Back to the streets

I've been fascinated by street photography for many years. I love the idea of capturing a part of life in a particular location at a particular time. But street photography can be very challenging. It isn't easy photographing strangers in the street and takes a certain amount of courage to point the camera at someone. Of course, you could try to do it stealthily with a long lens from a distance, but you don't get the interaction or connection that makes a good street photograph. The best street photographs (in my opinion) are those taken at close range. There doesn't have to be interaction with the subject. Sometimes it is simply capturing a special moment or an expression, but by being close to the subject, the viewer can often feel like they are in the scene together with the photographer.

The above photo was taken in 2006 with my 1960s Rollecord Vb TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) camera which takes 120 roll film. As you can see, the subject is well aware of my presence but appears to be unconcerned. Part of the reason I guess, is the fact that I am using 50 year old camera in a digital age. There is less suspicion about my motives and even a fascination with the aging device I am pointing in his direction. I found this to be the case with most of my street portraits taken with these types of cameras and for this reason, they are for me, the perfect tool for such work. Well, perhaps not perfect. Film these days is very costly and that is before you factor in processing and scanning and the fact you have to wait days before seeing the results. But I hope you will agree, the result (at least in this case) is worth all the inconvenience.

I stopped doing street photography for many years. Perhaps it was due to the birth of my son which diverted much of my photographic energy towards taking photos of him. I still do take more pictures of him than I probably should, but I am also trying to pick up the street photography hobby once again as well. And I will be sharing some of the results with you here in the near future. I will try to take some film photos, but to be honest, I think I will also be taking digital images because of the convenience. Stay tuned.