I would like to talk about how my passion for street photography keeps me going through the good and bad times and how having a passion can help relax you when everything around us is falling apart. So please grab a coffee and follow me while I chat about this.
In the past 2 years I’ve had some serious health problems and with those problems I’ve had the added worry that comes with them, people have very different ways of dealing with the everyday problems they have and for me its street photography. It doesn’t matter how busy the streets are I find being out on them with my camera relaxing, I can slow down and breath easy I don’t even have to walk far, I might just find a nice spot of light where I can lean against a wall and stay there for hours watching and waiting for that decisive moment that us street photographers hunt for. I know it sounds crazy but having my camera in my hand its like there's a brick wall between me and the world.
I feel separated from whats going on around me and this really helps me relax and forget about all my problems. I would be truly lost without street photography and more than likely I would be dead by now, so I’m very thankful I have this wonderful passion in my life. My passion has helped me connect with some truly wonderful people that I’m able to give my support to and in return, I get support from them. I’m a very different person if I don’t have my camera with me, I can end up getting angry and frustrated with inanimate objects and the people around me.
The trouble is I can get so relaxed and focused on my street photography that I forget to eat or drink and in some cases, I’ve ended up collapsing, which of course isn’t good, I hate hospitals and that's where I end up, I just don’t notice the chest pains, headaches etc before it's too late. I love being on the streets of London and Cambridge, but as I live in Suffolk the travel can end up causing me more problems, it can take a week (or more) to recover from a trip out, (well at least I have time to go through the photos). When traveling on the train or coach to Cambridge or London I need to time to recover once I’ve arrived, as the travel can make feel sick or be sick, so I’ll head to a coffee house grab a drink put my headphones on and close my eyes for half hour, sounds mad as I’ve been sitting down on the train etc, but nothing is moving in the coffee house so I don’t get dizzy or sick.
I’m sure the reason I find street photography relaxing is there's no pressure, I’m taking photos for me and it doesn’t matter if I have a good or bad day. Plus with street photography I can head out anytime day or night, it's not like landscape or wildlife photography, it can be sunny, raining, snowing etc and I can still have a great experience shooting, of course, the better the weather the better I end up feeling.
I’m a very different street photographer from just a few years ago, back then I would walk for miles and at high speed, I wouldn’t stop until I got home, so having health problems has helped me with my street photography.
There's a misconception about street photographers, people think we only look for the bad on the streets and that for me this isn’t true, I’m always looking for the tender moments between people in love or the kindness of strangers, I feel these moments make for better street photo and in turn this can help me feel better not only in myself, but it can give me faith in the world.
The only thing that would make my day even more relaxing would be if I lived in London or Cambridge, just taking the travel out of the day would make it perfect for me and better for my health, still, I can’t have everything. I have started to do a bit of street photography in my hometown, but if you’ve read my blog called “my hometown” you’ll know how much I hate that. But sometimes my health just won’t allow me to travel which sucks.
The other thing with street photography is the gear I have to carry, it’s now just a camera and lens I don’t need anything more. I have a small bag which has some spare batteries, SD cards my phone and iPad Pro (I only take this if I’m going to London). I really don’t need or want anything more. I’ve even changed my camera to something lighter (Fujifilm’s X-E3), anything that can help me I try to do, there's not much difference in the weight between my new camera and my X-T2, but it all helps.
My change in health has made me change my style of street photography, with all these problems you might have thought I would just give up, however, the opposite is true. I have found a new lease of life with my passion and this more than anything else is keeping focused and in control. On days when I can’t get out with my camera, I spend my time going through photos and of course writing my blogs, my photos will also give me ideas for my blogs and future projects.
Keep focused on your passion and don’t let life get in the way, until next time.
