We all wish we could travel the world taking street photos, but for most of us, this isn’t possible due to our commitments with work or families. I spend most of my time on the streets with my camera, but the weather here in the UK can be bloody awful and after having weeks and sometimes months of crap, cold, wet weather, I get easily fed up with being wet and cold so I’ll spend a good majority of my time writing blogs and of course surfing the internet waiting and hoping for a warm sunny day. I do enjoy going through photos that my friend's who live in other countries post on sites like Instagram or Facebook (only reason I still use social media) but at the same time, I sit at home looking through these photos wishing I could travel the world visiting these places, spending my time doing nothing but street photography. However, thinking about this can and has made me depressed, and the depression has gotten so bad in the past that I've even thought about quitting street photography as I didn’t see any point in me continuing with it if all I’m doing is shooting in the same place over and over, I mean after a while the photos just start looking the same.
However, there must be something positive about shooting in the same places over and over and the simple answer is Yes, of course, there is and it’s these positives that keep me going.
The first positive is that we get to know the cities that we live in (or visit) really well, we know what the sunlight is going to do at certain times of the day and we can be ready to get those decisive moments, we will also know when the cities hold the best events that can work well for street shooting. A great positive from shooting in the same places is the hunt, the hunt for that new spot, it can be an alley that you’ve walked past 100 times, a new restaurant, the photo below was taken through the window of a brand new restaurant in Cambridge called the Ivory:
There is always something new in the old and again it’s this that keeps me going.
A city I visit at least 3 times a week in Cambridge, it’s only half hour from where I live, I have fond memories of visiting Cambridge from when I was a child, the look and feel of the city is very different from anywhere else in the UK and I think a lot of this comes from the people of Cambridge and not just those that live and work there. Cambridge is very popular with tourists.
Street photographers visiting Cambridge for the first time will have a very different set of eyes compared to myself, they might think it's a big place and I guess it is (for the UK), but for street photography, Cambridge is small and trying to make a good street photo that stands out isn’t easy. So each time I visit I'll always be on the look for somewhere different and therein lies the challenge and it's here within the challenge that I find my positives about shooting in the same places.
Visiting a city where you might only have a long weekend or maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have a few weeks there, you're going to struggle with finding the areas that offer what you need to make a good street photo, plus you won’t have the luxury to revisit as often as you like. So again here comes the positives of shooting in the same cites over and over.
When it comes to somewhere like Cambridge I still don't think I've gotten the perfect photo that sums up the city and I’ve been shooting here for more than 6 years. By going out day after day we find small corners of these places and were able to revisit them time after time trying to get that perfect street photo and this is another positive, the ability to be able to revisit without time limits is great.
We can also fall into traps that include going to the same places in the city, I have fallen into this trap when it comes to London. I love London and I try to visit at least once a week, but I find myself going to the same areas, Chinatown, Southbank, etc or for that matter I might find myself visiting on the same day of the week and trust me this can make all difference to certain areas, like Brick Lane, you visit here on a Sunday and place will be alive with the market and 1000’s of people, but go during the week and it’s almost empty. This is also the same for the city of London, your better here during the week when the offices are open.
I need to push myself into going somewhere different and again here in lies another positive, when we find a place in the city that I’ve never been to before, it’s like we’re visiting a brand new city and I love this.
A few months ago me Christian Cross decided to walk along the canal that runs through London, we had never been here for street photography and it was amazing, it really didn’t feel or look like London, as crazy as it sounds but even the people were different, nicer lol. I didn’t take many photos, but the ones I did get were fresh and just looked different from anything I had taken before and then just this past weekend we decided to spend the day walking in and around the Royal parks which like the canal was peaceful. But again what I can’t do is revisit this area every time I visit London, I must make the effort to find more new places in this amazing city.
We always think the grass is greener on the other side, but I bet if you were to talk to a street photographer that lives in New York and has been shooting there for the past 30 years they would also feel the same way. I guess the bigger the city the easier it is, but is this right? I don’t think so when visiting Cambridge I’ve been trying to find new areas for street photography.
And then there’s what street photography really is, documentary photography. It’s a way for future generations to look back, the documentation of these areas and how these will change over time, let’s face it we all love looking at old photos from the areas where we grow up, seeing these photos can spark all sorts of emotions. And here comes another positive and maybe the most important positive, as street photographers we're able to capture photos of these places which at the time when we take the photo it might not seem important but as time goes by that photo will become important. So maybe we have a duty to document our towns and cities for future generations to see how they have changed over the years. I love thinking like this, it makes me feel immortal, the fact that maybe 20 years after I die someone will be looking at my photo and remembering something about their childhood. Photographs have a real social relevance which is not realized by the photographer at the time of taking the photo and may only come to light many years later. A classic example of this is could be something as simple as a photograph taken on the London tube of people reading newspapers and magazines something which was commonplace on the tube as means of avoiding social interaction, 20 years ago this would’ve been a simple street photo which meant nothing. But today this photo would show a stark contrast in the technology shift as everybody is now on phones and tablets, but people still behave the same and giving insight for social historians, the original photo has now found it’s true place and meaning in time.
