Street Photography – Real Moments, Real Stories

I'm drawn to street photography because it's life. It's unscripted, unposed (mostly), and full of genuine human moments. There’s no model, no set, no stylists or direction — just the world as it is, and how I see it. As photographers, we notice things others don’t. Street is how I communicate what I see. It’s my way of telling untold stories, or at least offering the first half and leaving the rest up to your imagination.

From the moment I first picked up a camera, this was the kind of image I wanted to make. I wasn’t interested in group shots or posed portraits. I wanted to photograph people mid-conversation, halfway through a bite of food, lost in their own moment. Something real. And over time, as I’ve become more intentional, I’ve broken that instinct down to its essence — a combination of timing, composition, and presence.

A Creative Thread Through It All

I don’t come from a formal art background, but creativity’s always been at the core of what I do — through music (I’m a singer-songwriter and have been playing in bands since the ‘90s), and through design (25 years in web and UX design, translating human experience into digital spaces). Photography, and especially street, is just another way to interpret how I see the world.

My Approach to the Street

I shoot as often as I can. I walk everywhere. And when I walk, I look. Not always with a camera in hand, but with a mindset that’s tuned to light, shape, and serendipity. Some days, your photographic eye just doesn’t fire — it’s like songwriting. You can’t force it. But I’ve learned a few tricks to help get my head in the right space:

• Colour matches: A red dress passing a red postbox. A green jacket framed against a green shopfront.
• The backs of hats: One of my favourite ongoing themes. A follow-shot from behind someone in a hat, head and shoulders, almost like a reversed portrait. It gets me close, gets me into rhythm.

Sometimes I’ll find a scene and just wait. There are walls, alleys, or bits of graffiti in York that I return to again and again, waiting for the right person to walk into frame. It's fishing. It’s patience. You anticipate, you visualise, and when the right elements align, you click.

Street Ethics (and staying stealth as a 6’4” fella)

Street photography comes with its ethical questions. Legally, it’s simple: there’s no expectation of privacy in public. Ethically, it’s a little murkier — but I have personal guidelines:

• Avoid photographing children where possible
• Avoid shooting people in vulnerable or unfortunate circumstances.
• Photograph the scene, not just the person — it's not about what they look like, it’s about what their presence brings to the frame.

That said, my goal is to be unnoticed. Not easy when you're 6'4" and built like a prop forward. Ironically, I’ve found that carrying a big camera makes me seem less suspicious. People assume I’m photographing something else — not them. But when I carry a tiny camera, people stare. Go figure.

What’s in My Bag

Over the years I’ve moved through various systems, but I’ve always leaned toward prime lenses — typically around 50mm when I started. These days, I’ve settled into two main setups:

Ricoh GRIIIx

Small, sharp, reliable. 40mm equivalent focal length. Perfect when I don’t want to carry a bag, or just want to shoot low-profile. I’m considering adding the GRIII for a wider 28mm field of view.

Sony A7IV Kit

My current main setup, with a few go-to lenses:

• Sony 35mm f/1.8 – my workhorse for the past 9 months.
• Sony Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 – great for tighter, more intimate framing.
• Viltrox 20mm f/2.8 – a recent favourite, especially after a trip to Bucharest with Ovidiu Selaru, who was shooting a Leica SL2 with a 21mm. The wide focal length opens up whole new compositions and embraces distortion in a fun way.

I typically stick with one lens per outing, unless I feel creatively stuck — in which case I’ll switch. Of course, as soon as I do, I’ll see a photo that would’ve been perfect for the lens I just took off. Classic.

Lessons Learned (and Some Favourites)

‍

• You can walk for hours and not click the shutter once. That’s okay.
• You’ll probably hate everything you shot more than a month ago. That’s progress.
• Keep experimenting. Try a new focal length, shoot from the hip, embrace blur or reflections.
• Know your camera inside-out. The more it disappears in your hands, the better your shots will be.
• Don’t fear Manual mode. Learn exposure, learn zone focus. It’ll unlock a deeper understanding.

‍

Location, Location… Variation

Street photography can be practiced anywhere — that’s the beauty of it. But stepping out of your well-worn routines can reignite your eye. That doesn’t mean you have to fly to another continent (although I’ll never say no to an overseas adventure). Even just hopping on a bus to a nearby town, seeing different faces, signage, light, and movement — it’s often enough to shake you out of a rut and remind you why you shoot in the first place.

Why It Matters

Street photography makes you a better photographer. It trains your eye, sharpens your reflexes, and teaches you to anticipate. It teaches patience. It gets you comfortable with failure, with imperfection, with not being in control. And, perhaps most importantly, it keeps you curious — about people, about light, about what’s just around the corner.

It’s a way to document life as it unfolds, without needing to stage or direct it. To show what the world looks like, just for a moment, through your eyes.

And for me, that’s enough.

‍