For those who have been reading this newsletter, you’ll know that I recently purchased a RICOH GRIII. Snapping photos with this little, unassuming camera has made me fall in love with photography again.
I’ve done a fair amount of content consumption around street photography from the likes of Gary Winogrand, Robert Frank, Elliott Erwitt, and Joel Meyerowitz as well as some relatively new street photographers like Sean Tucker and Samuel Hopf.
In doing so, I’ve come across this new trend of pov street photography videos. In these sessions, the photography will either wear a camera (like a GoPro) or have a cameraman follow them around as they take photos and discuss their process.
Since I don’t have a free, willing cameraman lying around at my disposal, I wanted to try my hand at the former and find a GoPro to strap to my chest while I snap photos on my lunch break. Luckily I have a friend (thanks, Neil) who lent me a GoPro to give it a shot.
So far I have recored three street photography sessions (the first at the end of this entry, the second at the beginning, and the third not yet published) and I have had an absolute blast with it.
What I’ve learned about street photography so far
The closest I’ve ever gotten to taking street photos was the last time I was in New York City with my band. This was back in 2015 when we were in the city for a show and we didn’t have much time for photos. I did manage to snap a few of my band mates, some buildings, and some far-off strangers.
For starters, street photography is pretty invasive.
There are two types of street that people usually fall into: Fishers and Hunters.
Fishers look for interesting light and settings and then wait for subjects (usually human) to pass through that setting to add a human element to the scene.
Hunters look for interesting characters (usually human), interactions between people or groups of people, or really anything that catches the eye about humans in a particular setting.
To put it simply, Fishers tend to focus on the scene as the subject, Hunters focus on people as the subject.
What I’ve learned about street photography in Roanoke, VA
Roanoke is a southern town. It’s not a big city by any means and our largest building stands at 21 floors.
Folks here are still getting used to social media and are far from okay with a camera in their faces. The first day I went out to snap photos of the town I had a lady chase me down and ask if and why I just took her photo.
For this reason, I have felt a bit more comfortable with fishing. You will find in the video at the end of this post that most of the photos are usually of scenes with people in them rather than a people-first approach. If I’m sneaky with it, I can usually snap a photo of an interesting stranger as they pass me by.
What I learned about street photography in New York City
I traveled to NYC for a business conference and was able to get out at night and snap photos as well as a lunch break on the second day I was there.
I was smack dab in Times Square and immediately felt like just part of the touristy crowd as I stepped out into the throng with my camera. Everyone was snapping photos on their phones and scammers were taking photos of pretty girls with expensive cameras then trying to sell the photos to them. I very much did not stick out.
People just didn’t care that I was taking photos.
I had read this, and seen it on many youtube videos. Big cities have too much going on to care about someone taking photos. Everyone is busy, distracted, and headed somewhere.
Cameras in faces garnered no more attention than a weird side glance here and there (which sometimes made for some pretty great photos).
NYC was a great place to practice Hunter tactics which calls for more off the cuff compositions. You really have to be ready to snap from the hip, and always stay alert for great photo ops (and those dern sneaky robbers 👀).
Side note - had no issues with anyone trying to steal my camera. Probably because it looks like a $50 camera I borrowed from my parents.
Thoughts on street photography in general
Taking street photos with the RICOH GRIII has been a really fun learning experience and it’s very much a thrill snapping for 30 minutes to an hour here and there when I can. You never know what kind of people will be out and about and what kind of interesting situations you can catch them in.
My goal for this hobby at this point is to create some kind of coffee table book at the end of the year of some of my favorite photos in the same vein as The Americans by Robert Frank.
Like most hobbies, I’m sure I will soon loose a bit of interest, but for the time being, it has been a complete joy.
I don’t know if I will be purchasing a GoPro for this new kind of video or not, but I have gotten a better response on them than I thought, so if the demand is there, I might make it work! Used GoPros really don’t break the bank because of how fast they pop out new ones.
Thanks again to the great Neil Fox for letting me borrow his for a bit, and thank you all for reading and watching.
Let me know if you have any questions about my experience with this style of photography so far. Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram or Vero where I have been posting new photos every day for the last two months from my sessions.
See you next week!
What fun! I was mesmerized. NYC is such a bizarre place!!! Good job