Having fallen into street photography for only about 6 months, I haven't been able to fully define my style. For starters, I prefer if people didn't think of me as a photographer per se because I'm really not interested in any other form of photography except street. Also, I don't make a living out of it. I simply work my day job, run my business and shoot the streets.
Having a certain style in street photography is absolutely essential if you have any plans of being a really successful street photographer. Take for example Henri Cartier Bresson. What's the first thing you associate with his name? "The Decisive Moment" - a mix of geometry and a precise moment in time. Robert Frank? "The Americans" - social documentary and a mirror to society. Bruce Gilden? Street Photography with a flash.
Having a certain style in street photography is absolutely essential if you have any plans of being a really successful street photographer. Take for example Henri Cartier Bresson. What's the first thing you associate with his name? "The Decisive Moment" - a mix of geometry and a precise moment in time. Robert Frank? "The Americans" - social documentary and a mirror to society. Bruce Gilden? Street Photography with a flash.
Going into the modern day street photographers, most of them derive their style from either something different or straight out from the books of the masters. Charlie Kirk? Flash! Thomas Leuthard? Candid moments.
As someone really interested in getting my name out there, I've come to learn that in developing a personal style, it is always essential to try out everything out there. Recently I've been really privileged to attend a couple of workshops from International Street Photographer Eric Kim. His second workshop entitled "Developing Your Own Street Style" really forced me to look back at my photographs and see my own story develop with every change in the way I take them. What is it really I'm looking for when I'm out there on the streets? Well I've chased the light, watched for subtle similarities/differences and focused on interesting characters. But because of this, I haven't exactly honed my skills to a particular style.
The latest style that I've decided to dive into, thanks to Eric's workshop, is the use of flash on the streets. As I've come to share a few times already, I first thought of flash as the tool to create the image but then I realized that it was there simply to highlight the scene and not disturb it as much as possible. So now the challenge for me is really choose and stick to my decision. Do I wanna keep doing flash? Or should I just keep on chasing the light? Maybe I could do more image interactions? Or should I keep pointing my lens to interesting characters? At this point I probably have a few years to go if I don't decide now. Although I think that if I gradually make that leap towards what I really want to shoot, then I might only be a few shots away, who knows.
As someone really interested in getting my name out there, I've come to learn that in developing a personal style, it is always essential to try out everything out there. Recently I've been really privileged to attend a couple of workshops from International Street Photographer Eric Kim. His second workshop entitled "Developing Your Own Street Style" really forced me to look back at my photographs and see my own story develop with every change in the way I take them. What is it really I'm looking for when I'm out there on the streets? Well I've chased the light, watched for subtle similarities/differences and focused on interesting characters. But because of this, I haven't exactly honed my skills to a particular style.
The latest style that I've decided to dive into, thanks to Eric's workshop, is the use of flash on the streets. As I've come to share a few times already, I first thought of flash as the tool to create the image but then I realized that it was there simply to highlight the scene and not disturb it as much as possible. So now the challenge for me is really choose and stick to my decision. Do I wanna keep doing flash? Or should I just keep on chasing the light? Maybe I could do more image interactions? Or should I keep pointing my lens to interesting characters? At this point I probably have a few years to go if I don't decide now. Although I think that if I gradually make that leap towards what I really want to shoot, then I might only be a few shots away, who knows.