, if there’s kind of, it’s more press-like and there’s something going on a big, I can’t try and think of what might be going on. But there’s some kind of, I don’t know, a small riot going on down your street. Then you’re kind of documenting it. That’s quite different from passing by and there’s one person stood there and you thought they looked quite striking and you want their picture. There is quite, there’s kind of different things, aren’t they?
Marcus: I totally understand. It’s very, very different. And I think you just got to be careful and be respectful of people. And I must admit, the photographs that I see that do annoy me are photographs of people who are disadvantaged in the street. You know, maybe they might be homeless. They might be suffering from stress. And they can’t move. You know, those are, dare I say, easy targets. And I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from doing that. And I do see a lot of people photographing.
Sam: Unless you’ve spoken to them first and they’re happy with it.
Marcus: Yeah, that is completely different.
Sam: That’s a completely different thing, isn’t it?
Marcus: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I’d say, and the last one I’ve got is called Pick a Spot. And again, this is one that I favoured strongly, especially for doing fashion-type photographs. It’s basically what you do is you find somewhere like, I’m looking at Rowindy now. I’m looking at the house opposite, and it’s got a green wall and a red doorway. A very striking colour combination. And if I saw that in the street or whatever those colours, I’d think, oh, that looks really nice. That’d be a great background. And then basically, I’d wait for people to pass in front of me. Like fishing. Like fishing, Sam. That’s what that is like. Okay. And that, you know, you’ve got to be really patient. But that way, you can get some very solid, striking photographs. And that’s one of my favourite ones.
Sam: Yeah, because you know the location is good.
Marcus: Yeah, you can even, you know, take it one step further and ask people, talk to people and say, do you mind coming round here? They said, just move over here. There’s a great location I found. I’d love to do it. So there we go. Finally, the last section I’ve got is, what are you looking for? When you’re on the street, it can be very overwhelming. And I think the first thing you’ve got to do is obviously, it’s how just keep, take a few photographs of anything. And that’ll just get you warmed up. It gets you mentally warmed up and it gets your eye, hand coordination, or, you know, all on song. So just start taking anything.
But what are you looking for? Well, you know, people reacting with other people is obviously prime fodder for street photography.
Sam: Yeah, that interaction.
Marcus: Yeah, it could be a riot, like you say. It could be people talking.
Sam: But hopefully not. I don’t know where that one came from, Marcus. I was trying to think of lots of things going on.
Marcus: Well, it’s a good theme. Yeah, so people reacting with each other. It could be people interacting with the background or the environment. And again, going back to Henri Cartier-Bresson, this is what he was very good at. He coined this idea, the decisive moment, about when all the elements come together, the people, the background, and it just makes a unique composition. Why, you know, you’re not going to be shooting with your camera wide open. The background is part of the scene, is part of the story, rather. So you want to be shooting at a good depth of field. And again, Sam, that’s why, going back to what I said earlier, I think doing a really, you know, getting out there on the street and practicing street photography is really good for your general photography.
Sam: Yeah, excellent. Yeah, get out there, get practicing.
Marcus: Sorry, and the last one I’ve got is the colour, light, and gesture. So you’re looking for certain colours that are working. Somebody might be wearing a red dress against a red background, or a different colour background. Light, you’re going to be looking for, you know, streaks of light, like in New York when, you know, in the morning or evening, that you get the light coming in really beautifully. And gesture is these close-up ones. This is what Martin Parr is very good at. Are they people’s hands? Or it might be, you know, just little things that they’re doing that you’re really paying close attention to. Just one thing that is worth mentioning, and we talked about the law of photographing people in the street. You’ll actually find there’s more laws attached to not photographing buildings.
Sam: Okay, bizarre.
Marcus: Bizarrely, the Eiffel Tower, you cannot photograph, believe it or not, commercially. In London, there’s various iconic buildings that you are not allowed to photograph.
Sam: But frankly, if you turn up and you’ve not got a ton of kit, you’re going to have a hard time.
Marcus: That is it. One camera, one lens, flash if you need it. That’s all you need. Get out there, walk the streets and enjoy yourself.
Sam: All sounds good. Excellent. Thank you, Marcus. Yeah, so that has given us lots of ideas.
Get out there, get practicing. And yeah, then it will really help you, won’t it? With those fast reaction shots, like you say, if you’re at an event, if you’re wherever you’re taking pictures, you’re just in the habit of being able to get them quickly without a lot of faff and a lot of thought. But they’re good ones because you practiced a lot.
Marcus: I think so, Sam. I mean, just, you know, I mean, I’ve never seen documented people saying about this idea of hand-eye coordination. But it seems to me that you’ve got to practice it. And the more you practice it, the better you get at it. And why not practice it doing street photography, where things really do happen randomly? You’ve got no control over it whatsoever.
Sam: Sounds perfect. Right, Marcus. Excellent. That is really good. So listeners, what we would really like is some reviews. So wherever you are listening to your podcast, be that on Apple, be that Spotify or be it somewhere else, please, please, please give us a review. That would be really helpful. Give us those five stars or as many stars there are. Give us a review that really helps other photographers find the show and helps us be more useful to more people. And Marcus, I will see you next week.
Marcus: See you next week, Sam. Take care.
