march 10 – 11 i was in a street photography workshop in downtown los angeles. bellamy hunt (aka japan camera hunter) and rinzi ruiz ran the workshop with elizabeth wang-lee adding to the slides and discussion. i loved this workshop. we did a ton of shooting. a ton! each day was about 8 hours total … 10am – 6pm … day one we shot for about 2 hours, day two we were on the streets for about 6 hours … and i loved it. we hit the fashion district, jewelry district, santee alley, city hall, central market, little tokyo, union station, olvera street and more … i’m sure i’m forgetting some places … (my 5 favorite images are at the bottom of the page)<\/p>\n
what did i learn from this workshop? i think the main thing i learned this weekend is that street photography is a very individual process. each photographer has a different idea of what street photography is to them. each photographer has a different style of street photography and different ways of approaching it and different ideas of how to achieve it.<\/p>\n
i learned that some photographers chase light and others chase people.<\/p>\n
some photographers prefer to move on the streets while others like to find a great location and wait for the right subject to walk through.<\/p>\n
i learned that the fear of shooting in the streets is mostly in your head. 95% of the time people either don’t notice you or don’t care. and that the words “thank you” immediately after the shot can disarm many situations.<\/p>\n
while i do not have a street style yet, i learned that i prefer eye contact in my images, most of the time.<\/p>\n
i learned that film is making a huge comeback.<\/p>\n
i learned that there’s a difference between a street photograph and street portrait.<\/p>\n
i learned that people have different opinions about bokeh …<\/p>\n
i learned to start looking for and chasing light.<\/p>\n
i learned that all of the streettogs i have met are very willing to help. they are willing to share their knowledge, share their opinions and share their gear all to help others improve.<\/p>\n
this weekend reinforced the idea that, when photographing someone walking … look for the triangle. It gives the image energy.<\/p>\n
i learned that the central market has great tacos (i actually learned this in jordan’s lightroom class).<\/p>\n
i learned that i should stop watermarking my images that i put on line and just post them in a low resolution so if someone wants to use them without permission they will be basically unusable.<\/p>\n
i learned that i over share my images. i already knew this, but it was reinforced: i need to edit, edit, edit.<\/p>\n
i learned that i can win a raffle.<\/p>\n
i learned that my generosity is slow take hold because when i won the raffle of an item that i purchased 24 hours prior, i should have had them re-raffle the item so someone else could have won it.<\/p>\n
i learned that downtown is a lot smaller than i realized … we walked from the staples center to olvera street (and back).<\/p>\n
i think what i really learned is that no one can actually teach you how to be a street photographer. they can help you, they can give you tips and pointers and let you know what works for them, but in the end, street photography is a personal experience and expression, you choose what pointers you want to take and which ones don’t apply to you.<\/p>\n
finally, i learned that if rinzi and\/or bellamy hold any more street workshops, i’ll be there.<\/p>\n
some shots from the workshop weekend:<\/p>\n