I agree with Mike's answers. Street photography is a discipline and a game of numbers. As your skills improve and your chance of instances increase, so does the keepers. I have been doing Street photography for just under 20 years and still passionate about it.
Thanks for answering my question! I feel the same way about the video making process. It is far more time consuming than strictly photographing, but it provides an awesome way to display my images. Guess just have to get quicker at video creation haha.
I appreciate you taking the time to discuss your thoughts, especially about RUclips’s impact on your creative process and your work/life balance. Personally I’ve noticed that I’m more productive when I don’t have distractions including social media and then I tend to take my best photos when I don’t have any plans. As much as I love events like festivals and holiday celebrations I find that I can only photograph so much before I start to feel bored. There is definitely imposter syndrome with the street community, despite me taking photos for almost 2 decades now, I still feel like my work isn’t taken as seriously and I think it’s because I know what I like and that doesn’t always resonate, but it’s important to stay true to myself. Trying to learn to be easier on myself and to enjoy the process as much as the photos.
14:33 in Germany you ARE allowed to photograph people in the streets which is the "right of artistic freedom" but it stands against "the personal right" only courts could decide which values more. And it does happen! Usually the artistic expression is valued higher if the photography is not humiliating. There was a law suit in Berlin, where a photographer took a picture of a women in a leopard coat with an Aldi shopping bag. It was chosen as the main image for an exhibition and was publicly displayed to advertise the exhibition. The photographer was sued by the women and the court decided that he was ALLOWED to take the picture and show it in an exhibition, but was NOT ALLOWED to advertise the exhibition 🤪 Absolutely crazy and a minefield for street photography in Germany. But I still do it and take the risk ✊🏻 Great video as always Mike 🙌🏻
That is good to know, thanks for sharing! I have a trip planned next May and had been wondering (a bit worriedly at that) about what and how I can photograph when I'm there.
Very nice to hear your opinion unscripted too, you are very articulate also when speaking freely. Inspiring to see your passion for street photography getting more intense by the day :)
I was wondering is just me that i don’t like my shots and i am not happy like before, i was about to quit taking street photography.. Watching your videos is making me go out again.
Winter on the street is tough. Out today, 20,000 steps in 35c and clear blue skies. Life is hard 😂😂 To top it off the day was spent in my favourite area of Bangkok, Chinatown
Great video as usual. I read somewhere, and can’t remember where, a great RUclipsr will make it big making videos about themselves and their work whilst a great photographer will have videos about them by others.
Have a couple to add to that coffee list… Prufrock in leather lane and Redemption coffee in coal drops yard is also fantastic if you are ever close to Kings Cross 🙂☕️
Great video! One thing I’ve always wondered about the “people go out and shoot with”, is how do you and friends normally shoot when you go out? Like what is the process? Just each doing your own thing? Is there a plan? Hopefully you get what I’m asking. I’ve wondered about getting a group together but only ever shot by myself before.
Great video.. one thing I’ve found for sure is shooting with just my camera compared to now shooting with a camera and a osmo pocket 3 in my other hand has not made me improve.. and probably holds me back.. I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch of shots thinking I need this recorded.. going to a chest mount has helped with that a lot
Personally I'm a photographer first and foremost RUclips is simply an interest and a great creative outlet. I'm lucky in that my working life and personal time revolves around photography.
I was going to ask something like, have you noticed any increase or decrease in antagonism towards steeet photography? But two to three incidents is probably too small a sample size. 😄 It _is_ encouraging, though.
Hi ive just skimmed your video but couldnt figure out the part where you answer about being confronted. I was mainly interested in that. Could someone point me to the time
Kind of reassuring to hear how low your satisfaction rate is as well with the pics you take. I would second that the gear is not nearly as important as many make it out to be. Took some pics im still super pleased with with a Lumix LX7 (cost me 250 quid).
No disrespect, but isn’t a 600 picture photo walk what some would call a spray and pray approach? I may be wrong, but I can’t imagine that much thought went into each composition or other technical aspects unless you are sitting on a handful of spots and taking 100 photos at each while working with settings and subjects to capture the right moment. I’m wondering if you could go through your process for taking 600 pics in a few hours.
It's really easy to do, post processing is easy as well if only 10 of them turned out to be okay. Check out some of my other videos to see my thinking a little more but spray and pray means nothing if you haven't any idea what your ideal outcome is. I'm not just closing my eyes, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. There's thoughts, ideas and intention all over the place when shooting. It's about having triggers that catch your attention. Once something has my attention, it's worth a shot... literally. A workshop I did with Matt Stuart last year reinforced this thinking when he said something very similar to, "if you see something you like, throw the kitchen sink at it" - many of the very best street photographs from history feature 2, 6, 12 shit versions either side of the "keeper" on the contact sheet. Now, in this Q&A I said in throwaway style that "I might take 600 raw files" but in reality, some days I take 45, other days it might 900. Nothing is black and white. I also mean no disrespect and this comment is just a brain dump, just some of my thoughts :)
@ Well, if your photo walk lasts four hours, which is quite a long time, and you take 600 photographs during that time that comes to 2.5 photographs every minute if you use every minute for photography. Of course, you are not using every minute for photography so it’s probably more like 5 or 10 pictures every minute. That sure sounds like spray and pray to me.
The pacing changes. It’s not consistent. Nothing will happen for 35 minutes then within 8 minutes I might shoot a scene for 100 frames. If you want to call or spray and pray, go for it 😂
How? It's a camera, it's a tool. Guess what inspired me? A cheap Pentax Spotmatic F with a damn screw mount system. We have to get away from 'name brand' cameras. It's all vanity, a cheap and worthless as buying a Coach bag to put all your junk in. I wish you all would grab a cheap Sony, Canon, Nikon camera and prove that they can't take pictures as good as a Leica. You may surprise yourself and you may become a better photographer when you don't worry about the brand. It is a crutch too many people fall into. As a note: I bought a Nikon F2 in 1980 while stationed in Japan outside Tokyo. It was the last of the 1979 models. The F3 assumed the role. But....the F2 did not take better pictures than my Pentax, nor was my skill improved by the Nikon, despite it being the media camera, the best camera in the world at the time. It was better than Leica by a long shot. But did that matter? No Also, the shot taken by a photographer when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald was a Nikon S, the predecessor to the Model F. Nikon made a better Leica, made better optics than a Leica. Leica will always be #2 and overly expensive, a vanity camera.
Personally for me Leica is the embodiment of “anyone can take a good photo with an expensive camera.” You can shoot photo of a turd and itll still look good on a Leica. Its just pressing shutter button at that point and no longer fun.
That’s just not true. In fact, I would say that a good photographer can take a good photograph on just about any camera. A lousy photographer will take a lousy photograph on a Leica, or any camera.
I agree with Mike's answers. Street photography is a discipline and a game of numbers. As your skills improve and your chance of instances increase, so does the keepers. I have been doing Street photography for just under 20 years and still passionate about it.
I like the answer about consistency, Mike. Staying consistent is one of the most difficult things for many, myself included.
I appreciate that. Consistency is tough, but I think it’s an amazing muscle to build.
Thanks for answering my question! I feel the same way about the video making process. It is far more time consuming than strictly photographing, but it provides an awesome way to display my images. Guess just have to get quicker at video creation haha.
I appreciate you taking the time to discuss your thoughts, especially about RUclips’s impact on your creative process and your work/life balance. Personally I’ve noticed that I’m more productive when I don’t have distractions including social media and then I tend to take my best photos when I don’t have any plans. As much as I love events like festivals and holiday celebrations I find that I can only photograph so much before I start to feel bored. There is definitely imposter syndrome with the street community, despite me taking photos for almost 2 decades now, I still feel like my work isn’t taken as seriously and I think it’s because I know what I like and that doesn’t always resonate, but it’s important to stay true to myself. Trying to learn to be easier on myself and to enjoy the process as much as the photos.
14:33 in Germany you ARE allowed to photograph people in the streets which is the "right of artistic freedom" but it stands against "the personal right" only courts could decide which values more. And it does happen! Usually the artistic expression is valued higher if the photography is not humiliating.
There was a law suit in Berlin, where a photographer took a picture of a women in a leopard coat with an Aldi shopping bag. It was chosen as the main image for an exhibition and was publicly displayed to advertise the exhibition. The photographer was sued by the women and the court decided that he was ALLOWED to take the picture and show it in an exhibition, but was NOT ALLOWED to advertise the exhibition 🤪
Absolutely crazy and a minefield for street photography in Germany. But I still do it and take the risk ✊🏻
Great video as always Mike 🙌🏻
That is good to know, thanks for sharing!
I have a trip planned next May and had been wondering (a bit worriedly at that) about what and how I can photograph when I'm there.
Very nice to hear your opinion unscripted too, you are very articulate also when speaking freely. Inspiring to see your passion for street photography getting more intense by the day :)
Thank you! That’s very kind
I was wondering is just me that i don’t like my shots and i am not happy like before, i was about to quit taking street photography..
Watching your videos is making me go out again.
thank you!. been looking for this kind of style for a week now! just subscribed!
Winter on the street is tough. Out today, 20,000 steps in 35c and clear blue skies. Life is hard 😂😂 To top it off the day was spent in my favourite area of Bangkok, Chinatown
I’m always pretty happy using a GR3, or even a larger SLR. Its kind of nice to have a couple of options to mix things up
600 photos on a walk is wild to me. I can't imagine going through 600 images
Great Q&A, Mike. Something to take away from each of the answers
Thanks Ash!
Great video as usual. I read somewhere, and can’t remember where, a great RUclipsr will make it big making videos about themselves and their work whilst a great photographer will have videos about them by others.
Saw you and JP on Sunday by London Bridge! It was a lovely day hope you guys got cool pics :)
Have a couple to add to that coffee list… Prufrock in leather lane and Redemption coffee in coal drops yard is also fantastic if you are ever close to Kings Cross 🙂☕️
Great video! One thing I’ve always wondered about the “people go out and shoot with”, is how do you and friends normally shoot when you go out? Like what is the process? Just each doing your own thing? Is there a plan? Hopefully you get what I’m asking. I’ve wondered about getting a group together but only ever shot by myself before.
Great video.. one thing I’ve found for sure is shooting with just my camera compared to now shooting with a camera and a osmo pocket 3 in my other hand has not made me improve.. and probably holds me back.. I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch of shots thinking I need this recorded.. going to a chest mount has helped with that a lot
5:02 correction* Mike meant to say, take reflection photos in puddles of London buses
That was my first response but I cut it out
Not sure if your M does this but my Q3’s get one extra stop of dynamic range with M-DNG. So I use for panos and HDR’s
Personally I'm a photographer first and foremost RUclips is simply an interest and a great creative outlet. I'm lucky in that my working life and personal time revolves around photography.
Thanks for your answers
Redemption Coffee great coffee for a great cause
Joel Meyerowitz, absolutely. Must be cool to shoot with mates who are also street photographers.
I was going to ask something like, have you noticed any increase or decrease in antagonism towards steeet photography? But two to three incidents is probably too small a sample size. 😄 It _is_ encouraging, though.
Hi ive just skimmed your video but couldnt figure out the part where you answer about being confronted. I was mainly interested in that. Could someone point me to the time
21:14 :) thanks
Great movie choices
Kind of reassuring to hear how low your satisfaction rate is as well with the pics you take. I would second that the gear is not nearly as important as many make it out to be. Took some pics im still super pleased with with a Lumix LX7 (cost me 250 quid).
Hi, I also have an LX7! Nice to know there are others out there, I love the little things, packs a real punch!
No disrespect, but isn’t a 600 picture photo walk what some would call a spray and pray approach? I may be wrong, but I can’t imagine that much thought went into each composition or other technical aspects unless you are sitting on a handful of spots and taking 100 photos at each while working with settings and subjects to capture the right moment. I’m wondering if you could go through your process for taking 600 pics in a few hours.
It's really easy to do, post processing is easy as well if only 10 of them turned out to be okay. Check out some of my other videos to see my thinking a little more but spray and pray means nothing if you haven't any idea what your ideal outcome is. I'm not just closing my eyes, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. There's thoughts, ideas and intention all over the place when shooting. It's about having triggers that catch your attention. Once something has my attention, it's worth a shot... literally. A workshop I did with Matt Stuart last year reinforced this thinking when he said something very similar to, "if you see something you like, throw the kitchen sink at it" - many of the very best street photographs from history feature 2, 6, 12 shit versions either side of the "keeper" on the contact sheet. Now, in this Q&A I said in throwaway style that "I might take 600 raw files" but in reality, some days I take 45, other days it might 900. Nothing is black and white. I also mean no disrespect and this comment is just a brain dump, just some of my thoughts :)
@ Well, if your photo walk lasts four hours, which is quite a long time, and you take 600 photographs during that time that comes to 2.5 photographs every minute if you use every minute for photography. Of course, you are not using every minute for photography so it’s probably more like 5 or 10 pictures every minute. That sure sounds like spray and pray to me.
The pacing changes. It’s not consistent. Nothing will happen for 35 minutes then within 8 minutes I might shoot a scene for 100 frames. If you want to call or spray and pray, go for it 😂
@ I would call that even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. 😂
Dr. Pepper, yes, good stuff indeed.
I wish this video had chapters
2nd!
Hello 2nd
First!
yes and now?
Gesture, color and light!? Read Jay Maisel lately?😂
Haha nope but I will now 😂
@@MikeChudley I think you'll love it, he's one of the masters of street.
Leica inspires me
How? It's a camera, it's a tool. Guess what inspired me? A cheap Pentax Spotmatic F with a damn screw mount system. We have to get away from 'name brand' cameras. It's all vanity, a cheap and worthless as buying a Coach bag to put all your junk in. I wish you all would grab a cheap Sony, Canon, Nikon camera and prove that they can't take pictures as good as a Leica. You may surprise yourself and you may become a better photographer when you don't worry about the brand. It is a crutch too many people fall into.
As a note: I bought a Nikon F2 in 1980 while stationed in Japan outside Tokyo. It was the last of the 1979 models. The F3 assumed the role. But....the F2 did not take better pictures than my Pentax, nor was my skill improved by the Nikon, despite it being the media camera, the best camera in the world at the time. It was better than Leica by a long shot. But did that matter? No
Also, the shot taken by a photographer when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald was a Nikon S, the predecessor to the Model F. Nikon made a better Leica, made better optics than a Leica. Leica will always be #2 and overly expensive, a vanity camera.
Personally for me Leica is the embodiment of “anyone can take a good photo with an expensive camera.” You can shoot photo of a turd and itll still look good on a Leica. Its just pressing shutter button at that point and no longer fun.
huh?
That’s just not true. In fact, I would say that a good photographer can take a good photograph on just about any camera. A lousy photographer will take a lousy photograph on a Leica, or any camera.