Sunday Reads

Laura Currie 
9th October 2022

It’s all in the eye of the beholder!

Street photography can be a wonderfully creative genre, you don’t have to think about impressing anyone with your work, you can simply plod about town, observing things as they unfold, and the best part (in my opinion!) is that you don’t have to engage with anyone. In this week’s Sunday Read we hone in on the quiet, observational world of street photography and what makes it such a fascinatingly compelling genre.

Street photography gives you the freedom to observe the mundane, everyday nature of human behaviour and shine a light on it – to notice things that would usually go unnoticed and document them. Things like a lovely old couple munching ice cream, or a parent trying to bat a seagull away from their kids as they attempt to eat thier pasties can make for great imagery. Granted, these are both seaside-related events, but my street photography mainly took place in Brighton!

Martin Parr is arguably a genius when it comes to this type of photography. If you want to dip your toe in and dabble in street photography, his work is well worth a look to get you inspired.

I used to love nothing more than meandering through the North Laines in Brighton, recording the weird and wonderful behaviour of its colourful residents. People hugging, people shouting at each other, and occasionally people falling over drunk! I feel it’s just the purest form of documenting human behaviour.

But it’s not just what people get up to that can be so interesting when it comes to street photography; architectural shapes are undoubtably an inspiring topic for street work. I used to love shooting the geometric shapes in NCP car parks… On one occasion, a rather rotund man climbed out of a Bentley and asked what I was doing, I explained that I liked the structural shapes and he scoffed and said he’d rather photograph the streets of Venice. I explained my bus fare didn’t reach that far and he just smiled and trundled off. It’s all in the eye of the beholder, and that’s the beauty of it!

Fujifilm cameras are an excellent choice when venturing into the field of street photography. Their bodies have gorgeous, film camera aesthetics and don’t draw attention like a Canon R3 or Nikon Z 9 might. You can just explore, looking like a happy hipster having a mooch. The new X-H2S is a fabulous new arrival from Fujifilm that allows you to do just that. We have a new post on the way that will highlight the brilliant benefits of this little powerhouse for exactly this genre.

It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in street photography, life just gets in the way, but with the arrival of the X-H2S I have to say I’m excited again.

So, if you are intrigued by the idea of street photography then just get out there and shoot! It’s a wonderful way to just get creative and enjoy the craft with no pressure. Just don’t get punched by a drunk person.

Image credits respectively – Joshua Armstrong, Digital-Solacism, Matt Bennett, Craig Ren, Oliver Cole, Gil Ribeiro, Khachik Simonian, Nicholas Green