Street Photography is not glamorous
If you are searching for
glamour in the world of photography, then street photography is not the right
field for you. From Lights, Camera, Action, only the Camera is the silent
spectator here. There are no special lights and no action effects. Just the
camera and your object or subject. Street photography is closer to reality.
Reality is closer to the factual world than the fictional world of glamour. In
street photography there is posing of scenes, no control of props, no control
over light conditions, & most of the time the subject is not aware that he or
she is being photographed.
Street Photography is not
a shortcut to making money
In India, especially, street photography has not as yet become a source of sustainable income
generation for photographers. Press photography as a photojournalist for the
press can make you some money. Street photography is more for connecting on a
personal level or on a very local level with humanity in general and with the
heart and soul of India. Very few opportunities exist for making a decent
living out of street photography. The genre of SP is not money-making at all.
Still, if you are persistent and want to make some pocket money out of your street photography venture, then here are a few tips:
·
Publish
e-books and sell them online for a small charge for downloading the full e-book.
·
Organize photo walks or photo tours for amateurs & beginners.
·
Organize
Photo Exhibitions Cum Sales
·
Participate
in Camera Company Exhibitions and Sell your framed photos in commercial stalls.
·
Create
Audio & Video Tutorials
·
Arrange
Webinars on topics of Street Photography
· Publish hard- or soft-bound books only if you are well known by readers.
·
Sell
your Services as a Photographer for Street projects of NGOs.
· Sell your best photographs to stock agencies and advertising companies.
· Finally, sell your photograph and its rights to Newspapers and Magazines for one-time fee or for lifetime royalties.
Street Photography is not
easy work
Many individuals entering the world of photography feel motivated when they see other photographers, such as tourists, press reporters, and professionals, working. SP requires energy, motivation, and stamina to continue working the streets to a T, meaning thoroughly. In sunshine or moonshine, even in the hot sultry summers of India and the moist humid climate of the monsoons. The field of street photography needs a lot of courage and a composed mind to walk unknown streets and start clicking pictures of more unknown or strange people. Street photography is not a 1-day job or a 1-week assignment or even a 1-month project. It demands a lifetime of commitment to survive and sustain oneself in an environment that does not provide any form of financial independence. Street photography can also be rightly called "reality photography," and many Indians or locals may not like their harsh or real conditions to be documented for the world to see.
Street Photography should
not be used to document poverty only
Many street photographers are tempted to show more of poverty or negativity in their clicked pictures, because negativity has more buyers or people who appreciate it. This by itself provides a photography assignment of attempting to also click positive pictures and to the bright side of every local place. Development, infrastructure, and cultural richness of a place can also be documented for posterity. Street photography, though realistic and the closest that one can get to humanity through a lens, should never demean humans and their conditions.
Street Photography is not
only about streets
SP can encompass anything
that is out there in the open, waiting to be captured either on film or on a digital
canvas. Street photography is also called candid photography because most of
the time, the artist, through his lens, tries to capture gestures, postures,
poses, styles, expressions, facial features, etc., without informing the subject,
thus getting totally realistic images that are normally called candid
photos. Street photography can also include anything that is in the background
of the composed image, such as buildings, staircases, alleys, roads, cars,
animals, buses, trains, planes, and shops; the list is limitless. Street
photography tries to apply to all areas, activities, infrastructures, vehicles,
animals, birds, people, buildings, shops, etc.—anything that can be shot without
legal hindrance being in the open spaces meant specifically for the public. Invading any private space or spying on people, businesses, or countries does not come
within the purview of street photography.
Street photography is not
only in black & white.
This is a total misnomer that street photography always has to be shot in black & white. Though always and by majority considered to be the first choice to communicate life on the streets through strong and emotive black and white photography, this need not be the rule for one and all. For example: In many places in rural India, especially in North India, color is an important facet and is part and parcel of daily life. The desert lands of Rajasthan state have fewer blooming colorful flowers and more blossoming women draped in the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. Since color photographs appear to be more cheerful, many artists deviate from it and stick to experimenting in black and white. It is easier to depict harsh reality and extreme poverty in the black and white medium than in the full splash of color. Many a time some situations demand only black and white, and other times one cannot do without having the color mode on.
Street photography is not
about showing off your equipment’s
Have you ever wondered
what people would stare at if you walked any streets of the world, totally
stark naked, while carrying multiple cameras around your neck and more in hand?
Would the public be amazed at your latest and modern and expensive multiple digital
cameras, or would they be amused seeing your private family jewelry dangling on
the streets for attention?
Cameras and accessories
and equipment’s are meant to work for you and not to become an extension of
your ego, especially out in the middle of the roads amidst hundreds of public
people.
On the streets, anywhere
in the world, the artist does not want to attract any attention to himself or cameras, as that will disturb his natural environment around him, and he/she will
not get good candid clicks then.
Hence, it is always recommended to move out on the streets with only, I repeat again, only 1 camera with all adjustments done and in a ready-to-shoot mode. This way you will not distract yourself and also not attract unnecessary attention towards you.
Street photography is
also not only Portrait photography
Portraiture, or photographing portraits, is part of street photography, but everything about SP is not only about clicking portraits. On the contrary, SP would like to involve even the immediate surroundings around the Portrait of the Person. The person is not an entity by itself; it is the foreground, the background, and the surroundings that complete the person in the frame. Also, it is extremely difficult to click portrait photographs without standing directly in front of the person. Eye contact will happen naturally, and it will surely change the dynamics of your image. Yes. One can shoot with a long-distance zoom lens without invading the private space of the subject, but then one has to sacrifice on the clarity and sharpness of the picture.
Street Photography is not
only Candid photography
There are many who argue that street photography should click the people in the streets secretly without ever disturbing them and with them not looking directly at the lens while being shot.
Actually, street photography is composed of three types:
1.
Candid
Photography
2.
Photography
with Permission
3. Staged Photography on Streets
The majority of the street
photographers love to click candid photographs, and they surely do have a large
audience and following. There are a few experienced and extroverted photographers
who are extremely comfortable with their social skills and are adept at asking
people for permission to shoot them. In this type of street photography, you
will find the subjects in the photos looking directly into the camera lens. The
least popular of them all in street photography is staged photography, wherein the artist may introduce his own props, add lighting effects, control the
crowds, decide who poses within the frame area, etc. This is like taking a
little bit of the “artificial” to the “real” world and combining the best of
the two to get striking street photographs.
