Street photography has encompassed my everyday life just by the way I see things. I see light peeking through buildings. I see split second interactions before they occur. And I see the color of life, painted on an imaginary 4x6 frame drawn by my brain. Then that moment would be frozen in space and time only to be judged as worthy to share or not.
One photographer that has recently influenced my work is Stephen Shore. And through his photos, he describes the world as absurd and chaotic. “Photography is inherently an analytic discipline. Where a painter starts with a blank canvas and builds a picture, a photographer starts with the messiness of the world and selects a picture.” And how exactly did he show the chaos? He did this by shooting in color and giving life to each photo even if they contained nothing but abandoned gas stations and isolated phone booths.
Although modern color film has been around since 1935, when Kodak introduced Kodachrome, it was never a popular choice up until the 1960s. So before that, most of the ones we call masters of photography had no other option but to shoot in black and white. Monochrome has a certain subtle appeal that lets the viewer focus on the abstractions of reality and gives emphasis on emotion.Color seemingly shows too much and leaves little to the imagination. So the challenge is how do you kindle the interest of your viewer. People see color everywhere, so how would you produce an image so compelling that they take some time out of their day to look at. To answer that, I've compiled some images that I like from different photographers that I've met personally or have followed for a while.
One photographer that has recently influenced my work is Stephen Shore. And through his photos, he describes the world as absurd and chaotic. “Photography is inherently an analytic discipline. Where a painter starts with a blank canvas and builds a picture, a photographer starts with the messiness of the world and selects a picture.” And how exactly did he show the chaos? He did this by shooting in color and giving life to each photo even if they contained nothing but abandoned gas stations and isolated phone booths.
Although modern color film has been around since 1935, when Kodak introduced Kodachrome, it was never a popular choice up until the 1960s. So before that, most of the ones we call masters of photography had no other option but to shoot in black and white. Monochrome has a certain subtle appeal that lets the viewer focus on the abstractions of reality and gives emphasis on emotion.Color seemingly shows too much and leaves little to the imagination. So the challenge is how do you kindle the interest of your viewer. People see color everywhere, so how would you produce an image so compelling that they take some time out of their day to look at. To answer that, I've compiled some images that I like from different photographers that I've met personally or have followed for a while.
1. Color and Light
The reason why I love this image is because when I first started shooting, I had no idea how much of an impact light could have on an image. "Seeing in black and white is essentially seeing the light", as my friend Rinzi Ruiz would point it out to me. The reason why I used this reference in discussing color is because I first learned to see light and how I could make an image by chasing it and point my camera in that direction. Then I slowly began to learn how light can also affect how color is captured. Whether it would be black and white or color, light plays an important role in photography. Get it right and you have yourself a photo that has great tonal range and a good starting point in determining the strength of an image. Color reacts differently to light of different exposures. Too little light will give you a bland shade of color while too much blows out highlights. A well-exposed image however, leaves you less to deal with in post-process or development. Rich color and the right amount of saturation can anchor a viewer's eyes to an image. As Magnum Photographer Alex Webb would say about the title of his book, The Suffering of Light, he was always intrigued with how "colors emerged from the tension between lightness and darkness."
2. The single color
If the vastness of the world can be captured in one frame, I would imagine it to look something like this. Surely you can say that I'm taking my interpretation of the world and the chaos in color a bit too literal but then again this photo actually shows the opposite. The world is in color and the chaos in black and white. Again, I believe that my initial attention was captured by the richness of one prominent color within the frame. For me, learning to shoot in color starts out with adjusting the eyes to recognize one certain shade at a time.
3. The subtle color
This photo rips a page straight out of the black and white photography book. So wait, I thought we agreed upon the notion that black and white was the more subtle and artistic choice but then we have this image, a photo softly focused on the two subjects. It shows a shade of blue and gray reminiscent of the strengths of a black and white photo. It reminds me of the chaos of the world but in a very gentle way that simultaneously reminds me of my carefree childhood. The color simply does not outshine the message and that's what a meaningful photo should be. It shouldn't just be about the way it was captured but about how the captured image affects you. “Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.” - Pablo Picasso
4. What complements color?
From the subtleties of color photographs to the outright erratic mix of hues, I love how colors reflect on any wet surface. They become truly something else, something that reminds me of wonderfully done oil paintings on canvass. The reason why I included this image is because it shows different ways to complement the color in an image. A decisive moment, characterized by excellent timing when pressing the shutter. Framing, by choosing which part of the photo the main subjects will appear. Blur, separating the background to emphasize the focus point. And of course, meaning. What does it all mean? Running bare-footed through the rain. Can you somehow connect it with a story of friendship? And how does color make this image easier for people to relate with?
5. The layers of color
This is it. An image that somehow captures the different things I've learned and the different things I'm trying to look for in an image. The right amount of light, a good mix of subtle colors, social commentary and complementary characteristics like framing and timing. By layers of color I didn't mean literally like a rainbow but layers that are building blocks to a good strong image.
So there you have it, my short but detailed journey on what I've learned from shooting street photography in color.
"You can't be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color."- Vincent Van Gogh
The title of this post is a line from the 1998 Belle and Sebastian song, The Boy with the Arab Strap, which also inspired me to write this post.
All of the images I used on this post was approved by the photographers and they retain full copyright.
Links to the photographers:
Eric Kim Street Photography Blog
Japan Camera Hunter
Rinzi Ruiz
Danny Santos
Romeo Doneza
So there you have it, my short but detailed journey on what I've learned from shooting street photography in color.
"You can't be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color."- Vincent Van Gogh
The title of this post is a line from the 1998 Belle and Sebastian song, The Boy with the Arab Strap, which also inspired me to write this post.
All of the images I used on this post was approved by the photographers and they retain full copyright.
Links to the photographers:
Eric Kim Street Photography Blog
Japan Camera Hunter
Rinzi Ruiz
Danny Santos
Romeo Doneza