STREET PHOTOGRAPHY as a country boy...
- Allen Blasdell
- Jan 7
- 5 min read
My nearest small town is 5 miles away and the nearest "city" over 30; here's my approach to the problem of being a country boy street photographer.
My inspiration for street photography is Saul Leiter which gives me an excuse to do a wide variety of street photography! A quick study of his work reveals everything from almost portrait photography (excluding his fashion work where it obviously was portraits!) to very abstract photos. Over the years he used many cameras, many lenses and a variety of film; largely influenced by what he could get cheap!
He shot sometimes wide open, sometimes at F11 or so, sometimes at 200th second, sometimes maybe 1/10th second. I'm guessing often with 50mm or longer lenses but occasionally 35mm.
So when it comes to me and what and how to shoot street photography I have a wide range of possibilities.
Over the years I've given many cameras and lenses a ride round the streets. From my ancient Nikon D200 and a 24f1.4 lens to Fuji's X100v, xPro2, and Xt5, Sony's A7cr and A7cii, Nikon Z6ii and iii, D780, Zf and Z8 and of course my Leica M10
Which is best?
That's impossible to say to say for anyone but me as we're all different and would you will prefer different attributes camera wise - you may prefer the "look" that certain cameras and lenses have. However, for me I've eventually settled on my Leica M10 of course and my 50mm F1.5 Zeiss Sonnar when I feel inclined towards slow and thoughtful. Some days I'm happier with the Sony A7cii which for me is the almost prefect choice for street photography as it's small and light, brilliant to use (the ONLY camera I've ever had where all 3 parts of the exposure triangle are accessible from dials without pressing some other button - so manual exposure is actually a joy to do for once!) and 50mm F2.5G. That said it's also great with a Nikon 85F2 pre Ai lens from the 80's as manual focus with this camera is so easy and street photography works best mostly with manual focus anyway.
What is my aesthetic for street photography?
Street photography ranges from basically portrait photography through to totally abstract. The majority of street photographers concentrate on "people" be they simply walking around, shopping, getting out of a taxi, sheltering from the rain - whatever. A large percentage will wait for someone to walk into a pocket of bright sunlight and get them as a shadow or similar; so the photo isn't now a portrait but is still using a human being as the subject.
I've moved away from this and if you look at Saul Leiter's photos yes, there are people but mostly they are simply a part of the urban scenery rather than the subject. That's how I would include people in my street photography - as no more or less important than anything else in the photo.
But then there's the more abstract photos; many of Saul Leiter's images are very abstract and that's where I want to get to. To be able to "see" colours, shapes and light not as it is in normal everyday where we identify just a single plane of existence but to be able to combine many layers at the same time to create something that's in plain sight yet unseen.
A street photography outing starts with a drive; from 10 minutes to a couple of hours or if I'm off to London add some train journeys to that too. So it's not something I do everyday which is sad but at the same time it means my street days are a bit special - I'm sure if I lived in London and could do it everyday with no effort it wouldn't mean so much.
So, I've arrived at XY or Z and parked up or exited the train station.
I have no route or destination planned. If I've been here before I will try and pick a different route to start; I'll slowly wander in some direction that takes my fancy and at some point arrive at a place that has a few of the ingredients I look for:- Colour - maybe shop windows, advertising signs, marquees in a market, buildings...
Light - hey this is England and 70% of the time it's cloudy so that's why this isn't first on the list - and I find any light can be made to work. I will look for pockets of light even on a dull day they can be found and can influence a photographs composition.
Layers - this is where the magic lays. We see usually just a single plane - we are so good at focusing we only "see" the thing our brains tell us is important. We see in a plane of existence maybe half a metre deep; in front and behind that our brains say is unimportant. To "see" a street scene as a potential abstract photo requires turning our brain off and actively searching for more than we normally do in everyday life. Combining something 2 feet away with another 4 metres away and a background 20 to 50 metres away.
Reflections - is just another way to see Layers.
These ingredients rarely align themselves and jump out - they require searching carefully and slowly. Ordinary residential streets rarely have enough interest BUT imagine a photo taken after some rain through a wet red car's window where the frame is just in view looking across the road to some workmen in yellow where a shaft of sunlight is spotlighting them - you focus on the raindrops on the window at F12 so the workmen are out of focus but not just a blur. Maybe that would work?
Typically I'd head for a square or shopping area or maybe a park if there's things other than grass and trees.
It's then just a matter of "seeing"....
Camera settings can be important and can totally change an image - aperture and hence depth of field can draw the viewer to a part of the photo if shot at a large aperture whereas stopping down to F16 will flatten everything and will work for many shots. Shutter speed can help slightly blur reality into something more abstract. The lenses focal length plays a large part in the "look" of the photo of course where most street photographers swear by 35mm or even 24mm I prefer 50 or even 85 to help isolate a small part of "everything" into a more concise composition as for me simple works best to get an abstract or impressionistic look.
Most of all it comes down to practice - hundreds of hours of it !
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