I’ve learned over the years to have my camera at the ready and always be looking for that scene that can unfold in front of you within seconds and never put your camera away until you’re home.
Like I say this is something that I have learned over the many years I’ve been photographing and this simple rule has served me well. There’s a reason for this blog and it's all to do with this photo:
I was in Cambridge a few weekends ago and I wasn’t feeling it, I spent a good deal of my time walking around the usual places looking for something, anything to shoot, but, it was just one of those days when nothing was clicking. It would’ve been so easy to give up and just sit in a coffee house or to just come home, but if I’d done that then I would’ve got the wonderful photo above, which I’m so happy with.
It doesn’t matter how slow a day you’re having my advice would always be to keep at it, you just never know what is around the next corner and remember it doesn’t matter if you come home with no photos (this happens to me more times than I would care to talk about), there’s always the following day. I never give up and I’ll always use the day to look for new spots and if I find somewhere new I’ll stay there for a while and watch what the people and light do and how they interact with each other. Build your knowledge of the area you shoot in and make good use of your time and of course always keep your camera at the ready.
My camera is like American Express, I never leave home without it and I never put in my bag, this includes when stopping for food, looking around a shop etc I’m always keeping my eye on the environment around me and making sure that I don’t miss anything.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that street photography is easy, it really isn’t, I work incredibly hard when I’m on the streets. You have to be willing to put in the hours and to take the good with the bad, there will always be days where you’ll want to call it quits, but trust me when I say don’t, keep your camera ready and stay focused it can all change in a matter of seconds. By doing this you will grow as a street photographer.
A great deal of street photography is luck, but as Helen Levitt said “There's a lot of work that goes into making that luck” and I agree 100% with this statement. If you plan to head out for 8 hours then stick to that plan and keep at it, on so many occasions I’ve gotten my best photo at the end of the day.
