People: are endlessly fascinating to photograph. Sometimes it is the context of their activity that catches my eye, other times it is their character or the emotion I think they project. Sometimes people are aware of me taking their picture, other times they are are not…What I find interesting is how the shot I ultimately like “best” is not necessarily the thing I first noticed. Other times it is the very first shot that “works” and the subsequent shots in the series never quite capture the original feeling...

Moments come and go very quickly when you are shooting “street photography”. Every time you press the shutter button, you freeze a moment. Hopefully, the more you shoot street photography, the better you get at catching “moments”. Are you channeling the works of other great photographers for insight, technique and inspiration, or are you simply mirror of their style? That is the essence of the challenge that drives me to keep shooting pictures. I feel the ghosts of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lang, Gary Winogrand, Paul Strand, and August Sander as I photograph in some of the same places they worked in the mid-20th Century. While comparisons to their work are flattering, I work hard to be “of the school” rather than a mimic. Surely these greats would have enjoyed and thrived in today’s world of megapixels, terabytes of data and the ability to create/manipulate with Adobe’s Photoshop rather “souping” their negatives, making their own photo print paper, and then dodging and burning exposures with Beseler enlargers.

The best way to start a discussion with another “street photographer” is to ask them whether they think the subject being photographed should know they are being photographed. It isn’t long before you are deep in the weeds about the philosophy of the subject’s rights, privacy, their approval, or their disapproval. For me it is a bit of a dance…and trying to have a keen sense for the the situation of the moment. If the subject is aware of my presence and they look at me, I will often give them a “thumb’s-up” or an “OK?” gesture. If I get a negative shake of the head, I simply lower my camera and keep walking, (or turn away if I don’t want to give up my location.) I try not to intrude on moments of pain or grief, although one of my favorite shots is that of a high school football player crying and being consoled by a coach after a tough loss.

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