streetphotography
I wanted to be able to upload the stills I took from my last episode so you guys can take a closer look instead of trying to pause the video which can be kinda annoying especially when you want to see the details of the image. Below you'll see all of the featured images so please let me know your thoughts below and enjoy!
I decided to try something new with images that I never ended up posting for whatever reason. I'm going to use them for critique analysis and share my thoughts on why they just didn't cut it for me. I hope to use this as a tool to help others as well as myself. By sharing my process, perhaps future work will not suffer the same fate and overall growth can happen for everyone!
Featured below are the previous images I shared on my instagram stories from my @phraction_street page and here's what I had to say about each:
Cutting room floor image 001: 2015-04-26 6:50pm 28mm (eqv) 1/500s f8 iso800
In this shot I felt, that the entire right side was empty, the characters weren't all that interesting nor did the foreground or background elements connect in any way.
A lot of people commented that I could crop the entire right side out but I'm a stickler for keeping the original aspect ratio I shot in and extreme cropping will only make me a lazier photographer knowing that I can just fix things in post. I'm a professional photo retoucher and though I know I can do a lot of things but I'd rather spend my time enjoying photography instead of working ;)
Also check out Eric Kim's blog entitled: "10 Things Henri Cartier-Bresson Can Teach You About Street Photography"and pay attention to the section about cropping.
Here's the next image I put up for critique:
Cutting room floor image 002: 2015-04-29 5:45pm 28mm (eqv) 1/500s f8 iso200
In this one I rejected it from consideration because there were too many objects sticking out of the guys' head, there were only 2 points of interest (and they're not even that interesting). I usually go for at least 3 if possible, and the red car overlap simply bugs me.
And that's where we're at so far. I wanted to put this up and future posts on something that doesn't disappear after 24hrs because I think this is something that can be useful and can be built upon even after the fact. If there are any additions or comments to any of the images you see above, please comment and share your thoughts so others may learn as well!
Continuing with the selects from the street photography project I set out to do in Germany this past summer, here’s some b-sides from my @phraction instagram feed of the day I visited Iserlohn.
I’ve started to upload some selects from the street photography project I set out to do in Germany this past summer on my main @phraction instagram feed. I’ll be posting other variations of those shots here so as to avoid being overly repetitive. I’m also very indecisive so this takes care of having to decide what goes on the intwebs and what remains to collect virtual dust on my hard drive. I’ll keep updating this entry with new shots as I post to my feed. Enjoy!
First off, apologies for the lack of updates but since being back from shooting in Germany, I’ve needed to recharge my batteries (both literally and figuratively). Shooting 12hr days for 12days straight kinda takes a lot of physical/mental energy as does going through close to 4800 images and figuring out ways to organize them into smaller stories that are easier to share… like this one.
These shots were taken from my 4th day in Germany (July 25th, 2015), after traveling from Cologne to Berlin and only having been in the city for less than 2hrs.
I needed a warm up to start my shooting day and this random Kurdish protest march that appeared out of nowhere was pretty much the ticket I needed to really get right in there and shoot strangers on the street.
It was also one way to potentially get into a lot of trouble if things turned ugly …but anything to get the shot I suppose.
Now, I’m not a photojournalist, far from it in fact. I think there are significant differences between photojournalism and street photography and without boring you on the particulars, here’s a link to something I just googled that pretty much sums up what I believe so it saves me from having to paraphrase the article (aka I’m lazy to summarize) so here:
Photojournalism vs Street Photography
(just be sure to come back to what I’m writing here if you start venturing off to the land of external links;)
I’d hate to give the impression that I’m using someone else’s cause for my own personal gain but when an opportunity arises to get unique vantage points (like shooting from the middle of the street to get a wider POV of the storefronts in Berlin) then I’ll take it. I’ll just link to another article of what the protest is about HERE for anyone who wants to know more about it. #KarmaRestored
Interesting how sometimes you find yourself taking similar shots at different times and with different people. Kinda says something about what catches your eye by default. Personally, I’d like to say that “it’s a testament to my consistency” *Ahem-bullshit-ahem*
Aside from great pockets of light I was able to stand on a raised median platform in the middle of the street that offered a higher perspective. Then I was told that I couldn’t walk on there as a precaution to avoid upsetting the police who could book me for destruction of public property if I kept trampling over their flowerbed.
The police also had their own video guy to ensure their side of the story just in case things went ugly and the media (who I pretended to be a part of) were to try and twist things around. Honestly, I have no idea if that’s even the case here. I mean he could just be an officer who was excited to try out his new Sony 4k ActionCam.
Naturally, these types of events have people curious, so a ton of people could be seen from the streets looking out their windows/balconies and pouring out from storefronts to figure out what was going on. Also, it was a nice day so there’s that.
With the veil of being a “part of the media,” it was much easier to get in front of people and grab shots like these.
It was a great way to feel people out in how they’d react to having a camera on them, considering the right to privacy laws in Germany. I mean this was one of the reasons why I went there to shoot my project - to see how tough street photography is in a country that has strict rules regarding posting photos taken in public without consent. *here’s hoping I have some sort of “Canadian Immunity” for posting these while in North America*
Clearly you had some people who had suspicious glares whenever the camera was brought up to my face, but if you’re marching in a public protest, chances are, there’s gonna be cameras around. Still, I had no confrontations at all while shooting this event.
I honestly didn’t want to be restricted to boring shots of people silhouetted from behind.
So I resorted to boring shots of people in the front instead ;)
There were times when I wanted to find creative ways to obscure people’s identities but there were way too many people for that to have worked effectively.
I also wanted to push my luck and see if I’d get any negative reactions if I started to use flash but still, everyone was ‘ok’ with me going about and shooting as I normally do.
The police presence was heavy but everyone seemed to keep a cool head and luckily the only snag I witnessed was interrupting rush hour traffic.
Even though there were pockets where there was no light at all, Berlin had really colourful buildings that provided enough of an interesting backdrop for some of my shots.
As with any other protest, there’s a ton of flag waving/wearing and the toughest part was trying to not get so many posts sticking out of people’s heads. Having to get right in there and bob/weave to line up my subjects was something I’d have never been able to do cold turkey. Really glad I got to get a decent warm up earlier on in the March.
There were times during the entire trip that I wished I could just take off my shoes ‘cause my feet were killing me from all the walking, but at one point I just said, “screw it” and I ended up walking in my socks - but that’s a story for another time.
There came a point where I took enough twists and turns while blindly following the crowd to conclude that I had no idea where I was anymore. I decided that instead of spending so much time at this march, I should actually go and shoot some street while the light was still good. Also I had no idea what I was even going to do with these shots except share them as some sub-story on facebook or something. Kinda glad I was able to put something together here on tumblr to let you guys know that I’m still around and stuff ;)
At the end of it all, I just wanted to go back to exploring Berlin and as fun as it was playing photojournalist for an hour and a half, I really wanted to to focus on my “Anonymous” project which I hope to finally curate into something by the end of the year. There’s enough images collecting virtual dust on my hard drive and it’s a big weight off my shoulders to at least share this set of images with all of you patient people.
I’m starting a new street photo project called “Anonym” which will consist of me trying to find creative ways to obscure the identities of the people I shoot, in accordance to the strict privacy laws there. I’m raising funds to get to Germany and get this off the ground!
As some of you know, I placed in the top 3 in the “Observe: Under Construction” international street photography competition in Iserlohn, so I’m also trying to finally see my work displayed in an international gallery. I made a promise on facebook that if I won, I’d would use my winnings toward seeing that print in person (and you simply don’t go back on facebook promises) …as it turns out, I’ll actually need a bit more than I expected to realistically go :) I can’t make this trip without your support so (with reservations) I’m asking those of you who enjoy my photography for help in funding this endeavour.
For those who know me, it’s a gut-wrenching struggle for me to ask for any help, let alone financial help. Chalk it up to stubbornness, pride, or simply being one of those people who have a complex about being in debt. Long story short, it took a lot of encouragement from friends to even consider something like this.
Instead of simply asking for donations, I want to be able to offer something in return so I’ve set up a couple fundraising accounts - all of which enable you guys to receive a token of gratitude, even for the smallest (but equally appreciated) donation.
I have set up 3 sites to cater to different levels of support!
One site is called http://www.Patreon.com/phraction and there I will be hosting an on-going, monthly subscription-based artist fundraiser where I will be uploading behind the scenes content, images that hit the cutting room floor, stories, and articles that will mostly be exclusive to the “Patrons” who support me. There you can pledge as little as $1-$15 and have a chance to win signed prints and other rewards.
The other site is my http://www.GoFundMe.com/phraction page which I’m setting up specifically to raise funds for this Germany adventure and focus on a photo project while there. The reward levels here are catered more toward locals to Toronto (whom I can deliver prints to in person) but anyone can donate there and if you do, I’ll find a way to get you a print :)
In addition to those 2 sites, I have also recently uploaded the very image that is hanging up in the gallery to my http://Society6.com/phraction print-on-demand site. Here you can purchase fine-art prints, framed images, and canvas versions of some of the images found on my instagram feed. This is especially useful for those of you who are not located anywhere close to Toronto and would like to simply purchase a print and have it shipped almost anywhere in the world.
All 3 offer totally different things so you can participate in as many or as little ways as you like… though you know, the more the merrier ;)
I’m using the 200euros I received as prize money toward the trip and I set an arbitrary goal of $3000 because I have no idea what anything actually costs - but rest assured, I’m doing what I can on my part to fill in the gaps by selling my old photo equipment (I have Nikon lenses for sale!), telling people to buy my book (buy my book!), eating less (I really should), and taking up a newspaper route (i’m kidding) just to fund this adventure.
In regards to the photo project/essay while I’m there, apparently Germany is one country that has very strict privacy laws in place that prohibit one from publishing street photos without consent of any individual featured. The idea will be to see if I can creatively work around this restriction and challenge myself to come up with street photos that abide by this law as well as outline personal experiences while I go about creating this story. I hope to come back with a bunch of content to share - from images, to stories, to maybe even video. I want the opportunity to push myself and the boundaries surrounding the art of street photography.
It’s worth mentioning, that on top of never having been to Germany, let alone Europe, I will have to put all this together in less than 30 days as the gallery will be finished by July 26th.
Honestly I have no idea what to expect. I’m not an avid traveler, (I sometimes get turned around in my own city); I don’t speak German (except for swear words and sausage so there’s only so much I can imply with that); I’ve also gotten progressively worse at being organized (thus the last-minute planning of this entire campaign). You guys can have a first-person view of seeing me rise to the occasion or falling flat on my face (which makes for good TV) so let’s see where this goes and thank you all for entertaining the thought of supporting me by taking the time to read this novel :)
If you want to see what kind of images I can take while out of my comfort zone, please make a pledge. Thanks everyone!
Sometimes if I come across an area interesting enough, I’ll either stop and explore the compositional possibilities or come back when the light is good enough. Luckily this day I had both (and bonus time on my hands) so I took the opportunity to take a look around at a place that’s literally a couple blocks from my pace.
Forgive the over-use of my shadow-selfie ‘watermark’ as for most of these shots I really wasn’t trying to be in them but I couldn’t really avoid it so I do what I normally do and make cameo appearances as compositionally pleasing as possible..
Ok so I know I could’ve tilted the camera upward a bit more..
It’s been a while since I’ve gone and shot textures and random objects so it was refreshing. Also great to be outdoors after being cooped up in the house hibernating, because winter.
Not having too many people pass by I had to work with what I had which pretty much meant shadows and a discarded flannel shirt.
It also gave me the opportunity to work on some angles because I’m usually not good at abstract compositions so lately this has been something I’ve been doing behind the scenes as these wouldn’t really fit well on my instagram.
I’m not 100% sure of the story behind this place but I’ll take a stab at saying that it’s probably not in use anymore.
Finally good to see the white stuff melting (probably 90% of the reason I included the snow in this :)
The place is wide open for the public and kids could still come to play but with the new playground that just opened up as part of the revitalization project of the area, I can see why they’d prefer to go there than here.
This composition looked better in my head than what came out.
And that’s pretty much it! I’ll try to keep the super-wordy posts at a minimum and see if I can share more photo sets that I wouldn’t know where to share anywhere else. I can only fit 10 shots in the ‘gallery’ at the very top so I used that area to showcase images that might benefit from a bit of zooming in to see the details.
Tonight (Feb 5th), as in right this moment, marks the opening for the “Mobile Photo Now” exhibit in Columbus Ohio and though I can’t be there in person, I figure that blogging about it is the next best thing… (kinda..:). It does give me the opportunity to finally get another blog post up, and discuss exactly what mobile photography means to me and how it’s played a part in changing the way we perceive photography in this age.
*Image credit Mitchell Seckman from the ColumbusMuseum.org website
A few months ago there was a contest held on the @joshjohnson instagram feed in collaboration with the Columbus Museum of Art to launch the largest mobile photo exhibit to date. The purpose was to “highlight the emerging art form of mobile photography and the power of social media and smart phones as a means of creative expression.” People could hashtag their images according to the daily theme to be eligible. For images to be considered, one had to register on the Museum’s website and give a brief description as to what their ‘story’ was in relation to the photos they were submitting; the only technical requirement was that images be either shot or edited on a mobile device.
The key word here is ‘or’.
That’s right, those who shot with regular cameras could submit images as long as in some way, they were edited on a mobile device. Of course this sparked a lot of debate over whether this would still be considered a ‘mobile challenge’. To me, I chose to play the devil’s advocate and say "yeah, why not?” I believe that mobile photography describes not just the medium in which an image has been taken but also the vessel in which the message is delivered.
Mobile photography to me is photography that can reach the masses using mobile devices. It’s as much the sharing (if not more so) as it is the creating.
Of course I wanted to take part in this as well for the simple reason that I just wanted to share my artwork (but let’s be honest, how cool would it be to have your stuff in a museum, right?) So as soon as I found out that my work would be eligible because my images were edited on my tablet or on my phone I submitted a few from both my @phraction and @phraction_street accounts. None of them were featured on the @joshjohnson feed unfortunately. I figured that I didn’t make the cut in the ‘street photography’ category and many others didn’t either, which sparked a discussion about how those who were being selected may have been using a DSLR and had an unfair advantage when it came to the selection process due to the quality of the images. Knowing that a good photo is a good photo regardless of the tool you use to make it, I decided to share my two cents on the topic of the competition being open to those who didn’t necessarily use their mobile devices to capture the images for the challenges. You can find that discussion here or here.
If you don’t feel like reading through that format or if the links don’t work because I don’t know how to internet, here’s a excerpt of what I wrote:
“To me the concept of mobile photography shouldn’t be solely based on how an image was created but inclusive of the vessel in how it is shared and means of its distribution.
I agree that if this campaign was called a smartphone challenge and other cameras were used (including iPods, tablets, or anything without its own proprietary internet source) then it would definitely be wrong to include anything but phone photographs. But it’s not, and I feel that what people are really up in arms about is how DSLRs give an ‘unfair’ advantage to the ‘competition’ and that by including them, it gives less of a chance for those using ‘lesser’ smaller sensor cameras.
If we look at the example of the Samsung Galaxy NX camera which is pretty much a hybrid DSLR (mirroless)/smartphone camera that has an android operating system and can upload directly to instagram after being edited on snapseed, vsco, etc., we can present the same argument that it’s ‘unfair’ because this technology is far superior in quality and features than a simple smartphone… yet it could be classified as a smartphone (that looks weird when you put it up to your face to make a call:) Varied technology shouldn’t be the primary focus because by next year the iPhone 7 will probably have a 1” sensor, the iPhone 8 an APS-C (who knows)? If that happens will those still with the iPhone 6 cry foul when another mobile competition surfaces?
This is why I think the term ‘mobile photography’ is a very broad one at best and one shouldn’t discriminate one technology over the other. Frankly if you’re a good photographer, you can use anything to make great images and vice versa.
The best camera is the one that’s with you and for a lot of people it is their phone. For others, they may always carry around a DSLR, mirrorless, or ‘smart DSLR’. Cameras have always been mobile as far as I can remember (except for maybe 8x10s which would probably rip a hole in your back pocket if you tried to store it there) so the concept of mobile photography should really be about how it is viewed and not so much of how it was made. If a painter wanted to enter their art as a medium to fit into the challenges, would it matter if it were shot with a smartphone or DSLR? The quality of either would still be restricted to 640x640 pixels regardless.
I think the celebration of mobile photography isn’t the tool you use to make the image but the medium used to share it. It is a mobile revolution to think of how anyone can share pretty much anything (whether it be text, voice, or image) with anyone at anytime across the globe. We don’t have to be tethered to a desktop or worry about wifi with our laptops.
For most of us, we use our phones to view instagram photos from all over the world. To me, that’s the most important aspect and sharing these images is what all this should be about.”
So yeah, that.
There were some great responses to what I posted and even though they didn’t reflect my own views, it is always refreshing to hear different perspectives. These virtual discussions are exactly what reinforces the strength of communication through mobile devices and proves how something as simple as instagram can not only share images, but ideas as well. Try doing this 20 years ago when 28.8k modems were a thing and using your phone to connect to the internet meant something entirely different. *insert screechy bleep bloop white noise sound here*
So after this online discussion let’s fast forward to a couple months back, which is actually rewinding, but for the sake of not sparking a space/time continuum debate in addition to what’s already been said, let’s just say ‘Afterward’. I get an email from the Columbus Museum informing me that not one, but three of my images from my @phraction_street feed were actually selected to be a part of the exhibition of about 300 images. None of my @phraction images made it but I’m actually happy that my street work (which is really my primary focus these days) is garnering recognition. When I received the news of course I thought, “hey this is super amazing-sauce!” (I’ve actually never used that term before..really, no really). I was excited and then I thought about the discussion and wondered if people would be upset that I shot these with a mirrorless device even though it has wifi and was edited/uploaded on a mobile device.
If I stick with what I said (which I do) then yeah, my images definitely deserve to be a part of this event and I should feel proud about this accomplishment. Looking at the images that were selected (which are the images you’ve been seeing throughout this post so far), I could’ve shot these with my phone just as easily given the quality of light, shooting conditions, and perspective. Regardless, I wanted to see for myself how good of a photographer I actually was, and so I took up the personal challenge of shooting street with my phone at any given possibility. I know that people know me as a street shooter with a mirrorless device, but not many really know what I can do with a mobile device (including myself).
It was hard to keep these images somewhat hidden and this news about the exhibit on the down-low until I got a collection of work up to go with the post. So now I’ve finally found a use for the vsco grid. To see what random street photography I’ve been uploading from my phone, check out this link here:
My VSCO Grid Featuring Mobile-Only Street Photography:
*this one ^ isn’t a part of the CMA exhibit btw
It’s like an exclusive reveal but not really ‘cause it’s been online for a while now and anyone with good creeping abilities has probably seen these already :)
Shooting from one’s phone is definitely a different experience and one that I’m finding useful for achieving that certain look that I’m getting, particularly at night. I’m still going to shoot mostly with my camera because I want to capture things with the best quality I can, and because I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with these images yet. All I know is that coming from the print industry, you use the highest resolution whenever possible in case things need to get blown up to larger proportions.
There’s different tools for different jobs and whatever it is that you choose to use to convey your message should be up to you. Use what works for your method of shooting because no one can decide what is best other than yourself.
Right now I’m going to go search the #MobilePhotoNow hashtag in hopes that someone’s posted some images of my.. images. *update - just saw this image (above) in the background of someone’s shot but that’s about it. Anyways hopefully it won’t take another couple months before I have time to come up with another blog post :)
*Special thanks to JoshJohnson and The Columbus Museum of Art for giving me the opportunity to share my work in a platform that I’ve never thought possible :)