A Thinking Street Photography Site
Some days, it seems like things just won’t come together.
You’re feeling blocked.
The framing is off.
You look up.
You look back at people.
You look up again.
You try again.
What else can one do, but try to fail better.
And then you get the feeling that things are coming together finally.
And you find something that makes sense, finally.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
So basically, I have 2 idiot-proof approaches.
Approach 1, step 1: Set the camera to f/16 and 1/125s on a bright (or even slightly overcast) day, depending on your film ISO.
Approach 1, step 2: adjust my 35mm lens such that the DOF scale allows for a distance of between 1.2m to infinity to be in focus.
Approach 1, step 3: walk around and allow serendipity to do its work.
Approach 2, step 1: focus on a brick wall.
Approach 2, step 2: fumble with camera.
Approach 2, step 3: allow serendipity to do its work.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
All that labour.
Those goods on display.
Yummy stuff.
Sometimes we don’t see all the work that goes into work.
We negotiate a life.
And a city emerges.
It’s bigger than us.
The labour of thinking.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Today, we look at the act of pushing.
All that work, all day, must mean something.
This is us.
We sort things out.
We go from place to place.
From place to place it must mean something.
The pull of desire.
All that pushing…
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Ilford XP2 400
Inspiration – that sudden realization.
Some find it in trees.
Others find it in rocks.
Many find it in the interaction between the built and natural environment.
There’s a biblical angle to inspiration, akin to revelation.
What is the street asking of me these days?
What is my street?
Is it an impersonal grid?
Is there a personality emerging?
Where is the street these days?
These are all reflections of our selves.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
We’re all looking for something.
There’s a gap in our lives.
If only that gap could be filled, we’ll be happy.
We all want something.
Anything.
A friend.
A thing.
To whet an appetite.
After that, the world would make more sense.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Stand at a corner and look confused.
Fumble with my camera long enough and someone will walk past.
I’ll look a bit lost and confused and frown at my camera.
I wasn’t holding the camera to my eye.
Another favourite activity: aim at the window.
And let people get in my way.
I’ve come to appreciate photographs that look like they were taken accidentally.
Street photography is an art that requires artlessness.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
Must we have people in street photography?
Or is the mere suggestion of human presence enough?
I’ve grown to appreciate the poetry of things.
So as to be on the lookout for stories to tell.
There’s a poetics of space here.
There’s a story of workmanship here waiting to be told.
What sort of obstruction is being prohibited? Are the owners of those chairs obstructing access to the door prohibiting obstructions to the chairs? Isn’t the sign itself obstructing access to those chairs?
Work, work, work.
The labour of mobility.
So that we know the weight of things.
The signpost of a neighbourhood.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
We do our own thing.
We do it easily – this art of immersion within ourselves.
We close down.
Read ourselves.
And this makes a life.
Camera: Leica M6
Lens: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 SC
Film: Kodak BW400CN
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