The streets are alive| street photography photo blog

walk of fame

still dark but colorful...

About Hollywood

To Most people Hollywood is a synonym to movie stars and glamorous charm. But the actual Hollywood has another side to it, a much darker side.

My new book

The streets are alive book is out!
The book includes 55 photos, text about street photography and YOUR comments.
At the end of the book I listed the URLs to your photoblogs/sites.
As you can see this is the book cover YOU chose, I think you did quite a good job; it looks pretty good :)
Click here to see a pdf preview of the book.
Go here for more information.
Thank you all again!

man_made

There’s something about the relationship between humans and their artificially natural environment that keeps me fascinated.

On the surface it is quite simple; people create their environment corresponding to their native culture and at the same time the culture is dynamically influenced by its man-made surroundings.

stare

And of course sometimes they look right at the camera.

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Across the street

And then there are times when I’m on the opposite side of the street and so naturally unseen. 

< - - - - - - - - - Click image to enlarge - - - - - - - - - > Lower eastside, Manhattan

abstracted

in_visible

There are times, and no matter how evident I believe I am, people are occupied in deep thoughts or engaged in something more important and just won’t recognize my existence.

So what’s next?  Should I run after them in an attempt to grab their attention?  (no need to answer; this is just a rhetorical (and somewhat stupid), question)

By and large this kind of a situation should not generate any problem, and as long as there’s no moral question with the image, there’s no reason to be concerned with it.   

The Bronx 2005

Couple

Here’s another couple who wouldn’t let a silly thing like a camera disturb them.

Indifferent

I must admit that no matter how trained I am at recognizing a potential scene and quickly reaching for my camera, sometimes I’m just not quick enough to photograph before being noticed.  Now what?

The story:  After being noticed which often produces a change in the scene as people either chose to pose for the camera or move away from it, I often decide to put my camera away. 

In this case, however, my chosen subjects quickly lost any interest in me and went back to their cigarettes.

Posing for the camera

The story:

As I was making pictures in Lower Manhattan I came across these guys who were hanging out in front of a building.  When they noticed my camera they playfully asked me “would you like to take our picture?”  I hesitated just for a moment before saying “sure. Why not?”  (I think they looked a bit surprised when they realized I agree)

I was soon aware my new friends were standing at attention and staring at the camera. 

That didn’t look all that great to say the least. 

“Just pretend I’m not here” I suggested.

Somehow this simple suggestion did work wonders; the guys were able to forget about the camera and I was able to make a few fun and natural looking photos. 

Don’t you think these guys did quite well? 

strangers

Again and again I keep getting questions about taking pictures of strangers on the streets.  No doubt each street photographer will develop their own method and will find out what works best for him/her.  There’s really no single correct approach.
Generally speaking and as much as the situation allows,  I let people see me.  Of course such manner requires me to be quick, at least quick enough to get a genuine picture (just before the nice people begin fixing their hair and smiling to the camera.)

But this is just a general recommendation as there are many occasions when this approach will not do and so I adapt to the given scene as best as I can.

The next few posts will shed some light on such different circumstances.

book cover

I created these 5 temporary book covers for the next book which is based on this photoblog.
Which of the 5 (starting on the top left; 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) is your favorite?

Thanks in advance for your help :)

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be_cool