What is Street Photography?

I’ve traveled for many years for work (my day job, if you will), and brought along the camera most of the time. That was actually how I got started with photography. In the beginning, I was bringing the tripod and a couple of lenses, and shooting HDR cityscapes and street scenes on every trip. I was going for the “big” shots most of the time. But there are only so many “big” shots in any city, and so I would sprinkle in some “little” shots too.

Over time I chased the big shots less and less, and started traveling with a single prime lens and no tripod. I found I could easily capture street scenes, and general city life, with less gear and less fuss, frankly. I am a huge fan of traveling light (and prime lenses), and being able to wander with minimal gear and shoot handheld, even in lower light, was a big eye-opener for me. It changed how I shoot to some degree.

Gone were the attempts at the big, expansive, wide-angle HDR (attempted) masterpieces, and my new focus (pun only slightly intended) was on what I considered street photography. But like with other genres, street photography doesn’t exactly have a precise definition, at least as far as I know. It seems like one of those things where if you ask ten people to define it, you get ten slightly different answers. And that’s understandable. There’s no real black and white delineation to stuff like this.

To be clear, I don’t consider myself a street photographer. It’s not “my thing”, but I do enjoy it (at least as I define it) and derive a lot of satisfaction from being out chasing street shots.

So how do I define it?

Glasgow, Scotland

Good question. I generally think of street photography as a photo taken in an urban environment that includes at least one person in it, doing something that they are naturally doing (not staged or posed in other words), and they are not normally aware of me taking their photo, and thus aren’t looking at me directly. But every now and then they look at me, and smile or pose, or turn away, etc. 

So these photos could have a street in them, or be taken from the street. But for me it’s “urban + person”, generally speaking (or it could be a small group of people, but not a large crowd). Otherwise, if the photo is of a beautiful church or church interior, or museum, or building, or skyline, or empty street scene, etc then I think of those photos as cityscapes, or architectural photography. Even though they are urban, there are no people involved, doing their thing, unaware of me. So for me that disqualifies it as a street photograph. It’s just an urban or cityscape photo (and I absolutely love shooting those, just to be clear).

London, England - I was actually shooting this as a street scene, and they wandered right in front of me and took their selfie, so I took one of them - sometimes you get lucky!

Here’s what I don’t do though. I don’t take photos close up of people, unless it’s from behind. I never walk up and take someone’s photo from the front, up close, without their permission. It feels intrusive and rude, and I can’t bring myself to do that. I see lots of great street photographs that are like this, but I just can’t do it. If someone did this to me, I would not like it. But I do set myself up to take photos of people walking toward me in the street, as long as there is a little distance between us. I like having them as a part of the composition, but not the only thing. The scene is the subject, and having a person or two in it walking toward me just makes it relatable. 

Athens, Greece

Sometimes though, a person notices that I am taking a photo that they are in (and they may be the subject of it). Non-photographers don’t know the difference between a zoom lens and a prime lens with a fixed focal length (they are used to phones which do it all), so even though you may be taking a photo of a street scene with someone in it (at 35mm, for example), they may think you are zoomed in and shooting them. If that happens, and they are close enough to me, I often approach them and show them the photo and ask if they want a copy. It feels like a common courtesy. Every now and then they say yes, but no one has ever asked me to delete it. (I would, if asked.)

So considering all of that, I am not a street photographer. I am not aggressive enough, if that is the right term. Honestly I’m a bit of an introvert. I even have a little social anxiety at times. But I am a photographer that takes some street photographs, while also taking a lot of other types of photographs.

How do you define street photography?

Portland, OR - this is my favorite street photo I’ve taken, and probably the best all around as well. I feel like everything came together in this one.