Seattle, 2011
Rain? A little. The camera goes into the pack just as easily though. Put both of them in tonight. Got flash units? Check. Pack three tonight just in case the event wants a step-turn photo booth.
Rain is the usual battle in late October. On this Friday night, traffic kills navigation. Tonight traffic is a problem, not so much the rain. When arriving late, and with protesters disrupting the event, an event photographer shifts to street photographer. It’s going to be a good night.
Obscurity is good, but it’s tough to achieve.
You lug a big camera around to get night shots using available light. If you can find a way to be obscure, the payoff is a thrill. A shot of the street is the prize. It’s really all about capturing life experienced in public space that’s golden.
Until the Leica, it has to be the Canon. And, the Canon performs well with low-light anyways.
Some street photographers bemoan digital. For some, the shot better be a single, simple subject. Street photography is about images of people; people doing people things.
So the street photographer has a real challenge. A camera brings a false dynamic to a setting. It can taint a shot – really blow it.
Tonight, in this shot, so much action is going on that even the big metal SLR won’t obstruct the lone conversation between the cop and the hotel guy.
That’s a good thing for this street photographer. Maybe the rain even helped to just fade into the background tonight.
What kind of photography?
That’s what people want to know when you call yourself a photographer – what kind of photography. It’s a deceptively difficult kind of photography.
In this shot, police guard the entrance to a hotel in downtown Seattle. People in the photo are not looking at the photographer. Protesters are mostly huddled together and interacting together. One protester and one cop are looking on as hotel security confers with a second cop.
It’s not a great street shot, nor a bad one. Man, I love street photography.
Street Photographers:
Rich Mealey Photo 