Daily Photography, Patience, and the Streets

Saturday, 30th March, 2019, I took another street walk in the afternoon. This is the third Saturday in a row I’ve dedicated time to practicing my street photography. There’s only so much you can learn from theory - the rest is definitely practice, and I’m glad I finally fell into a bit of a routine to keep evolving this skill. It certainly becomes easier with time, and more ideas keep popping up for series, compositions, subjects. This Saturday I realised that I have to take a bit more time to compose shots while at the same time being quick about it. Things change fast in the streets and sometimes you just have to let chances go, learn from what you missed, and make the best of the opportunities presented.

I still prefer less interaction in the streets. Capturing the scene without interfering with the subject is important to me. Maybe that’ll change later on - maybe I’ll find that interacting with subjects makes for a more immersed experience, but I’m not ready for that yet.

Today I was looking through some of the shots I took yesterday and remembered that I should try waiting before actually analysing the shots for a more objective approach. This tactic has benefitted me in the past, and it’s something I need to keep reminding myself to do before I decide to publish my work on my online portfolios. We need to be our harshest critics if we’re to improve our skill. Practice, patience, objective critique.

This last shoot has encouraged me to shoot even more. I already plan to be walking with my camera whenever I decide to exit the house for a walk anywhere. I feel like I’ve finally broken the apprehension of venturing into the streets - something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now. Hopefully, I can make this a daily practice.