Photos by Fan Ho

Welcome to a special episode of the Street Photography Magazine podcast! We’re thrilled to share an exciting announcement that’s been in the works and is now ready to be unveiled to members of our community of passionate street photographers.

Extending to The Print World with a Photo Book About Your Favorite Street Photography Places

• New Chapter: After years of digital publication, Street Photography Magazine is venturing into the tangible world with a physical book, celebrating the the places you love to shoot.
• Call for Submissions: Hosts Bob Patterson and Ashley Riffo invite street photographers to submit their work for this landmark project. This isn’t just any call for photos; it’s a call for images of places that hold a special place in the photographers’ hearts.
• Specificity Over Generalization: The focus is narrow, personal, and intimate. We’re not looking for the sprawling cityscapes or famous landmarks. We want those stories you tell in nooks and crannies that you return to time and time again, those specific locations that have become a part of your visual journey.
• Inspiration from a Master: The work of Fan Ho, who captured Hong Kong in the 50s and 60s, serves as a perfect example for this project. His repeated visits to the Hong Kong Central Market allowed him to tell deeper, more nuanced stories through his lens—a practice we encourage in our community.
• Capturing Change and Comfort: By revisiting familiar places, photographers can explore how their special spot evolves over time, becoming more attuned to the subtleties of light, atmosphere, and life that unfold there.
• Submission Details: Photographers have until February 15th to submit photos, complete with unique titles and the stories behind them. Patience is appreciated, as curating a book is a delicate and time-consuming process.
• Looking Forward: There’s a palpable sense of excitement as Bob and Ashley anticipate the diverse and profound collection of images that will be submitted, each with its own narrative and emotional resonance.

Stay tuned for updates on this project, and remember to visit Street Photography Magazine’s website for the submission form and additional details. Good luck to all our street photographers out there, and we can’t wait to see the places that have captured your hearts and lenses.

Until next time, keep making stories that are waiting to be told, on the streets you love.

A Selection of Fan Ho’s Photos at the Hong Kong Central Market

Links from the show

• Book Submission Form

Show Notes: Episode #168

In today’s episode, we delve into the serene and contemplative world of fine art street photographer and architect Cyrille Druart who is the featured photographer in the January 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine. Street Photography Magazine subscribers can read Cyrille’s story and view his photographs in our feature story about in which is scheduled to publish on Sunday, January 7.

Main Themes:

• “Plein Silence” Series: Dive into the discussion about Cyrille’s powerful “Plein Silence” series, a body of work that poignantly captures the stillness and solitude of the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of a fine art photographer.
• Artistic Evolution: Follow Cyrille’s artistic journey, including his affinity for minimalistic monochrome imagery and the development of his distinct graphic series that showcase his evolving style.
• Methodical Approach & Self-Critique: Gain insight into Cyrille’s meticulous method of shooting and his pursuit of perfection through rigorous self-critique, a testament to his dedication to the craft.
• Structured Composition & Design Methodology: Learn about the intentional structure and composition in Cyrille’s work, as well as his design-oriented methodology, which guides him in curating his photography series.
• Stylistic Adaptations: Cyrille talks about the occasional stylistic changes in his work and how he adapts his style to convey different moods and messages.
• Post-Processing Techniques: Uncover Cyrille’s approach to image refinement, using Adobe Lightroom for subtle tweaks and Adobe Photoshop for more substantial graphic adjustments.
• Social Media Presence: Delve into Cyrille’s thoughts on social media, his preference for Instagram (@cyrilledruart) as a visual platform, and his contemplation about closing his Facebook account to maintain a thoughtful curation of content.

Closing Thoughts:

Cyrille Druart’s blend of architectural precision and photographic artistry creates a unique and introspective body of work. His advice on tool selection and the curation of social media presence offers valuable insights for both emerging and established photographers. Don’t forget to follow Cyrille on Instagram to witness his minimalistic, monochromatic world.

Episode Timestamps:

• [00:01:30] – Transition from architecture to photography
• [00:05:45] – Exploring “Plein Silence” and pandemic-inspired art
• [00:12:20] – The evolution of artistic style and monochrome love
• [00:18:15] – Behind the scenes of Cyrille’s shooting and critique process
• [00:25:40] – Composition and design in photography
• [00:32:10] – Discussing post-processing preferences and techniques
• [00:38:55] – Cyrille’s advice on selecting photography tools
• [00:45:00] – Thoughts on social media and content curation

Don’t miss an episode of “The Street Photography Magazine Podcast.” Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoyed today’s show, please consider leaving us a review—it helps others discover great street photography content!

Links from the show

• Cyrille’s Website
• Instagram

In this episode, the spotlight shines on Mark Schumann, a retired photographer whose journey behind the lens has been as varied as it has been profound. From the awe-inspiring wilderness of Alaska to the gritty streets where the homeless crisis unfolds, Schumann’s camera has captured narratives that beg for attention.

Mark’s story begins in ninth grade, a testament to the early onset of his passion. What unfolds is a career that not only brings accolades but also highlights significant social issues. His work on the US homeless crisis, which gained recognition through a newspaper article, delves deep into the ethical quandaries photographers face when capturing images of the vulnerable. Schumann’s insights provide a sobering reflection on the social challenges that persist with homelessness and the role of photographers in that space.

Schumann recounts his encounters with Alaskan bears, a subject matter that demands respect and a keen eye for detail. The importance of capturing the eyes to convey expression is a profound takeaway from his experiences. It’s not just about the danger or the thrill, but about understanding and portraying the silent narratives of these majestic creatures.

For those eager to dive deeper into Mark’s ’s work, his website, Schumannphoto.com, stands as a gateway to his collections. Here, admirers can order his book and immerse themselves in the visual stories he’s so expertly woven. His book is more than just a compilation of photographs; it’s an invitation to explore diverse landscapes and social issues through his perspective.

Mark’s approachability extends to his social media presence, where he actively engages with his audience. He shares the behind-the-scenes process of managing book distribution, a role that sees him in the mailroom ensuring that his stories reach those eager to experience them. The podcast also reveals Schumann’s encouragement for feedback and reviews, underlining his commitment to community and dialogue.

Links from the show

• Mark’s Website
• Mark’s book: Homeless in a Land of Plenty
• Instagram
• Facebook

Sureita Hockley, is the featured photographer in the December 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine. She is a passionate street portrait photographer based in Wales, who has been capturing the world and its inhabitants for over a decade. With a background in dance, sales, and finance, Sureita found her true calling in photography in 2009.

Her journey began in the streets of New York City, where she immersed herself in the world of photography. She honed her technical skills and artistic sensibilities by attending courses at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and exploring the vibrant scenes of the city.

One of the defining features of Sureita’s work is her desire to engage with her subjects on a deep level. She believes in breaking barriers and making personal connections with the people she photographs. Overcoming her initial aversion to approaching strangers, she learned to gracefully handle rejection and persisted in capturing intimate and revealing portraits of people from all walks of life.

Sureita’s portfolio showcases her talent for capturing moments of connection and humanity. Her work predominantly focuses on street portraits, but she is not limited to one genre. Always challenging herself, she continually pushes the boundaries of her photography, exploring landscapes, documentary projects, and more.

Aside from her artistic pursuits, Sureita is actively involved in women’s photography groups. She served as a board member of Professional Women Photographers in New York, contributing to the development of the membership, exhibitions, and the empowerment of women photographers.

Whether she’s navigating the bustling streets of New York City, capturing the tranquil landscapes of Wales, or immersing herself in the cultural richness of different countries, Sureita embraces photographic opportunities with enthusiasm and dedication.

Links from the show

• Sureita’s Instagram
• Sureita’s Facebook

If you’ve ever been captivated by a photograph, chances are been it was due to the composition. That’s why we invited Paul Fremes to join us today. He has a keen eye for balance and an easy to understand way to explain his composition concept to anyone.

Paul’s journey into the world of photography began like many others. He stumbled upon a book of iconic photographs and was instantly drawn to the power they held. Determined to capture that same magic, he picked up a camera and embarked on a lifelong quest to perfect his craft.

But Paul soon realized that there was more to photography than just pointing and shooting. He discovered that composition played a crucial role in creating visually striking images. And that’s where he decided to focus his efforts.

What sets Paul apart is his unique approach to composition. While many photographers rely on rules like the “rule of thirds,” Paul delves deeper, exploring the concept of balance. He believes that a well-composed photograph is like a delicate dance between the elements within the frame.

Through his teachings, Paul guides photographers of all levels to see the world through a different lens, to search for balance in every shot.

Paul’s system, teaches you to to look for balance in a scene and capture it in-camera avoiding the need for excessive editing and manipulation.

He is a firm believer in the power of practice. He knows that becoming a great photographer takes time and effort. That’s why he encourages his students to get out there and shoot as often as possible. He believes that the more you practice, the more you train your eye to see the world in a new light.

But it’s not just about technical skills. Paul emphasizes the importance of finding your unique voice as a photographer. He encourages his students to explore their own perspectives, to capture the world through their own unique lens. Because in the end, it’s the individuality and personal touch that truly make a photograph stand out.

Paul was kind enough to offer our listeners a 1-hour live demonstration of his composition concept for only $21 CAD (Canadian Dollars). Click here to learn more

And here is a short video titled Revolution in Imagery that Paul made to demonstrate how his composition system works. When you’re finished watching be sure to catch our conversation on the podcast.

Links from the show

• Paul’s YouTube
• Paul’s Instagram
• Revolution in Imagery Video
• Book a 1-hour live demonstration by Paul
• Paul’s TikTok

In today’s conversation, I’m joined by the Justin Ide, Street Photography Magazine’s featured photographer for the November 2023 issue. His feature story with a samples from a recent project will go live Sunday, November 5 at 10:00 AM EST in the magazine.

With an impressive career as a photojournalist, Justin has captured powerful moments and shared stories that matter. From his early days in West Virginia, where he honed his skills by chasing down news stories, to his time as a staff photographer for the Boston Herald, Justin’s unique style shines through.

After his time in the newsroom, he took on the role of Director of Photography at Harvard University, where he continued to tell stories through his lens. Always eager to learn and grow, Justin emphasizes the importance of constantly seeking inspiration and knowledge, no matter where it may come from.

He believes that everyone has a unique story to tell, and through his camera, he captures the essence of individuals and the world around them. Whether it’s the bravery of firefighters or the hard work of farmers, Justin’s images evoke emotion and shed light on their untold stories.

Join Justin and I as he discusses his adventures, from his early days with a camera in hand to his current projects in Charlottesville, Virginia. He’ll share the lessons he’s learned along the way, including the importance of staying curious, finding stories that ignite your passion, and breaking the ice with subjects to create connections.

Links from the show

• Justin’s Editoral and Commercial Website
• Justin’s Family Documentary Website
• Justin’s zine Every Rodeo starts with a salute to the flag.

Fred Ranger, from Montreal, is not only a visual storytelling expert but also a YouTuber and gear junkie. We had previously talked about visual storytelling, but this time, we decided to dive into how and why he created his first zine.

Fred’s zine, titled “Humans After All,” is a collection of moments that celebrate the beauty of everyday life. Fred wanted to bring back the focus on humanity and showcase the small, poetic stories that often go unnoticed. From four old Italian friends waiting for the bus to a woman interacting with cats in Portugal, each photo tells a unique story.

When Fred decided to publish the zine, he opted for a different approach. Instead of relying solely on digital platforms like Instagram, he wanted to explore a different medium. He believed that seeing his work in print would bring out the true magic and allow viewers to experience his art in a different light.

To bring his vision to life, Fred used BookWrite, a free editing software provided by Blurb, to design and sequence the zine. He found it to be intuitive and user-friendly, which made the process smooth and enjoyable. Fred also emphasized the importance of seeing his work in print, as it added a whole new dimension to his photography. After publication, he was thrilled when Blurb reached out and featured his zine in their staff picks section.

Not only did Fred create a physical version of the zine, but he also made a digital PDF version available for those interested. He wanted his art to be accessible to a wider audience, and the digital format allowed people to experience his work on their devices.

Fred shared his love for capturing those fleeting moments that make life beautiful. And his journey of selecting and sequencing the photos in “Humans After All” was a reminder of the power of storytelling and the impact it can have.

Have a listen to our conversation about Fred’s journey into the print world and Street Photography Magazine subscribers can view photos from Fred’s zine in the October issue beginning October 24.

Links from the show

• Fred’s website
• Humans After All on Blurb
• Fred’s Podcast – Visual Storytelling
• Fred’s YouTube
• Instagram

In this episode, Karen Commings joins us to talk about her approach to street photography, and how it all began. You might remember Karen from earlier this month – she’s our featured photographer in the October issue.

Karen has been shooting the streets in earnest for about 10 years now, and one of the things we noticed about her work right away is how honed her powers of observation are. She often captures photos that are layered with multiple people and emotions all at the same time. It’s the way she likes to tell the story behind the moment. But that’s not the only reason she’s able to capture her subjects with emotions on full display.

“My superpower is being invisible in a crowd,” she says. Karen uses her superpower, along with a respectful approach to get close and catch. In this episode, you’ll learn what practical steps Karen takes to be discreet and how she knows when to take the shot.

You’ll also get a few tips about getting your work seen from Karen. Her work has been featured in Black & White Magazine several times, The Photo Review, and Harrisburg Magazine, just to mention a few online publications, as well as in numerous gallery shows. What’s her secret? Listen in to find out why photographers should take a chance with submissions and stay persistent to get work published.

Another thing we love about Karen’s work is her willingness to bend and break the rules of photography on occasion. She talks about they whys and hows of that in this episode, but to see a few examples of times she’s broken the rules for a noteworthy photo, be sure to subscribe to Street Photography Magazine and read our feature article about Karen, “A Chance to Break the Rules.”

Where to Find Karen Commings

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Karen’s Street Photography Books

Photo by Larry Racioppo

John Rossi, a retired school teacher from the New York City school system, has a deep passion for capturing moments through his lens. Although he currently lives on Staten Island, his heart remains in his native Brooklyn.

Larry Racioppio, a fellow photographer, friend of John’s and contributor to Street Photography Magazine, introduced me to John’s timeless photographs of Little Italy. And after seeing his photographs, I understood why and immediately invited him to share his personal story with you on the podcast.

Street Photography Magazine subscribers can see his work in his article Memories of Little Italy.

John’s journey in photography began when he got his hands on an old camera with his girlfriend. They experimented with different settings and discovered the joy of capturing images. From that point on, John always had a camera by his side, documenting any event that caught his eye.

John stressed the significance of photography books in his development. He mentioned influential photographers like Walker Evans and Robert Frank, whose work shaped his understanding of photography. With the advent of smartphones, everyone can now take pictures anytime, but John emphasized the importance of slowing down to capture meaningful moments, rather than just snapping away without purpose.

We also discussed John’s deep connection to his Italian roots and his passion for photographing the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy. He explained how his family had a store in the neighborhood, and how he was influenced by the atmosphere of the feast. His photographs from those times capture not only the events but also the culture and spirit of the people of the neighborhood.

As you will hear in our conversation, John is a funny and entertaining storyteller. He shared stories of encounters with fellow photographers and even brushes with famous actors like Robert De Niro.

It was a pleasure to have John Rossi on the podcast, and I encourage you to explore his body of work.

Links from the show

• John’s Facebook

In this episode, Sam Huggin, a production assistant in Richmond, Virginia, discusses the importance of film and photography in storytelling. Sam shared how framing shots can convey a message that relates to a larger narrative. He spoke about how, for him, photography captures the beauty and complexity of the world, and resonates with people through storytelling.

He also stresses the importance of showing respect for subjects in his street photography and documentary-style work. Sam believes that approaching each subject with empathy and understanding is essential to tell their stories without exploiting them. Sam strives to make his work reflect this respect for his subjects, capturing their essence without reducing them to caricatures or stereotypes.

A selection of Sam’s street photos

Links from the show

• Sam’s Website
• Instagram
• Byrd Theatre (The Byrd)

This is a special Street Photography Magazine Podcast Short episode about the upcoming PhotoNOLA Festival in New Orleans. Joining the podcast are Lisa Cates and Doug Miller of the New Orleans Photo Alliance to share more about the events, review and display opportunities at this year’s festival

PhotoNOLA is an annual celebration of photography in New Orleans that will take place from December 13 through 17 throughout the city. The festival is produced by the New Orleans Photo Alliance (NOPA) in partnership with museums, galleries, and alternative venues. The festival showcases work by photographers from near and far and includes exhibitions, workshops, lectures, a portfolio review, gala, and more.

The festival organizers are excited to welcome hundreds of photography professionals to the city to partake in a variety of educational programs. Additionally, the festival has a broad range of programming designed to connect and inspire the local community through photography. The exhibitions and events are largely free and open to the public.

One of the festival’s highlights is the PhotoNOLA Portfolio Review. It has quickly grown to attract a national gathering of accomplished photographers. They convene to share work with esteemed curators, editors, publishers, and gallery owners from throughout the U.S. and abroad. By fostering the exchange of art and ideas, the review supports the work of emerging and established photographers. The festival also honors three outstanding portfolios each year through the PhotoNOLA Review Prize. Additionally, the PhotoWALK event serves to educate the general public by offering the opportunity to view portfolios and interact directly with participating photographers.

Throughout the month of December, the festival has a variety of photography exhibitions on view, spotlighting diverse applications of the medium. There is also a series of workshops, lectures, and panel discussions that further the educational goals of PhotoNOLA. The annual PhotoGALA Benefit Party & Auction also raises funds to support NOPA’s year-round programming initiatives.

Links from the show

• PhotoNOLA Website
• New Orleans Photo Alliance website
• Lisa Cates’ Instagram
• Doug Miller’s Instagram

Joe Jasper is a passionate street photographer who resides in Washington DC. In addition to photography, he also works as an Events and Experience Producer for a DC-based company and has in the past worked as a Videographer and a Photography Instructor in the Washington area.

Joe’s photography revolves around his ability to capture moments, be it through Documentary, Events, or Street Photography. He seeks to capture the little idiosyncrasies of the world around us that go unnoticed every day, and his work is a testament to his skill. Joe’s work walks a fine line between a careful composition and the unpredictability of a candid scene, and he hopes that viewers will find hints of geometry and pattern intermixed with the chaos of humanity in his work. In non-pretentious terms, Joe likes to showcase things like emotion and character in an intentionally organized frame.

Joe’s passion for photography is not the only thing that defines him; he also has a keen interest in other hobbies such as hiking, soccer, and writing and designing materials for his music blog RapZebra. He is a proud Sproodle-Dad, which shows his love and compassion for animals.

A selection of Joe’s street photos

Links from the show

• Joe’s Website
• Instagram
• YouTube

Richard Morgan is a professional photographer and photography education from London. He recently authored a powerful article in June 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine titled The Poetry of Everyday Life in Wartime Ukraine about how life goes on amid the relentless Russian attacks on their country.

His passion for street photography started when he went to Russia to study Eastern European and Russian culture and politics. His father gave him an Olympus OM-1N with several rolls of black and white film, and he began exploring the streets of St. Petersburg with his camera. Over time, he developed his skills and techniques and won the 2018 CBRE Urban Photography of the Year Award.

He has continued to photograph in Poland, Russia, London and most recently in Ukraine, by capturing everyday life during times of conflict and political turmoil.

In his experience with clients, Morgan has learned the importance of adapting his approach to meet their unique needs and expectations. He incorporates a combination of candid street-style photographs, portraits, and mini-documentaries of a particular element of an event to capture a full-bodied reportage. Ed emphasizes the significance of building trust with the subject and finding unique ways to make a portrait stand out, such as getting their hands involved or asking them to show a meaningful tattoo or necklace.

During our conversation Richard said, when in a place or at an event, don’t photograph “the thing”, but the moments that happen around or a result of “the thing.” We talked about a lot during our hour together, but that one comment really struck home.

Ed stresses the value of practice to better photographer. He encourages street photographers to take their time, be patient, and wait for the right moment. He says that If a location is good, but nothing is happening, come back again (and again).

A selection of Richard’s Ukraine photos

Links from the show

• Richard’s Website
• Instagram
• The Poetry of Everyday Life in Wartime Ukraine

Portrait Photo by Joshua McLaughlin

Growing up in Gary Indiana, Bob Soltys discovered his love for photography while shelving books in his local library. It was then he encountered The Eye of Eisensteadt which left an indelible impact on him. From photographing Bobby Kennedy’s rally with his humble Instamatic camera to investing his earnings in a 35mm, he honed his skills and creativity.

An unexpected opportunity arose when teachers at his school went on strike. Bob, then a student, documented the event, leading to a job offer from a local newspaper. Over time, he expanded his portfolio, capturing everything from weddings to street scenes. His journey is a testament to the power of curiosity, patience, and persistence.

Bob also shares his insights on presenting a portfolio effectively. As an experienced photographer, he understands the importance of making a good first impression and provides practical tips to achieve this. He emphasizes the need for preparation, rehearsing the presentation, and being concise. And he advises bringing supporting materials like a Zine or prints but only leaving them if asked by the reviewer.

Bob’s website is more than a simple portfolio. In addition to being a showcase for his Paris work, he uses it as a creative journal of his personal story, eclectic interests, charitable work and his dogs.

A selection of Bob’s street photos

Links from the show

• Bob’s Website
• Bob’s Book: Paris, the Art of Living
• Bob’s Book: A Lucky Life
• Bob’s interview with Valerie Jardin about portfolio review preparation

Editor’s Note: The woman in the photo above next to Larry is Melissa, his cousin Camille’s daughter. They are at a 2018 book signing fo his book “BROOKLYN BEFORE.”  Melissa’s 1983 First Communion Photo is in the book and on the wall behind them. It’s another example of his family work coming full circle.

Larry Racioppo is a New York photographer who has been capturing captivating images for over half a century. Hailing from a simple Italian-American, Catholic family in Brooklyn, art wasn’t a frequent part of his upbringing. Nevertheless, Larry fell in love with photography accidentally while volunteering for an anti-poverty program in California. Ever since 1969, Larry discovered his passion and developed a unique photographic style that reflects his roots and personal evolution.

His diverse body of work, which examines the vibrant religious cultures of different ethnic groups in the city and showcases intimate portraits of loved ones, exhibits a fascinating continuity. Despite a lack of formal training, this self-taught artist has published five books and is currently working on his next five.

Don’t forget to check out Larry’s Street Photography Magazine article “Return Visit to NYC.”

A selection of Larry’s photos

Links from the show

• Larry’s Website
• Larry’s Books
• Instagram

Kenneth Wajda is a professional photographer and avid street photographer from Colorado. He has a unique approach to photography and a real passion for capturing those special moments that happen in our everyday lives. According to him, photography is a way to capture life as it is and to showcase the essence of people and places in their natural state. Currently he’s working on a project to capture the in-between moments of ordinary life in all 50 states, with the objective of capturing a truly authentic representation of the diversity of the United States.

One thing that really stood out to me is Kenmeth’s approach to photographing people. Instead of staging or posing his subjects, he focuses on capturing people as they are, which really allows him to showcase their true essence. This approach results in portraits that are authentic and meaningful.

My big takeaway from our conversation is that each photographer should be true to themselves and embrace their own unique style and vision. He encourages photographers to be authentic and not to conform to current trends or try to emulate others. This way, photographers can create truly meaningful and authentic work.

Kenneth’s passion for photography shines through in every word, and his dedication to capturing the beauty of everyday life is really something special.

A selection of Kenneth’s street photos

Links from the show

• Kenneth’s Website
• Colorado Faces
• Instagram
• Youtube

Mark Gilvey is an artist and photographer in Northern Virginia near Washington, DC. He began his career documenting endurance sports car racing. He later became interested in multi-image production, designing art for panoramic presentations using multiple slide projectors. As technology evolved, Mark taught himself digital design and went on to work in pre-press, web design, and marketing. He eventually formed his own company, Mark Gilvey Creative, where he provides design services to small and medium-sized businesses.

Mark has several personal photo book projects in the can and decided to use Blurb or other pint on demand services to make them a reality. However he discovered that it was difficult to make the end product, printed by someone else, match his creative vision.

So Mark called upon his many years of printing and graphic design experience to create a process to prepare photos and files so that they look best when printed. Mark’s process is now available to anyone through his book Blurb for Photographers.

Mark joined us for this special podcast episode to share some tips and techniques to make your photos look their best when printed on demand.

Links from the show

• Blurb for Photographers
• Mark’s Fine Art Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Meryl’s portrait by Laura June Kirsch

One of the first lessons I learned from Meryl Meisler when we first met at the Miami Street Photography Festival a few years ago is “if you don’t promote your own work…nobody will.” That’s why I asked her to join us on the podcast this week…to explain how she promotes her own work and share tips on how we can do it too.

During our conversation Meryl Meisler shares some great tips on how to promote your work effectively while protecting it from unauthorized use. Meisler suggests using social media and mass emails to your advantage, especially when you have a new project or exhibition. She recommends creating a mailing list of contacts who are interested in your work and sending out regular updates. Meisler also emphasizes the importance of giving credit to journalists who publish your work, as they can help increase your visibility and credibility.

In addition, Meryl stresses that copyrighting your work is crucial to protect it from unauthorized use. She advises photographers to register their work with the U.S. Copyright Office to have legal proof of ownership. Meisler also recommends adding watermarks on digital images to deter unauthorized use.

Meryl highlights the significance of consistency in your personal branding and online presence. She suggests using the same logo or profile picture across all social media platforms to create a cohesive look and reinforce brand recognition. She also recommends regularly updating your website and social media accounts to keep your audience engaged and informed about your work. Keep it fresh.

A selection of Meryl’s photos from her Zillman Museum exhibits

Links from the show

• Meryl’s website
• Instagram
• Zillman Art Musem Exhibits
• Meryl’s Gallery – CLAMPART

Paul Reid is a professional photographer from Carlisle in the north of England. For many years he specialized in wedding photography using only small cameras with prime lenses to capture fleeting moments that tell the story of the day’s events. This made it an easy transition when he became serious about street photography.

Because of his preference for monochrome, Paul jumped in with both feet by purchasing a Leica Q2 Monochrom shortly after it was released. He quickly became attached to the device and over the years mastered its intricacies making stunning portraits and street images.

Of course he shoots color too, but like many of us, monochrome is in his DNA. That’s why I call him “Mister Monochrome.”

When he’s not doing paid photography work Paul also serves a mentor to other photographers guiding them to discover their personal vision and perfect their monochrome style.

He encourages everyone to create personal ongoing and short-term projects to keep the creative juices flowing. And he practices what he preaches. Paul’s favorite personal project is his Time Traveler series which features a faceless man in a fedora cast in various scenes…in monochrome of course.

Recently Paul has become a YouTube sensation using his infectious enthusiasm to share his joy of visual storytelling and deep dives into his personal projects. It’s obvious that his work comes from the heart.

Learn more about Paul in the Street Photography Magazine article, “Monochrome Mad.”

A selection of Paul’s street and project photos

Links from the show

• Paul’s website
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LFI Gallery

Today we welcome back, Lauren Welles, someone with whom we’ve spoken with a number of times over the years. Lauren left a successful 16-year career as a corporate attorney to follow her passion for photography, which she has been doing professionally now for a little over a decade. She is primarily self-taught, and her photography has taught her even more about herself than the subjects she has photographed. She believes that, as human beings, we are much more alike than we are different; her passion for street, documentary and event photography reflects that. 

Over the last few years, Lauren has spent more of her time teaching others what she’s learned, often revisiting the way she imparts information, attempting to simplify her language and instruction as much as possible.  In addition to being a Leica Akademie instructor, Lauren teaches photography to high school students from underserved communities at the NYC SALT program in New York City. In collaboration with Leica Akademie, this August Lauren will be giving a workshop about learning how to see, which she says is a skill that anyone can learn, regardless of how proficient one is with the technical aspects of their camera.

A selection of Lauren’s street photos

Links from the show

• Lauren’s Website
• Lauren’s Manhattan/Coney Island Workshop
• Instagram
• B&H Podcast interview with Jean Furth about her Little League book and project

We’re pleased to have Julia Dean back with us again. She’s a longtime photographer, educator, writer, founder of the Los Angeles Center of Photography and most recently the creator of The L.A. Project.

Julia was the last apprentice to the pioneering photographer Bernice Abbott, which had a profound effect on her work and career. In the years that followed, she traveled the world, working on socially concerned projects by freelancing for relief groups and magazines. Eventually, life brought Julia to LA, where she began teaching full time and shooting street photography on the side. And these are just a few highlights of her photographic journey.

She is passionate about collaborating on projects with with talented photographers. In the 1990s, she raised money to send six photographers around the world to document stories about child labor. This work resulted in two trips to the Capitol and a lot of press. Her current collaboration is through The L.A. Project, where she pulls together L.A. photographers — students, emerging and professionals — covering stories of the streets.

Between all of this Julia makes time for her own photography projects, The Guardian of the Alley about Jose Hernandez, a well-respected homeless man who serves as the godfather of a portion of a homeless encampment in downtown L.A.>

As an educator her teaching experience includes 40 years at various colleges, universities and educational institutions including the University of Nebraska, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Santa Monica College, the Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Photographic Workshops, Oxford University, the Los Angeles Center of Photography, and the Leica Akademie.

For two decades, Julia concentrated on street photography around the world. For the past 12 years, street shooting in downtown Los Angeles has been her primary focus. She created and directs a street collective called Street L.A., which consists of a group of serious photographers who shoot weekly. Julia's work has been published in many magazines, blogs, and books.

A selection of Julia’s street photos

Links from the show

• The L.A. Project
• Julia’s Website
• Instagram
• The Guardian of the Alley

In this episode of the podcast, we revisit an old friend, Michael Ruggiero. Mike’s recent move southward put him within driving distance of Bob so the two met up to record a podcast episode – this time in person!

Mike has always been a prolific street and documentary photographer, thanks mostly to a successful career as a chef that provided him with the time and money to travel and buy plenty of film. In this episode, Bob and Mike talked about how he used his calling to fund his passion and how being a professional chef influenced his photography.

The two also dove into several of Mike’s long term projects, many of which revolve around slices of Americana that are steadily disappearing. One of Mike’s current projects is particularly fascinating. Recently, he’s been visiting small town churches and shooting tiny congregations of just a dozen congregants or so inside their places of worship during church services. He gave Bob the skinny on how he gets permission to be present as a photographer and shoot such intimate moments.

But there’s lots more to this conversation that you won’t want to miss. Listen in to find out how Mike, a lifetime film photographer, adjusted to digital when he was deprived of his darkroom during his recent move, learn about his attempts to become a Magnum photographer, and find out how he met (and was duped by) a very old and feisty Henri Cartier-Bresson. Mike has plenty of stories to tell.

A Selection of Mike’s Street Photos

Read Mike’s feature interview in Street Photography Magazine here.

Links from the Show

• Mike’s Website
• Instagram

The title of this article is really a misnomer because Marcia Bricker Halperin knew all along that the archive she built over 40-years contains gold. But she waited until she retired from teaching to create a book from her life’s work.

On a winder day in 1975 Marcia ducked into Dubrow’s Cafeteria on Kings Highway in her native Brooklyn to escape the cold. Over the next three years she returned regularly, camera in hand, to record the life and culture among the regulars in this local landmark unique to New York. It was a happy accident that proves you never know where a photo project will lead. Nothing will happen until you take the first step and do the work.

During the podcast conversation Marcia tells the story of how she created her book, Kibbitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria , by mining her archive, making difficult selections, scanning negatives, and finding a publisher that believes in her vision and finally making it a reality.

Early in her career Marcia was employed by the CETA Artist’s Project under the auspices of the Cultural Council Foundation. Her assignments included photographing the Soviet refugees and their introduction to American culture in Brighton Beach and photographing housing issues in Hell’s Kitchen.

In the late 1970s, she was active in the Photographers Forum, an organization that was a continuation of the 1940s Photo League. She assisted with organizing their meetings and panels held at the New School, which featured photographers such as W. Eugene Smith and Roy DeCarava.

Marcia’s personal story of how she leverages her archives to publish her book is an inspiration to any photographer who dreams of exposing their own work to the world.

Marcia’s portrait by Phil O’Brien

Exhibitions and book events

Exhibition: Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center
Through June 25, 2023
82 N Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960
Link: https://www.edwardhopperhouse.org/kibbitz.html

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 11, 2-3:00 at the Nyack Library, 82 N Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960
Followed by a tour of the exhibition at Edward Hopper House

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 11, 2-3:00 at the Nyack Library, 82 N Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960
Followed by a tour of the exhibition at Edward Hopper House

Exhibition: Garment District Arts Alliance
Kaufman Arcade
132 West 36th Street, NYC
May 15 – August 25, 2023

 Garment District Tour and exhibit viewing 
Monday, June 5th – 10:30 am
Meet at the Giant Needle and Yellow Button
West 39th Street and 7th Avenue
Email Marcia at [email protected] to reserve a spot

A selection of Marcia’s photos

Links from the show

• Marcia’s Website
• Kibbitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria on Amazon
• Instagram
• Facebook

Tatiana Hopper is an artist. Her mediums are film photography, video content creation and writing. You may already know her as the creator of the T Hopper YouTube channel.

I first discovered Tatiana’s channel when I was searching YouTube for documentaries about some favorite master photographers. YouTube is a vast resource but sometimes difficult to search due to the large numbers of “Clickbait” posts. It can take a lot of time and effort to separate the wheat from the chaff.

That’s why I was so pleased to find Tatiana’s YouTube channel. She creates a series of videos in three categories: past and present masters of photography, the photography of people famous for other creative endeavors (like actors, musicians and filmmakers), and her own views about photography techniques and creativity.

Tatiana has created videos about Winnogrand, Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Marry Ellen Mark and many more. One of my favorites is her most recent documentary about W Eugene Smith. Don’t miss it.

She is also fascinated with the photography work made by people famous for other creative endeavors like actors, musicians and filmmakers. You will find stories about the photography of Ringo Starr, Lenny Kravitz, Patti Smith, Linda McCartney, Bryan Adams and more.

My personal favorite is her series of short documentaries about master photographers. In these 10 – 20 minutes videos she explores the life and work of each photographer focusing on the lessons she learns from each of them.

Tatiana is prolific, releasing several new videos throughout the month. This is no small feat because creating quality videos is very time consuming. Her archive contains rich mix of quality, informative and inspiring content that will keep you entertained for days.

I was so enthralled with her work that I had to reach out and invite her to be a guest on a podcast. Fortunately she made the time to talk. As you will hear in our conversation she is brilliant, engaging and fun.

Tatiana’s YouTube channel, T Hopper, is an excellent resource for any photographer, in search of inspiration. I encourage you to add it to your favorites and visit regularly.

A few of my favorite short documentaries by Tatiana

• The importance of self portraits
• Learning photography with Josef Koudelka
• The Genius of W. Eugene Smith
• The timeless photography lessons from Robert Frank
• Timeless photography sessions from Cartier-Bresson
• The Narrative Photography of Fan Ho
• The surprising Street photography of Sergio Laarín
• Learning photography with Mary Ellen Mark!
• Composition with Garry Winogrand
• 5 photography Lessons from Edward Hopper’s Painting!

Links from the show

• T Hopper YouTube Channel
• Tatiana’s Website
• Tatiana’s Instagram
• Tatiana’s Twitter
• Tatiana’s Linktree

Today’s podcast is a special episode that marks our 10th anniversary of Street Photography Magazine. We’re going to depart from our usual format for our editor, Ashley Riffo, to interview me about the story behind the magazine. It was a little strange and uncomfortable to talk about myself on the other side of the microphone.

Initially I did most of the magazine work myself which resulted in many of the late nights and long days, attempting to keep up with my web development business and a publication. Fortunately, about a year into the business, I connected with Ashley Riffo to help edit the magazine contact. That was about nine years ago. Until this past, February, Ashley and I had never met in person. I believe the magazine would have died on the vine years ago if it wasn’t for her hard work, creativity and sound advice.

In the early years we spent a lot of time and energy seeking good content for the magazine. Then as the magazine continued to grow we began to receive a flood of article submissions from some really amazing photographers around the world. This is allowed the magazine to evolve into a highly curated publication that is not only a platform for photographers to show their work, but a source of inspiration, ideas and information for our readers.

The launch of Street Photography Magazine sent me on an incredible journey that I never expected. It has been one of the most interesting and exciting experiences of my life that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It has enabled me to make friends with a number of creative and inspirational people I would not have otherwise met.

I have our supporters, podcast listeners, contributing photographers and Ashley Riffo to thank for it. I will never forget it.

Photos with links to articles discussed during the show

Jason Figgis is an Irish film director and writer who began his career working for Murakami-Wolf Animation Studios on the TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Soon after he worked for Steven Spielberg at his London based Amblimation Studios on the feature An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Since then, over the past 20-years he has written and directed a wide range of indy films, television programs.

Recently Jason turned his attention to creating a documentary about the compelling work and life of British social documentary photographer Shirley Baker (1934-2014). Shirley’s street photography of the working class inner city areas, taken from 1960 until 1981 in Salford and Manchester as they experienced years of ‘slum’ clearance, came to define her vision.

Her engagement with the everyday world resulted in several different strands of work, many of which have not been exhibited. Although Shirley’s work is not well known outside the UK her work has been exhibited at the Tate Britain, Barbican Art Gallery, London, The Photographers’ Gallery London, James Hyman Gallery and The Louvre to name a few.

This quote of Shriley’s best describes her body of work:

“I love the immediacy of unposed, spontaneous photographs and the ability of the camera to capture the serious, the funny, the sublime and the ridiculous. Despite the many wonderful pictures of the great and famous, I feel that less formal, quotidian images can often convey more of the life and spirit of the time.”   – Shirley Baker

Shirley’s work is a must-see for any serious street photographer so be sure to listen my conversation with Jason as he tells the story of Shirley, her influence, work and the making of the film Shirley Baker: Life Through A lens

A selection of Shirley Baker’s photos

Photographs by Shirley Baker / Courtesy the Estate of Shirley Baker

Links from the show

• Jason Figgis’ Wikipedia
• Shirley Baker Website
• Shirley Baker Instagram
• Shirley Baker: Life Through A lens Premiere Announcement
• The New Yorker article – Shirley Baker’s Half Century of Street

When Jeff Sonnabend, an Intellectual Property attorney from New York City, moved to Arkansas near the geographical center of the lower 48, he decided to follow his passion as a documentary photographer.

Inspired by the work of German filmmaker / photographer Wim Wenders, he began photographing American communities for his project “Interstate Magazine”, a project roughly modeled on the work of the Farm Security Administration (the FSA) of the 1930s and 1940s.

Like the work of the FSA, all of his documentary photography is meant to “show America to Americans”. As such, Jeff’s photography captures a detailed, truthful view of America as it really is.

Early in 2023 Jeff published his second book, “The Route 66 Primer, An Uncropped View of the Mother Road.” He recently published an article in the January 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine that tells the story of his book with a sample of his favorite images. His previous book, “Bowling the American Dream, America’s Bowlers and Their Bowling Alleys”, was published in 2019.

In today’s episode, Jeff shares his personal story about how and why he travels the American heartland in search of its soul.

A selection of Jeff’s project photos

Links from the show

• Interstate Magazine
• The Route 66 Primer
• Bowling the American Dream by Jeff Sonnabend
• Written in the West by Wim Wenders
• Paris Texas – Film by Wim Wenders

LeighAnn Edmonds is a freelance documentary photographer in Birmingham, Alabama. Her work focuses on the rural regions of the American South, the people, their culture and the land that has often passed down through generations.

Her conviction to break away from mainstream photography led to her retirement as a professional wedding and family portrait photographer, allowing her to focus on her personal work and photography projects.

She primarily shoots 35mm black & white film with a 1955 vintage NIKON S2 rangefinder and her first camera, a Nikon N80 SLR.

LeighAnn penned an article for Street Photography Magazine about her return to film which will be published in the magazine on March 19, 2023. In addition she will be the featured photographer in the May 2023 issue of SPM. Be sure to read that article to learn more about LeighAnn and her work.

Links from the show

• LeighAnn’s website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Read more about Leigh Ann in the feature article “Stepping Away from the Superficial,” in the May 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine.

We’re doing something a little different this week. Instead of our usual monthly newsletter we decided to publish our interview with Brian Lloyd Duckett in our podcast feed. That’s because Brian is the featured photographer in the March 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine and we wanted to share our very lively conversation with everyone.

You can listen to our conversation with Brian here (or iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher and most other podcast directories) then SPM subscribers can read more about him and see his work in the March feature article which is scheduled to publish on Sunday, March 5.

Brian is a documentary and street photographer from London. He has a very quirky and humorous style that is very refreshing. Brian says he is more interested human behavior than random photos of people walking down the street. Look at his work and you’ll see what I mean.

He is also operates StreeSnappers, a London-based street photography hub. There he offers a variety street photography workshops both locally and around Europe.

Brian is also a prolific writer, having penned six books about street photography including his most recent ‘OBSERVED’ – OBSERVATIONAL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY. All of his books are available on his website.

When he’s not practicing or teaching street photography, Brian shoots editorial portraits for newspapers and magazines and is a partner in a commercial photography business.

One more thing…his YouTube channel is an excellent resource for all street photographers.

A selection of Brian’s street photos

Links from the show

• Brian’s Website
• StreetSnappers Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

Lewis Sandler originally trained as a lawyer, decided to move to China to explore a different world. There he spent nearly He spent nearly 30 years 30 years there working teaching English in high schools and later college. During his time in China, he photographed the world around him creating a huge body work.

When he returned to the US Lewis settled in Presque Isle, Maine. Newly retired, he decided to find a way to show his photographic work in a gallery. This is something many of us would like to do but most never take the first step. Lewis was not deterred.

Without any knowledge of how to find a gallery and create work for display he made a contact at the local library who agreed to give him space to show his work. He then set to work culling his photographs and contracted with a printer to print his selections on fine art paper. He then framed them (over 80 prints in all) and created supplemental material about life in China. It became a huge undertaking.

He made it happen by taking digital images that only existed on a hard drive and making them real. In the process he made many mistakes which he shared during our conversation. But rather than let them defeat him, instead he learned and adapted for the next time. He has another show scheduled for this spring in a nearby town.

Lewis shows us that no matter where you live, no matter what you photograph, opportunities exist to show your work to the public. You only have to look for them, ask and deliver. Which isn’t easy.

You don’t ask…you don‘t get.

A selection of Lewis’s China street photos

Links from the show

Facebook

Pinterest

After I finish an interview I write down two or three things I learned from our guest. That’s why the title of this episode is “It’s about the story.” Nancy Kaye is a photojournalist and educator from Los Angeles. During her career she has been based in New York City and London, shooting for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Associated Press.

During our conversation Nancy said something that really resonated with me. She said that a single image can be strong on its own, but when sequenced in a group with a common theme the synergy it creates is much more powerful. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Nancy’s photos have been widely exhibited in juried shows and included in numerous books and documentaries. Her portrait of author Ralph Ellison is in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In 1988 Nancy photographed a group of young girls in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood for The NY Times; a generation later she collaborated on a project, “Jump Rope Girls,” documenting the girls’ lives as adults with children of their own, and presented it at Duke University’s Documentary Study Center.

As an educator she’s taught at LA Valley College and Santa Monica College Continuing Education, and American Jewish University’s Whizin Center where she worked with Rotem Rosental. She has mentored youth at Venice Arts and developed an after school photo program for teens in Culver City. She leads independent street photo workshops, guiding photographers to define their personal projects.

Recently, she has served as a photo judge and curator for Photoville LA, ASMP-LA calls for entry, and the Orange County Fair. She’s currently President of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP.)

Editor’s note: Nancy Kaye was the featured photographer of the month in the July 2023 issue of Street Photography Magazine. For an in-depth look at her work, read the article “Thinking in Stories.”

A selection of Nancy’s street photos

Links from the show

• Nancy’s website
• Book Recommendation: André Kerté
• André Kertész On Reading
• Mark Greenberg
• J Ross Baughman
• Maggie Steber

Matt Nickles of Dayton Ohio is a new type of explorer. An Urban Explorer…Urbex for short. Rather than photograph people, he photographs the effects of people by documenting the things they leave behind by entering abandoned buildings, schools, churches and even subways. Basically Matt is an historian. These places can be dangerous, so it’s not for the foolhardy. Personally I find it fascinating.

Here’s an explanation from Matt, in his own words, about what he does and why he does it. Plus more than a few words of caution for those of us who want to try it ourselves.

“Take only photos, leave only footprints” a motto that would take a hold of my life! Hi there, my name is Matt Nickles(OhioRed). They say good things can come from bad situations and that is exactly what happened to me. Let me explain!

Prior to Covid I was an avid hiker and nature will always be my first love! Then Covid happened. I noticed the trails quickly became packed with other people looking to escape the confinement of home. To me, nature was my escape from people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an extrovert to the bone. But, we all need a break from the world and society and nature was mine.

Now, I was stuck looking for a hobby without the cluster of people. I had always had this fascination with the Cincinnati Subway. So, to Google and Facebook I went. Took me just a couple days but I had set up a trip to get in and explore the remains of the forgotten subway. Before I go forward, I don’t condone any trespassing. I do this to capture the history before Mother Nature takes over. Next thing you know, I’m standing beneath the city of Cincinnati and can hear the foot traffic and cars on the street above me. Now, I find myself chasing light to capture that moment in time.

The greatest joy I get from this is the moment to stand at the center of some of these structures and just listen and smell and imagine what it was like in its prime with all the busy people and loud machines running. I make sure to respect all places I visit and to leave only footprints. I’ve found myself from coast to coast and from Michigan to Destin Florida in my travels. I’ve also found there isn’t a place that I’ve encountered that doesn’t have a story to tell.

I welcome you to take a look at my work and see if you may recognize any of these locations and may have a story of your own to tell? Safe explores!

A selection of Matt’s Urbex photos

Links from the show

• Matt’s Urbex Facebook

Carlos P. Beltran is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer and photo journalist originally from Caracas, Venezuela.

Recently Carlos completed a 12-year documentary project, It Suddenly Occurred to Me, serves as an experimental biography that explores the life and work of Yarida Silva, a woman who found peace and redemption writing from within some of the worst prisons in Latin America.

The book, documentary and photography exhibit are a collaboration between writer Yadira Silva and Carlos that offers an intimate view of a troubled, yet hopeful life.

In today’s episode Beltran tells the story of how he and Yarida connected, how she wrote her story while imprisoned, how she hid her writing from the Venezuelan authorities and the dramatic rescue of her handwritten drafts from an abandoned apartment in Venezuela.

Carlos’ documentary work focuses on socio-political issues, civil rights, migration, LGTBQ+ and human-interest stories in Latin America and the U.S. His work has been featured in leading news outlets including, NBC News, ABC News, National Geographic, Discovery Networks, Univision, The New York Post, Telemundo, Fusion, The Atlantic and AJ+ among others.

A selection of Carlos’ Venezuela documentary photos

Links from the show

• Carlos Beltran website
• Suddenly it Occurred to Me book website

Matt has worked as a creative nearly his entire professional career. He started as a visual designer but by the end of his 20-year tenure in that field his focus and expertise had shifted toward language and narrative. It’s no surprise that he ended up in the creative industry in that his parents were both artists and continue to create to this dav.

Though from a family of modest means Matt was always supplied with instruction and professional level art supplies. His father was both a painter and a writer, but Matt’s early interests were, like his mother, entirely visual. She is an accomplished artist to this day. Having studied under Xavier Ironsides in her youth and heavily influenced by the work of Andrew Wyeth throughout her life, she has a solid command of form and composition and is an absolute master of the use light, shadow and texture.

Matt’s formal training was initally in the area of theology. After a brief stint as a chaplain and teacher, however, he decided to pursue a degree in visual communications that evolved into a career in advertising. For multiple reasons does not consider his work in theology to have been a waste of time. In addition to applying the knowledge gained to his own spiritual journey it served to shape his creative vision as well. It’s his belief that the essence of true art is, fundamentally, the essence of humanity. and that human nature is most clearly revealed in its search for the divine.

Currently he owns a small company that creates destination art for retailers across the United States. And while he enjoys his work as a small business owner and illustrator he continues to pursue photography as a deeper from of creative expression. His photographic work has been featured on multiple occasions in Street Photographer Magazine and a piece he did for National Parks Magazine won awards from both the Society of American Travel Writers and the North American Travel Journalists Association.

A Selection of Matt’s Street Photos

Links from the show

• Matt’s photography website
• Smoky Outfitters – Matt’s business website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• AbeBooks
• Resurrection City, 1968 by Jill Freedman
• The Unseen Saul Leiter 
• Gordon Parks: Segregation Story
• The Candid Frame Interview with David Ulrich
• The Mindful Photographer by David Ulrich

Matt Jerrams is an executive producer who creates television commercials in London. He has a passion for street photography in one of the best cities in the world to shoot.

It seems like we have Matt on the show every year so it like this is his turn in 2022.

We had plenty to talk about including Matt’s post purchase dissonance after switching from Fuji to Sony and his successful experiment selling his own prints through Etsy. He even volunteered to help our listeners thinking about giving it a try themselves.

And of course he’s a Cleveland Browns fan…why is still a mystery to me. But we’re glad he’s a member of the fraternity. Don’t worry,we didn’t use the precious podcast time to talk football.

A selection of Matt’s recent street photos

Links from the show

• Matt’s Instagram
• Matt’s Vero: @capitalfaces
• Matt’s Etsy
• Robert Blomfield: Edinburgh 1957 – 1966
• The Mindful Photographer by David Ulrich
• Shane Taylor Instagram
• Jimmy Lee Instagram

Brooklyn based photographer, Amy Touchette, explores themes of social connectedness through street portraiture. Amy trained at the International Center of Photography and began her artistic career as a writer and painter, earning a BA in Literature and Studio Art and an MA in Literature. She is represented by ClampArt in New York City and Little Big Galerie in Paris, France. 

Amy’s second monograph, Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, was published in January 2022 by Schilt Publishing (Amsterdam) and garnered a Critical Mass 2021 Top 50. Her first monograph, Shoot the Arrow: A Portrait of The World Famous *BOB*, was published by Un-Gyve Press (Boston, 2013). Other publications include The New York Times, the New York Observer, and the books Women Street Photographers (Prestel, 2021) and Brooklyn Photographs Now (Rizzoli, 2018).

Her photographs have exhibited nationally and internationally, including at MoMA-Moscow, Leica Gallery-Warszawa, Hamburg Triennial of Photography, and in the U.S. Embassies in Vienna, Austria, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Images from her latest series, Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, debuted at the National Portrait Gallery in London, England, 2019-2020, as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition and were included in an article on Artsy about Amy’s approach to street photography. An image from Personal Ties: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn was made into a 8’ x 5’ flag and flown at the iconic Rockefeller Center rink in 2021 as part of Aperture’s “The Flag Project.”

Amy is currently at work on several medium-format street photography series, as well as Street Dailies, her ongoing series of impromptu portraits of strangers, which are released regularly on Instagram.

A selection of Amy’s street photos

Links from the show

• Amy’s Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Kieron Long is a documentary photographer and Leica Ambassador from Kuching, Malaysia located on the island of Borneo.

Born in Hong Kong, educated in the UK, Kieron has spent the past 4-years documenting the life and culture of the people of Borneo. He currently works with only a Leica Q2 Monochrom. By using only a single body and lens Kieron has mastered the capabilities of this specialized camera which drew the attention of Leica Malaysia to invite him to be and ambassador for the brand.

Long before Kieron became an ambassador Kieron was a regular contributor to the highly competitive LFI Gallery which has earned him countless LFI Master Shots and Picture of the Week awards. This is nothing to sneeze at.

Kieron pursues his project as a historian seeking to document the culture of his region before it disappears as young people leave their fishing villages to pursue modern lives in the city. He makes these photographs to honor the people he meets.

His primary influences are Sebastião Salgado and Aurelio Amendola.

A selection of Kieron’s photos

Kieron’s links

• Kieron’s Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Kieron’s LFI Gallery

Miami Street Photography Festival Submission Deadline Extended

Before we get to today’s show I wanted to let you know that the Miami Street Photography Festival (MSPF) will be live and in person this year at the History Miami Museum December 2 and 3. This is the premiere street photography event of the year, so we’re very happy that it’s back after the COVID interruption.

Also, they have extended the deadline for contest submissions through Sunday, October 23 2022 (Midnight EDT). So there’s still time to submit your favorite single street photos or series. Use this link to visit their website. Use the links under Contest in the top menu to reach the submission forms. There’s one form for each contest, Single Photos, International Series and Miami Series.

Now on with the show

Editors’ Note: This show from our archives originally aired in October 2018. It’s one of our very favorite conversations that talks about the payoff of being persistent and passionate about a project over the long-haul. That’s why the subject is what I call the three P’s. Project, Passion, and Persistence.

It’s really The hero of our story is Andy Hann, a creative director with Sony Studios in the Los Angeles area.

Andy decided one day that he wanted to create a photo project about the people who frequent Hollywood Boulevard.

If you’ve never been there it’s probably one of the quirkiest places in America with people dressed as movie super heros, famous people like Marylin Monroe and Michael Jackson as a way to make money to feed drug habits or just survive.

This is a place that most of us would find as an interesting place to shoot for a few hours. But Andy saw it differently. He kept coming back…for over 3 years. And it’s not a pretty place because most of the regulars on the boulevard are homeless due to mental illness, drug addiction or both.

Over time he became passionate about the people themselves and began to use his own time and money to help the homeless. It wasn’t always easy because Andy had to deal with his own bouts of self doubt and the imposter syndrome.

Although he is a skilled designer, Andy wasn’t an experienced photographer. But he used the the project as a way to become familiar with the exposure and working in a variety of lighting conditions. At firstAt first and he wasn’t even an experience photographer

And he didn’t even have a fancy camera…just a basic Digital Rebel, with 3 prime lenses.

Despite bing a new photographer Andy persisted and finally after three years decided it was time to create a finished product which is his book Welcome to Hollywood. He tried to get it published and came close a couple times. But when that didn’t pan out he chose to publish it himself.

The result is is a collection of intimate up close and personal images that together tell his story of people most of us pass by…often in a hurry. He shows the human side of this weird and gritty uniquely American place.

Andy is one hell of a storyteller both visually and verbally. So I encourage you to hear the stories directly from the photographer himself by listening to my conversation with Andy Hann.

A selection of photos from Welcome to Hollywood

Andy’s Links

• Andy’s Instagram
• Andy’s Facebook
• Doing the Most – Andy’s article in the June 22019 issue of Street Photography Magazine

Karl Dedolph is a prolific street and documentary photographer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a true student of the craft consuming about 2-hours of YouTube tutorials each day plus a regular workshop attendee. He’s trained with the likes of Bruce Gilden, Matt Stuart, Valerie Jardin and Brian Lloyd Duckett.

He’s also been a fan of surfing since hearing his first Beach Boys album as a child. Karl regularly attends the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California as a fan. But this year he decided to cover the even from behind the scenes, not as a sports photographer but from the perspective of an experienced street shooter.

So Karl asked us to help him option press credential for the event and offered to publish his article in Street Photography Magazine. That article in the October 2022 issue which you can find here beginning October 9.

Obtaining press credentials for a major sporting event like this was much harder than expected due to multiple entries involved. He was forced to jump through hoops by the event’s owner IMG, the World Surfing League and major sponsor Vans, Getty Images, and Make Waves Media.

After much wrangling and phone calls Karl did secure access to press area but he was restricted to a small area where the participants enter and leave the competition area. But he made it work by focusing his shooting on the participants and fans as they interacted outside the competition area. As Karl said he usually shoots on the street as a hunter, but this event forced him to fish for his shots.

And he did this in very difficult lighting conditions like Southern California sun at high noon. It seems that world-class surfing competitions don’t take place at the golden hour.

Anyway have a listen to Karl’s story about his street-style experience covering the US Open of Surfing.

A selection of Karl’s street photos shot during the US Open of Surfing event

When Karl wasn’t working the event he walked the streets of Huntington Beach in search of some compelling street photos. Here are a few from that week.

Links from the show

• Karl’s website
• Karl’s Facebook
• Karl’s Salt Fever Article in Street Photography Magazine June 2019
• Karl’s Street Photography Magazine podcast interview December 2019

We call ourselves street photographers, but let’s face it most of us don’t practice just one form of photography.

If this applies to you, then you have the opportunity to add interest to some of your other work by incorporating your street photography style in other genres. Of course this doesn’t apply to everything but it can add an interesting twist areas where you least expect it.

In this episode of I’m joined by guest co-host Debby Cole, a street photographer, speaker, author and visual storyteller from Austin, Texas. Together we discuss how we and others have applied a street-like, spontaneous style to other forms of photography like events, travel, weddings and even urban landscape.

So have a listen and please share your experiences and examples by sending them to [email protected]. We’ll post some of your responses in our newsletter.

Some examples of “street photography moments” found in other places

Events

As photographers we are often asked to record the people and activities at various events, or we’re just here as participants (like weddings). These can be parties, parades, concerts…you name it. Just because you’re not on “the street” with your camera doesn’t mean that you can’t still pay attention to a moment that captures your attention and interest. These are often the photos that stand out.

Travel

This one is probably not a stretch for street photographers, but it’s worth a discussion. Most people when traveling to new places travelers are caught up trying to capture the perfect postcard shot of famous landmarks or landscapes. But a street photographer with an eye for “the moment” can spot them in the interactions and reactions to the sights by their fellow travelers

Without People

Even with no people present a photo can still be about them. Sometimes it’s a gesture made by a plant or inanimate a humanlike expression on an animal’s face or something that results from human presence. These can capture the street photographer’s attention inspiring them to capture the moment.

This is just a small example of where you can apply your street photography style in places other than “the street.” Wherever you are, keep your street photography antennae up to capture moments that are meaningful to you.

Debby’s Links

• Deborah Cole Photography Website
• Deborah Cole Connections Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

Ted Nelson is well known in the Mid-Atlantic street photography community for his founding and leadership of the Fredricksburgh Street Photography Collective.  He created the group from scratch with a simple Instagram post reach out to other like-minded photographers in his area.  In a few short years the group has grown from a handful of people chatting in a coffee shop to dozens of local members who meet regularly at a local art cafe.  The group also hosts  a very popular annual shootout event in the fall. 

And yes, he has a family and day job that requires him to travel worldwide. 

I had the pleasure of spending a day shooting the streets with Ted and other members of the collective in my town of Charlottesville Virginia last year and again last fall after judging their annual shootout.  Not only was it fun seeing my little town throught the eyes of others, but I enjoyed watching how Ted and some of the other work the streets.

Ted may come across on the podast as humble, but on the streets he’s fearless.  He’s one of those people who never met a stranger.  He’ll approach anyone with a friendly, relaxed, confident approach that immediately disarms everyone he meets.  It was a true epiphany for me.

A selection of Ted’s street photos

Links from the show

• Ted’s Instagram
• Fredricksburg Street Photography Collective Website
• Fredricksburg Street Photography Instagram
• FXBG Annual Shootoff Event September 22, 2022
• Curbita Art Cafe – Collective Meeting Place

After each interview,  I like to make a list of things I learned from our guest.  These are lessons that apply to me personally which may mean nothing to everyone else.  This is why I rarely share them.

I learned a lot  from my very lively conversation with New York photographer, Gerard Exupery.   But if I were to choose one lesson  it is to use photos I make of others to tell my own life story when I’m ready.  Gerard did  that beautifully in his new book Women Hold up Half the Sky. He demonstrates that there’s gold in his archives and I’ll bet there’s some in yours too.

Gerard has been photographing life on the streets of his hometown New York City for over 40 years. But it wasn’t until just a few years ago that he began to show his work to others.  We can thank the street photography community on Flickr for brining 

Gerard out of his shell and his ex sister-in-law for giving  him the inspiration and motivation to make this book.

 Women Hold up Half the Sky isn’t really a biography, but more of a self portrait that tells his personal story through photographs made throughput his life of women in his life.  These women are family members,  lovers, friends and strangers on the streets.  The carefully curated sequence  spans the life of women from an  infant in the park to the last breaths of someone very close to him.   

His prose pulls everything together in a very efficient style that tells the stories of critical moments of his life.  These are very personal short stories that you can’t stop reading once you begin.  Combined with his photos this stories that are funny, sad, sometimes tense and bittersweet.  

I read and review lots of photobooks, many of which are self-published lik Gerard’s.  Most of them contain lots of very good photographs, but very few allowing  the reader inside the head and heart of the author the way Gerard does. 

This one is special. 

A selection of photos from Women Hold up Half the Sky

Gerard’s Liks

• Gerard’s Website
• Women Hold Up Half the Sky

Harvey Stein specializes in long term projects. He believes in accumulating work on a variety of themes over the course of several years and then piecing them together to create a project. His long term projects generally culminate in a photobook. Some themes he’s published books on are twins, death and life in Mexico, movement on Italian streets, Harlem street portraits, and the list goes on. His newest book is called Coney Island People: 50 Years, 1970–2020 and you can preorder it here.

In this episode of the podcast, we talked about Harvey’s 50 years shooting Coney Island and the resulting photo book, how to stay organized when you have projects that take years or even decades to complete, and how to keep finding points of interest when you go back to the same places time and time again. If you are working on a project or planning one, Harvey’s words will no doubt give you some good food for thought as you build your body of work.

In addition to being a photographer and author, Harvey is also a teacher, lecturer, and curator so you can be sure there is much to learn from him. And not only is he knowledgeable, he’s a down-to-earth guy who is easy to talk (and listen) to. We know you’re going to enjoy this interview.

Street Photography Magazine subscribers be sure to see Virginia Hines’ article about Harvey’s 50 Years shooting Coney Island here the article about Harvey’s new book.

A Few of Harvey’s Coney Island Photos

Copyright © 2011 Harvey Stein

Links form the Show

• Harvey’s New Book – Coney Island People 50 Years
• Harvey’s Website

We’ll be publishing more images from Harvey’s new photo book along with an amazing essay by Virginia Hines in this month’s issue of Street Photography Magazine. Keep an eye out for it this Sunday!

Example street photos from the show

Links from the show

• Shoot the Street Website
• Mark’s Instagram
• Mark’s Facebook
• Vineet Vohra Instagram

Pia is a biologist, photographer and author.

Originally from Milan of Italian and German nationality, with a PhD in ecology, she lived for years in the Amazon rainforest for her work as tropical ecologist on international projects. Pia has also lived in Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Brazil, and South Africa. Now she calls France home.

She was admitted to the German Society for Photography (DGPh) in 2020. And is a member of the German Association of Journalists (DFJV), OpticNerve Collective (International) and Collectif Photon. If that’s not enough, she is the secretary of the Antibes Photo Club, France and a juror of the Fédération Française de Photographie and the Heidelberger Sommerschule der Photographie.

Pia has carried a camera with her since the day her father gave her a Minolta at the age 9. She used the analog camera for scientific documentation. After landscape and macro, Pia was drawn to street and conceptual photography 2016. She keep post-production at a minimum and composes photos in camera. She shoots with the Leica Q2, Ricoh GRiii, Fuji X100F and Olympus OM5 M2.

Pia is the author of numerous scientific biological studies and books on photography soft skills. Because she travel extensively, she photographs in many countries during her free time. Pia also holds street photography workshops and webinars. As someone who cares deeply about the state of our environment, she participates participates in round tables and debates about how to use art for a better world.

A Selection of Pia’s Street Photos

Links from the Show

• Pia’s website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• #womenartists project
• Pia’s SPM article about women street photographers
• SPM feature interview with Pia – February 2021
• Optic Nerve Street Photography Collective
• Pia’s scientific background

Carey Winfrey started taking pictures when he was about 10 years old and never stopped. Eventually, he became a journalist, a career that lasted for 45 years. Carey worked for Time Magazine and the New York Times, and even produced a couple of TV shows including “Behind the Lines” and “Assignment America.” During his time working on “Assignment America,” Carey even met and interviewed Henri Cartier-Bresson. Let’s just say it was an interesting experience that involved Carey getting yelled at for touching Cartier-Bresson’s camera. They may not have become fast friends, but Carey says his admiration for Cartier-Bresson’s work never wavered.

Carey also learned an important lesson from the experience. When reviewing Cartier-Bresson’s contact sheets for the project, he had a revelation. Carey noted that Cartier-Bresson’s collection of New Jersey images looked much like his own, or those of this friends. His conclusion? The secret to capturing the “decisive moment” is that you have to shoot a lot of photos and throw out all the “indecisive moments.” But you’ll hear the full story in our interview; there’s much more to it than just this.

Carey also noted that if you love the sound of the camera clicking, you’ll always find something to shoot. There’s always something to shoot. In a similar vein, he says equipment is so much less important than just having a camera with you. To quote one of his personal heros,

“The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to see.” – Ernst Haas

Join Bob and Carey as they explore these subjects and many more on the Street Photography Magazine Podcast.

A Selection of Carey’s Street Photos

Links from the Show

• Carey on 500px
• Fine Art Print: “Brief Encounter”
• Amazon Books
• Carey’s Facebook
• Street Photography Community (SPM Facebook Group)

This is a special episode of the podcast to answer some of your questions and introduce you to our new publishing platform.

Here are the highlights:

How can I publish my work in Street Photography Magazine?

We accept two types of submissions to consider for publication.

• Single images to be considered for our monthly Street Shooters of the Month section can be submitted the Single Image Submission form on our website. No login necessary.
  
  • Image size no larger than 2,000 px on the long side at 72dpi.
  • Maximum 2 submissions per month.
• Articles, photo stories and projects should be submitted using the Project / Article Submission form.
  
  • Submission must include approximately 1200 words of text.
  • Image size no larger than 2,000 px on the long side at 72dpi.
  • Submit no more than 10 images per article.

Please don’t send us an email with a link to your website asking us to look at your work. As much as we like to look at photography, we’re so busy reviewing submissions that we’re unlikely to do it. The best way to get our attention is to submit your work.

New publishing schedule and articles by email

• Beginning with the July 2022 issue, new articles will be published every Sunday and Wednesday throughout the month.
• Paid subscribers will receive an email version of each article as they are published.
• Currently video interviews (usually in the Featured Photographer article) will not play inside email versions of each article. So the article will include a link to the website to watch the video.
• Subscribers who prefer not to receive the regular article emails can opt out by clicking the “Update Your Preferences” link at the bottom of each email. You have the option to receive either a monthly summary instead or no message at all.
• Beginning July 1 our homepage will display a list of latest articles.
• Full issues will be available on the Issues tab in the top menu as usual.

Newsletter coming in July 2022

Beginning in July 2022 we will begin publishing an email newsletter every other Friday which will also be available on our website. Initially it will be sent to all subscribers and those who opted into other email lists on our website. You can use the “Update Your Preferences” link at the bottom or each email to remove yourself from the Newsletter list.

Do you offer a printed edition of Street Photography Magazine?

Currently Street Photography Magazine is a digital only publication. However we plan to offer a series of limited quarterly print versions for sale later this year.

Mark Seymour is an amazing wedding photographer who had an interesting journey into street photography. (No spoiler alerts here. You’ll have to listen in to hear the story. ) Now, he also guides intimate street photography workshops around the world with Shoot the Street. His own street photography is stunning as you can see in the gallery below.

We talked about a number of subjects during our conversation, including Mark’s saying: “Show me the nose.” What street photography needs, in a word, is faces. Instead of taking uninteresting photos of people’s backs, Mark talked about why faces make for a much stronger image and how to achieve that kind of shot.

We also talked about how to be aware of your backdrop as you take street photos. Mark argues that the background is something that can make or break a photo. Instead of focusing solely on the decisive moment or people interacting (both of which are still important), as street photographers we should keep an eye on the background too if we want to make strong images.

There is so much to be learned from Mark. Tune in to this audio interview to learn from a seasoned teacher of the street photography genre.

A selection of Mark’s street photos

Links from the show

• Shoot the Street Website
• Shoot the Street YouTube Channel
• Mark’s Facebook Group

When Thomas Hackenberg heads out to do street photography, he’s a lone wolf and he’s fast. Armed with his Sony A7 and only a 35mm lens, he keeps things simple and unobtrusive. With this approach Thomas captures humorous street photos with quirky details and a real storytelling component. But there’s so much more to it than just gear and speed.

During our conversation, Thomas and I discussed the fact that there are a lot of cliché street photos out there. You know the kind – the ones filled with graphics, shadows, and silhouettes. Thomas believes that while everyone has their own taste, street photography should be much more personal than that. Instead of making images that are easily interchangeable or easy to replicate, he argues that street photographers should create images that are about people and the fleeting moments that happen on the street. He says that the key to making that kind of very personal image is to use your heart, your empathy, your emotions.

We also talked about a concept Thomas discussed in an article for the June issue of Street Photography Magazine called “Searching for My Very Own Rue Mouffetard” – the quest to make one iconic image as a street photographer.

Thomas has been practicing street photography for years and he gets much of his inspiration from a beautiful collection of photo books he has. A few of his favorites include:

• Personal Exposures – Elliott Erwitt
• Wild Flowers – Joel Meyerowitz
• Perfect Strangers – Melissa O’Shaughnessy
• Winogrand 1964 – Garry Winogrand
• All That Life Can Afford – Matt Stuart
• Stags, Hens & Bunnies – Dougie Wallace
• Cardiff After Dark – Maciej Dakowicz

Truly, there’s so much to this interview, I know you’re going to enjoy it. Learn about a German saying that translates (roughly) to “don’t give into your weaker self” and how it relates to street photography, what it means to have good street photography ethics, how to develop your personal street photography style, and more.

Give it a listen and enjoy this small selection of some of Thomas’ photos.

A Selection of Thomas’ Photos

Thomas Hackenberg Interview Links

• Website
• Instagram

I first met Dan Ginn about seven years ago when Ashley Riffo and I interviewed him for this podcast. At the time he was a young guy about to leave on a big adventure with his girlfriend to travel through the Americas learning the culture and making photographs along the way.

Less than a year later Dan returned to his home in the UK full of stories, a computer full of photos and without his girlfriend.

After getting his bearings Dan struck out again only to return home for short visits. He took charge of his life and began to live it on his own terms.

I followed Dan’s travels over the years through his blog and Facebook and became impressed that he kept at it. Most people who strike out on great adventures like his often return after a few months. But Dan made it a way of life that evolved into a career as a mobile writer, photographer and podcaster.

Dan’s nomadic lifestyle is not for everyone and not nearly as glamorous as those of us at home would think. It’s not the romanticized “Laptop Lifestyle” that many Internet influencers would have you believe. Constant travel is hard, lonely, inconvenient, frustrating and sometimes scary. But it also adds a rich texture to life that is difficult to explain.

His experience as a professional traveler has enabled him to make a living as writer and podcaster. Dan is the Arts and Culture Editor at The Phoblographer and hosts their podcast Inside the Photographer’s Mind.

Along the way he creates original content about a subject he loves, makes the photographs that are meaningful to him in a turbulent, unpredictable and sometimes dangerous world. Check it out.

A selection of Dan’s images

Dan’s links

• Website
• Instagram
• Twitter
• The Phoblographer
• Inside the Photographers Mind Podcast

Virginia Hines is a regular contributor to Street Photography Magazine, a prolific writer, talented street photographer and all around gifted storyteller. She has published several instructional articles and projects in the magazine and was the Featured Photographer in the April 2021 issue.

As a photographer I have personally benefited from her articles about using a 21mm lens on the street and creating a personal DIY photography workshop to up your game.

She also has guts. Enough to apply to and be accepted into the Chico Hot Springs Portfolio Review, one of the most prestigious photo reviews of the year. The seven-day retreat is focused on the Photobook.

Participation in the week-long program, sponsored by The Charcoal Book Club, is highly competitive with only seventy-four photographers selected each year. Attendees receive ten portfolio reviews by speakers and reviewers and take part in artist lectures, panel discussions, peer reviews, and additional evening programming during the event. from a variety of photographers, publishers and curators giving them a wide range of perspectives to consider when submitting their work for publication or exhibition.

To gain entry to the program Virginia submitted a project she began during the pandemic shot at Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay. In fact it was published an early version of the project in the January 2021 issue of Street Photography Magazine.

Virginia says “For me, street photography is a window into our shared humanity, an inclusive way of breaking through the existential shell and forging connections with the rest of the world. Without the human element, a street photo – excellent though it may be – is challenged to achieve that goal.”

A selection of street photos Virginia made in Montana during the Chico Review

Links from the show

• Virginia’s Website
• Street Photography Magazine articles by and about Virginia Hines
• The Chico Review
• Charcoal Book Club
  

In today’s conversation Virginia discusses her experience of applying for a competitive spot in the The Chico Review and what she learned from the feedback she received from so many experienced professionals.

Jason Rice is a representative for a book wholesaler which brings him to New York City on a regular basis. Like any avid street photographer he uses the opportunity to walk the streets in search of images that reflect his personal story.

As the son of a professional photographer Jason was influenced not only by his own father but family friend, Aaron Siskind. It is no surprise that he chose to attend the influential Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he studied under Harry Callahan.

Early in his photography life Jason was inspired by Garry Winnogrand. So he set out do create work just like Garry’s. Over time, as Jason’s work evolved, he realized that he had to be true to his own vision and took his personal work totally different direction.

Jason’s street style is unique for which he makes no apologies. In addition he is a prolific writer with a talent to express his feelings both photos and words. Jason has something to say and I encourage you to read his article Between Seconds in the April 2022 issue of Street Photography Magazine.

In person Jason is articulate, funny and an engaging raconteur.

Give it a listen, read the article to see more of his work and see for yourself.

A selection of Jasons’ street photos

Links form the show

• Jason’s Website
• Instagram
• Between the Seconds

Fred Ranger is a Montreal based photographer, YouTuber and podcaster, in short…a visual storyteller.

He travels frequently for his job so he uses that experience not only to capture and document his experiences, but shares those stories via his YouTube channel, podcast and zines.

In today’s episode Fred talks about the art of visual storytelling and shares advice that can help all of us. One thing that hit home for me is his advice to ask your self “Why” when beginning a project. And once you answer the first “why” peel back another layer by asking again. Rinse and repeat. It’s eyeopening.

So, have a listen to my conversation with Fred Ranger. Why? Because you’ll find a gem or two in there as well.

Links from the show

• Fred’s Website
• Fred’s YouTube Channel
• Fred’s Instagram
• Fred’s Twitter

A selection for Fred’s street and documentary photos

Aaron Cabitto, a security engineer from Fredericksburg Virginia has been an avid photographer for over 20 years. Although he likes the quality of his Fuji lenses he missed the unique character of the older lenses he used in his film days. He says that sometimes new lenses are almost too perfect…too sterile for his taste

He says the capturing the moment is more important than making everything tack sharp.

So Aaron began to acquire a collection of vintage lenses from several different brands like Voigtlander, Nikkor, Pentax and more. He adapts them to his Fuji X-Pro3 with inexpensive adaptors from TTartisan and K&F.

Of course these lenses are all manual focus which Aaron says challenges him to slow down and be more intentional when he shoots.

Have a listen to the podcast to hear more about Arron’s adventure with vintage lenses on the street.

A selection of Aaron’s street photos

Links from the show

• Aaron’s Instagram
• Fredricksburg Street Photography Collective

Ellen Friedlander is a Los Angeles-based fine art and documentary photographer who uses creative techniques to reveal the inscrutable nature of the human condition. Her work has been most influenced by the iconic photographs made by 20th century street photographers. From the age of 16 she took to the city streets across the United States and Hong Kong where she has lived.

Ellen holds a BFA in Art with a Minor in Photography from Ithaca College and a MA in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Advertising from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

After many years of working in all facets of the business of photography; assisting, styling, representing and working on her own photographic assignments, she has found her own way of expressing the street with the Extended Frame, her collection of urban stories.

A selection of Ellen’s images

Links from the show

• Ellen’s Website
• Pasadena Photography Arts (PPA)
• Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP)
• James Friedman

In early 2020, Manila resident and documentary photographer, Gunther Deichman, decided it was time to move from his house to something smaller and different. He chose an apartment on the 10th floor of a high-rise in downtown Manila. His favorite feature One feature is the balcony which afforded him views of the skyline, and unique top-down perspective of the busy streets. Little did he know that the balcony would become a major influence on his photographic style.

Just a few weeks after moving into his new home, COVID struck the Philippines. The country reacted with one of the strictest lockdowns in the world forcing Gunther to remain in his apartment for over a year.

Accustomed to traveling the world on documentary assignments Gunther felt confined by the strict lockdown rules. As an outlet he began photographing the outside world from the only place available to him, his balcony.

The constraints of working from a small space with limited perspectives forced Gunther to abandon his comfort zone to capture his reduced world in new ways. Accustomed to photographing people of different cultures up close Gunther was forced now began to photograph the city scape and street life with multiple focal lengths, including a 800mm telephoto.

He continued to photograph people, but from an entirely different perspective, which often featured the tops of heads or through windows from great distances. He began to search for shapes created by everyday objects seen from above.

During the height of the pandemic Gunther made over 18,000 images from the confines of his balcony which resulted in his new self-published book Views from my Balcony.

The 180 page large format book covers a wide variety of photographic subjects such as monsoonal storms, dramatic cloud formation, city scapes, street life and much more captured from the confined space of his balcony.

A selection of photos from A View from my Balcony

Links from the Show

• Gunther’s Website
• Views from my Balcony Book
• Gunther’s Instagram

Jeff Tidwell is a full stack web developer that hails from Texas originally. And while he’s always had an interest in photography, it wasn’t until a mission trip to Romania in 2012 that his interest began to bloom into a full on passion for photography and street photography in particular.

Nowadays, Jeff mostly shoots around Denver where he currently lives and his perspective is fascinating. Get to know him and his take on street photography in his conversation with Bob Patterson.

A Selection of Jeff’s Photos

Jeff’s Links

• Website
• Instagram
• Word on the Street Instagram

Ricky is an aircraft mechanic serving in the US Air Force in Okinawa. He’s an avid street photographer and started his own podcast in 2021, which is called the Leica Street Photography Collective.

In October 2010, Ricky was invited to join his friend at a photoshoot. It was the first time he had seen (multiple) photographers in action and his interest in the craft was sparked. Shortly thereafter, Ricky picked up his first camera and began experimenting.

Even if you aren’t shooting with a Leica, you’re still going to love getting to know Ricky and there are still plenty of gems to glean. For example, how are your sequencing skills? Ricky has some valuable tips to share.

Join the conversation with Bob and Ricky and learn more about Ricky’s photographic journey, how he got into street photography, and how his Leica Street Photography Collective podcast was born.

A Selection of Ricky’s Photo

Ricky’s Links

• Ricky’s Instagram
• Leica Street Photography Collective Instagram
• Leica Street Photography Collective Podcast (Apple)
• Leica Street Photography Collective Podcast (on Spotify)

On this week’s episode, we’re catching up with Ave Pildas. Ave was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and worked early in his career as a photo stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania. That was in the 1960’s but that just the beginning of Ave’s journey. Ave and Bob talked about his days spent photographing many renowned jazz musicians, the time he spent working as the Art Director at Capitol Records in Hollywood, and the years that followed when he worked as a freelance photographer and designer, specializing in architectural and corporate photography.

Bob and Ave also talked about what’s involved in printing photos from the 60s, 70s, and today, as well as Ave’s upcoming book titled, Starstruck. Listen in as a seasoned photographer talks shop with Bob by clicking on the audio player in this article. Enjoy a few of Ave’s photos here and then head over to his website to see plenty more. You’ll find the link below.

A Selection of Ave’s Photos

Interview Links

• Ave’s Website
• Ave’s jazz photography
• Ave’s Instagram
• 2014 interview with Ave
• More on Eve Babitz

What a better way to wrap up our Year of Women Street Photographers than by having a chat with our friend Valérie Jardin. In this episode, we enjoyed a year-end catch up of sorts and talked about a few habits and goals that you may want to take into 2022 with you including:

• Purposeful limitation: Feel liberated with one camera and one focal length
• The importance of personal projects for the working photographer
• Getting your work seen
• Why every visual artist should write
• The importance of consistency in a body of work

A Few of Valérie’s Photos

Images from the article “Teaching Moments” by Valérie in the July 2021 issue of Street Photography Magazine. Find many more lessons in Valérie’s book: Teaching Moments: The Creative Vision Behind The Lens Series – Volume II.

More Articles by and Interviews Featuring Valérie

• Interview with ValérieJardin
• Podcast: Valérie Jardin – Street photography in the winter
• Article: Valerie Jardin – Apply Your Street Photography Approach to Other Forms of Photography
• Article: Becoming Invisible with Valerie Jardin

Valérie’s Links

• Website
• Instagram
• Youtube
• Twitter

Photojournalist and commercial photographer Craig Litten has e had a camera in his hands since he was 15-years-old. From the beginning, his desire was to photograph people.

This led to a 20-year career as a photojournalist producing more than 10,000 published photos in print. Most recently he has been working as an advertising and lifestyle photographer for clients like Bose, Mizuno, Sun Bum & HBO.

In his free time Craig is an avid street photographer where he applies his skills creating personal projects.

Craig believes your strongest street photos are created when you shoot things that capture your attention instinctively, without thinking. His philosophy is “Don’t think…Shoot.”

In today’s program Craig explains his zen-like method of building muscle memory with your camera to training methods used by gunfighters the old west.

A selection of Craig’s street photos

Links from the show

• Craig’s Website
• Craig’s LFI Gallery
• The Restless Gun TV Series

Kevin Zuniga is an American photographer from Nogales, Arizona on the Mexican border. He recently graduated from The University of Arizona in the BFA program with an emphasis in Photography.

Growing up in Nogales, Arizona only five minutes from the sister town of Nogales, Sonora, México gives him the opportunity to not only see, but notice the huge differences between the two countries.

He recently published a photo story in the November 2021 issue of Street Photography Magazine titled The Mexican Dream that shows how all people have the same dreams.

His objective is to use his documentary style of photography to bring a fresh, new perspective of the beauty that both the land of Mexico and the Latino people offer with the world

A selection of Kevin’s images

Links from the Show

• Kevin’s Website
• Estavan Oriol
• LA Originals on Netflix
• Wes Anderson
• Quentin Tarentino

Lana Santoro’s love of photography began with her first job in a local camera store. That started her on a path that has continued throughout her life.

Today she is joined by her husband, Chris Santoro, where they share their passion for travel and capturing the visual stories from their adventures.

Although they shoot together, often of the same subjects, their personal view of the world and individual styles are evident in their finished work.

During the height of the COVID pandemic, when they were unable to travel the world, they embarked on a major project to create a book of street photos from over 15 years of travel together. The result is Street Signs Photography that celebrates the spontaneity of events on the street. The book weaves together the different styles of two photographers. Lana’s clever sequencing pulls together one 120 photos from multiple countries and cities into a single visual narrative.

Links from the show

• Chris and Lana’s Website
• Street Signs book

Mark Gilvey is a commercial photographer and graphic designer from Northern Virginia outside Washington, DC. In his free time he prefers street photography because he says it is “the most pure of all genres.”

Although many street photographers do very little post-processing, Mark uses his raw captures as a starting point.

For Mark the actual art of photography only begins with the shutter click. From there he takes the image through to completion. His choices about what to make prominent in an image happen while reviewing it after the moment of capture. He feels an image is not complete without a well thought-out post production process.

Although Mark feels this way, in October Mark came in first place in the first annual Fredricksburg shoot out where contestants had three hours to shoot on the street and submit images straight from the camera (meaning no post processing). And he won the competition using an aging 6-year old Sony point and shoot camera against competitors with expensive DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Thus proving that it is truly not about the gear.

A Selection of Mark’s Images

Links from the Show

• Mark’s Fine Art Website
• Mark’s Instagram
• Mark’s Commercial Photography Website

When I met Craig at a recent street photography event, I knew I’d have a lot to talk about with this not so seasoned street photographer. Craig didn’t take up street photography all that long ago, but he’s already created some beautiful work.

In addition to having a natural eye for street shots, Craig is already quite dedicated to his craft. Here’s what an average day shooting looks like for Craig: He wakes up at 3am (yes, you read that right), takes a train into Washington DC, walks the streets at painfully early hours, and is home in time for breakfast with his kids.

A fellow Leica user, Craig and I had plenty to talk about gear wise, but we also talked quite a bit about Craig’s approach to street portraits. Click the audio player to listen in to our conversation.

A Selection of Craig’s Street Photos

Click any image to open gallery

Links from the Show

• Craig’s Instagram
• Craig’s LFI Gallery
• Fredricksburg Street Photography
• Patrick Stevens – Craig’s biggest photographic influence
• The Americans by Robert Frank
• Edinburgh 1957-1966 by Robert Blomfield

As for many of us, Dean Hinnant’s life was upended in 2020. The beginning of a very long global pandemic brought about some major changes for Dean and turned his story into one of resilience in the face of loss. In fact, Dean’s ability to take a disheartening situation and find hope in it is remarkable. From the ashes of a summer like no other in which Dean and so many of us experienced tremendous losses, an idea was born: to create a body of images that would document America’s reawakening, a collection of photos to inspire hope and encourage.

With that idea, Dean set out on a road trip like no other. He reduced his belongings to a few bags and set out to criss cross the country, staying with friends and visiting American towns small and large, documenting cities reopening and people reconnecting. Dean was kind enough to sit down with us and tell us more about his (ongoing) experience and what it’s like to document life being reborn all around the nation.

A Selection of Dean’s Photos

Dean’s Links

• Instagram
• America Reawakening – the Beauty in Rising From the Ashes in Article in Pilgrim Magazine

Wedding photographer, Paul Reid, is based in Carlisle, Cumbria. His approach to shooting a wedding is all about taking naturally posed shots and reportage style photos of the event. Sound familiar? It’s definitely an approach bordering on street photography where most of the images are candid, relaxed and natural – and the results are beautiful.

On this episode of SPM Podcast, Bob and Paul talked a bit about Paul’s work as a wedding photographer, but the star of this show is really the Leica Q2 Monocrom. Get ready to learn more about this lovely little camera and how seeing exclusively in black and white can affect your photographic vision.

A Selection of Paul’s Photos

Interview Links

• Paul’s website
• Paul’s business Facebook
• Paul’s personal Facebook

Michael Rababy is a documentary/street photographer and filmmaker. Michael studied art history at the University of San Diego before spending some time in Paris. He draws inspiration from the work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Michael loves taking pictures of people, particularly when he can capture their emotion. In fact, Michael looks for emotion even if the scene in front of him is devoid of people. Most of all, Michael enjoys taking photos, something he hopes viewers can sense in when they look at his images.

We spent most of our interview talking about the art of curation. Michael recognizes that many photographers struggle with curating their own work. Michael’s advice? Look at a lot of work from other photographers and force yourself to be critical about your own images. In addition to curating his own work, Michael curates for books and art shows. He shared how he makes decisions when choosing images for a project. Listen in to gain some insights on his process that you can apply to your own work.

A Selection of Michael’s Photos

Interview Links

• Michael’s website
• Michael’s Instagram
• California Love: a Visual Mixtape – Arcana
• California Love: a Visual Mixtape – Hennessey Ingals
• Michael’s favorite films

Chris Suspect is fearless when it comes to street photography, which is why he gets so many extraordinary photos. On January 6th, Chris headed out to Capitol Hill and quickly found himself on the front lines of the insurrection. He faced agitated crowds, pepper spray, tear gas, flash bang grenades and more as he documented people facing off with the police and storming the capitol. Chris told us all about his experience, and even threw in a few practical tips for photographing protests and events that might get a little out of control.

Chris also talked to Bob about his upcoming Day of the Dead workshop, which will take place October 29 – November 4 in San Miguel de Allende. Chris will teach students how to read a streat photography image and identify the elements you need to take a sucessful photo. No matter your skill level, you can expect to learn about juxtapositions, tricks of perspective, multiple points of interest, capturing raw emotion, layering, obscuring elements, geometric principles, shadow play, and harnessing the subliminal power of semiotics. Night shooting and flash photography will also be on the agenda. Best of all, Chris says San Miguel de Allende is one of the safest, easiest places to shoot, which means you can practice street shooting without the fear you might feel in your home city.

Listen in to hear more about the insurrection and Chris’ workshop in this episode of the SPM Podcast.

A Selection of Chris’ Insurrection Photos

Interview Links

• Chris’ Website
• Chris’ Day of the Dead Workshop
• Beyond the Frame – Chris Suspect
• Chris’ Exhibit at Bad Candy Gallery, Washington, DC November, 13 2021

Book Links

• Grim Street by Mark Cohen
• Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art by John Szarkowski

A 1975 photography exhibition, called “New Topographics,” was “new” in that the landscapes it offered up to viewers weren’t the picturesque natural scenes people had grown accustomed to. Instead, this exhibit was, in the words of San Francisco’s MOMA, all about “unromanticized views of stark industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and everyday scenes not usually given a second glance.” The original show featured big name photographers including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel. With that show a new genre was born, a first cousin of street photography. No people are present in these images but the images are still about people, documenting the effects and results that people have on their environment.

Cynthia Gladis, a New Jersey based photographer, was our latest podcast guest and with the onset of the pandemic, she found herself outside, taking images of her home state in places that were no longer bustling with people. The result? Cynthia says, “Photographing my home state is a labor of love, and I do so with a quirky and ironic nod to the New Topographics photographers of the well-known 1975 exhibit that focused on our modern man-altered landscape.” During our conversation, she shared more about this project and a few others she’s been working on. We hope you enjoy this podcast, as well as this small selection of Cynthia’s photos.

A Selection of Cynthia’s Photos

Cynthia’s Links

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• New Topographics – A Man Altered Landscape

Mark Indig was motion picture executive for over 40 years with major studios like Disney, Miramax Universal and Dreamworks. During his career he worked on films like Body Heat, The Big Chill, Titanic, The Village, The Guardian and Tropic Thunder.

Mark started in the biz as a location manager where he traveled the world to identify and document locations for new films. The skills and workflows he created to complete these assignments gave him the skillset to create long-form documentary photo projects like his study of he Ohio River titled Ohi:Yo’. This one thrilled me in particular because several stand-out photos were taken in my hometown of East Liverpool, Ohio.

Mark also was the series winner of theLos Angeles Center of Photography 2021 Street Photography Around the World Contest. His winning photos were published in the May 2021 Issue of Street Photography Magazine.

During our conversation we talked a lot about how he approaches a new project and gave me some tips for one I just started. I’m sure you will learn something valuable from him as well. So please have a listen to my conversation with Mark Indig.

A selection of Mark’s photos

Mark’s Links

• Mark’s Website
• Mark’s Facebook
• Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP)

Martin Agius is a photojournalist and a street photographer who took an interest in film photography at a young age. In 2008, he took some courses with the local photographic societies in Malta and soon thereafter was appointed the Official Photographer of the Armed Forces of Malta.

Nowadays, Martin is an avid street photographer who enjoys taking a creative approach to the streets. His work has been published internationally and featured in exhibits. In addition, Martin has judged street photography competitions and organizes workshops. Join our conversation with Martin to hear more about his photographic journey on this edition of SPM Podcast.

A Selection of Martin’s Images

Martin’s Links

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

When you think of Hawaii, you probably think of an island paradise filled with palm trees, sunshine and surfers. It’s certainly not the most urban backdrop for street photography, but that doesn’t stop HNL Street Collective from creating some glorious street shots. Their photos may look a little different from someone shooting NYC, but these guys know that at the core of street photography is the human element. So they go where the people are in Honolulu: Chinatown, strip malls, and mostly, the beach. Get ready to meet four of the Collective’s members and find out what it’s like doing street photography on Oahu’s south shore in Hawaii.

A Selection of Photos by Members of HNL Street Collective

Interview Links

• HNL Street Collective Website
• HNL Street Collective Instagram
• Pacific New Media
• Philippe Gross’ Website
• Ian Hunt’s Website
• James Knudsen’s Website
• James Knudsen on Pacific New Media
• James Knudsen on Instagram

On this episode of the SPM podcast, Bob sat down with Tim Huynh, director of the film Fill the Frame, a new street photography documentary. Not only did Tim tell Bob about the making of the film, he also went into detail about another project he’s been working on called, Beyond the Frame, a stellar YouTube series that premieres today! It’s a mini-documentary series of sorts about individual street photographers and their work – one you don’t want to miss.

Listen in to our conversation to hear more about Tim’s film, his current projects, and his passion for street photography.

A Selection of Tim’s Images

Interview Links

• Tim’s Street Photography Film
• Tim’s YouTube Channel
• Tim’s Instagram

Marc Gordon was trained at the International Center for Photography in New York City and studied street photography with Harvey Stein. His photography focuses on documentary style photography and unposed portraiture – two elements that can be clearly seen in his work from New York City’s Gay Pride Parade, an event that brims over with emotions and controversy. In this episode, Marc told me more about what it was like to capture the contrasts seen at that event and how he manages to get right in the middle of the action. Get to know more about this talented photographer and his projects by clicking on the audio player to listen in to our conversation.

A Selection of Marc’s Photos

Read more about Marc’s experience documenting the Gay Pride Parade in the June issue of Street Photography Magazine.

Interview Links

• Jack Simon
• Gus Powell

In the October 2020 issue of SPM, Gina Williams wrote this about Kevin Fletcher, “Essentially self-taught, he built and explored the magic of the darkroom, taught himself the Zone System, photographed and photographed, and eventually ended up attending graduate school at New York City’s School of Visual Arts.

“Fletcher went on to embark on a successful career as a cinematographer. He now lives in Portland, Oregon. While telling stories through film projects as a Director of Photography in his professional life, Fletcher maintained his still photography as a private endeavor and passion, and until recently, he kept those images to himself.”

Kevin joined us on the podcast to discuss what went into the making and release of the powerful photographic images in his book, Avenue of Roses.

Kevin’s Images

Interview Links

• Avenue of Roses Book
• Kevin’s website

It was our pleasure to speak with our good friend Meryl Meisler once again, this time about her newest book New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco.

Strand Books describes this book as “an intimate journey to the pandemonium and paradise of the 1970s through early 1990s New York City. Meryl documented a tumultuous time in NYC’s history – epidemics of arson, crime, crack, and AIDS, intensified by a paralyzing blackout, political and fiscal crisis…Her effervescent images are personal memoir – love letters filled with compassion and humor mixed with angst, kept secret for decades until she retired from teaching.”

Join Meryl and Bob as they talk about Meryl’s book and all the years of photography that led up to it.

Preorder your copy of New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco here.

A Selection of Meryl’s Photos

Suitcase Joe is an anonymous photographer and activist who uses his work to advocate for the unhoused. He spent a decade getting to know Skid Row and its inhabitants—the largest unhoused community in America—and in that time he gained the trust and acceptance to intimately observe and photograph the inner workings of their daily lives. 

Suitcase Joe’s photos allow some of L.A.’s most vulnerable people to tell some of the city’s most powerful stories. Get to know the photographer behind this compelling work by clicking on the audio player in this post.

Suitcase Joe’s Links

• Instagram
• Suitcase Joe Foundation
• Sidewalk Champions Book

A Few of Suitcase Joe’s Photos

Whenever we get together with Michael Ernest Sweet, there’s always plenty to talk about and in this episode of the podcast we certainly covered some ground.

We talked about Tim Huynh’s street photography film, Fill the Frame, our thoughts on social media, the lack of community spirit in street photography, the double-edged sword of developing a strong signature in your work, and whether we really need the latest and greatest gear. In addition, we talked about what it means that Canada’s premier print photography magazine, Photo Life, (a journal Michael corresponded for for years) has closed down. Join our chat by clicking on the audio player.

Michael’s Links

• Website
• Instagram

Philipp Meiners is a German photographer who is passionate about street photography. He describes his passion this way: “Strolling through the streets, always looking for something interesting, the decisive moment, is a great opportunity for me to disconnect from everyday life. I just walk through the streets and watch what is happening, or look for a specific spot and wait there for the decisive moment.”

Philipp’s latest project was quite intriguing – a yearbook of his favorite street photos taken throughout 2020 and turned into a physical photo book using Blurb. I was curious about how Philipp curated his images, selected materials, and how satisfied he was with the end result, so we got together to chat about it. We talked about what all was involved in creating his yearbook and what it takes to bring a personal project to fruition.

A Selection of Philipp’s Photos

Philipp’s Links

• Website
• Instagram
• YouTube

Matt Jerrams is an executive producer who creates television commercials in the UK, who also happens to have a real passion for street photograhpy. As always, Matt Jerrams and I had plenty to talk about in this episode of our podcast. Matt is in London, currently under lockdown again, se he had some free time to spare to talk all things street photography. As always, we had plenty to discuss. We talked street photography news, gear of course (Matt recently got rid of his Leica *gasp* because he didn’t like it.), and what it’s like to be in the middle of lockdown – yet again.

A Selection of Matt’s Street Photos

Podcast Links

• Matt’s Instagram

Photojournalist and advertising lifestyle photographer, Craig Litten, earns his living making photographs. So he knows the importance of having his work taken seriously.

Craig says that one of the most important factors in being taken seriously is to take it seriously yourself. And part of that is to be consistent in the work you show to the world. That means everything whether it’s in your portfolio, on your website, in contests or within editorial pieces.

As a coach and mentor or other photographers Craig sees the most inconsistencies in photographers’ black and white work. In one portfolio he often sees monochrome images that are high contrast, some that are flat and others with crushed blacks and so on. He says it often looks like the photos were made by multiple people. It’s all over the place.

“Yikes”, I thought, “that sounds like my website.”

His recommendation is to tap into your own creative vision, create you own signature black and white style and apply that consistently to all work you show publicly. And do it no matter what camera and editing software you use. The key is to have a repeatable workflow of your own, not a copy of someone else.

Craig created a 2-part seminar which he calls The Darkroom in Lightroom that teaches how to apply the Zone System to envision your final image when you take the shot. Then apply a set of basic principles to create your own repeatable workflow (no matter what camera and editing software you use) to achieve a consistent black and white look in each image.

Craig will be teaching the 2-part seminar to members of the Street Photography Magazine community beginning Tuesday, April 6 at 7:00PM EDT. See this for more information.

Links from the Show

• Craig’s Website
• Greg Burnett’s Street Photography Website
• The Darkroom in Lightroom Seminar

The importance of maintaining a consistent B&W look

Here are 9 different photographs of Craig’s shot with 8 different cameras over a 35-year period. Two images were shot on different film types, and the other  photographs were shot on 6 different digital cameras, yet they all have a similar style and feel to the toning.

Ritchie Roesch is a Fuji photographer who lives in Salt Lake City. In his college days, he studied photography under June Van Cleef and has been a part-time/hobby photographer for two decades now. He’s also the author of the Fuji X Weekly photography blog, a blog dedicated to all things Fujifilm. He started out shooting 35mm film (like a lot of us) and eventually switched over to digital, although his love for that “film feel” never died.

We got together to geek out about Fuji and chatted about what it takes to run a photography blog, how to tweak the film settings in a Fuji camera, and much more.

Interview Links

• Fuji X Weekly Blog
• Fuji Film Recipe App

A Selection of Ritchie’s Photos

Gulnara Samoilova is the founder of the Women Street Photographers project: a website, social media platform and annual exhibition. She also happens to be just the person who curated a new photo book called “Women Street Photographers” – a fantastic collection of photos showcasing images by 100 contemporary women street photographers from around the globe, accompanied by personal statements about their work.

Gulnara was kind enough to take a few moments to chat with us about how the book came together and how she hopes it shapes the world of street photography – particularly for women street photographers.

The book is now available for purchase. Buy your copy here.

Interview Links

• Women Street Photographers Book
• Women Street Photographers Website
• Women Street Photographers on Instagram

A Selection of Images from “Women Street Photographers”

Nicolas St-Pierre may come from a small town in Quebec, but by all accounts, he is a world traveler. Nicolas is a diplomat with the Canadian Foreign Service, which has meant extensive travel around the world and even a few stints living abroad in places like China and Japan.

But as has been the case for many of us, a global pandemic brought international travel to an abrupt halt for Nicolas. To keep his creative juices flowing, Nicolas recently embarked on a project called “The Longest Road” about Bank Street in Ottawa. (See the project in the February 2021 issue.) In our conversation, we discussed long and short form projects as well as Nicolas’ experience publishing his project on Blurb.

Interview Links

• Nicolas’ Website
• The Longest Road book
• The Hershey Electric Train Project
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

A Selection of Nicolas’ Photos

Casey Meshbesher is a street photography, video, and multimedia artist. She is also a researcher, curator, and the founder of @womeninstreet (WiS), a platform we love just for female street photographers. She is also the editor Her Side of the Street, a street photography blogzine for female street photographers.

Casey was kind enough to take some time to chat with us about many subjects, including her own photography, the value of making connections through platforms, and the research that goes into that process.

For example, WiS started on Facebook in 2016, and is now on Instagram, Medium, and an IG/YouTube channel. Women in Street is a global network built on research, a community forum, a publication that showcases emerging and seasoned talent, and a movement to strengthen visibility of women.  It functions as a collective of sorts where collaborators come and go.  Contributors may be long or short  term, handle special projects, curate, or contribute to the blog. Galleries are a popular feature with a new guest curator and theme each month, and have public submissions from hundreds of regular participants in Facebook. Nowadays, WiS Instagram has over 25,000 followers, 2,000 members in its Facebook group and a strong blogzine following as well. It’s become a community where opportunities abound for female street photographers – something that didn’t exist just a few years ago.

What kind of opportunities, you ask? Here’s a good example: One big part of the project has been the world map of female street photographers, a researched database linking the global network.  It has been used in consultation with publications, festivals, organizations.  Featured speakers have been identified via the map and consulting with WiS. When traveling, women use this feature to look one another up, and friendships and collaborations have been formed. Many have said that they knew very few female street photographers before encountering them through Women in Street’s platforms.

Find out more about the birth and growth of WiS, the photography of Casey Meshbesher, and the growing community of female street photographers she has helped to bring together in this audio interview.

Interview Links

• Women in Street
• WiS Community Links
• Casey Meshbesher’s Website
• Casey Meshbesher on Instagram

A Selection of Casey’s Photos

Juan Jose Reyes has been running one of our favorite street photography festivals for several years now, the Miami Street Photography Festival. When a pandemic threw a wrench in the works for the 2020, Juan was quick to shift the festival from an in-person event to an online one – no small feat.

Listen in to hear about how he managed to make a success of the festival despite the challenges, upcoming festival plans in Milan for 2021, workshops going on now, and find out more about Juan’s personal street photography work.

Juan’s Links

• Miami Street Photography Festival
• MSPF Workshops
• Juan on Instagram

A Selection of Juan’s Photos

Fredericksburg Street Photography is an enthusiastic collective that started up just about a year ago – right before the pandemic really hit hard in the U.S. About 20 members meet up regularly at artsy coffee shops and local watering holes to discuss photography and learn from each other. They describe themselves as a group that is “more hipster than pixel peeking” that enjoys “getting out and shooting free style photography as [they] search for subjects and settings that best reflect the city and community of Fredericksburg.”

Links

• Fredericksburg Street Photography Website
• Ted Nelson’s Instagram
• Shawn Faherty’s Instagram
• Ian Soper’s Instagram

This is just a quick reminder registration for the Publishing a Photo Book Workshop taught by Harvey Stein will close this coming Sunday (January 24) at midnight.

The 7-week course begins Tuesday, January 26 at 1:00 PM Eastern time.

It’s designed to help photographers who either have a completed project to publish but don’t know how to find and approach potential publishers or are thinking about arranging their images into a book form.

Click Here to learn more.

Our Guest Valérie Jardin

Our guest today is Valerie Jardin who needs no introduction. She is one of the preeminent women street photographers of today. Originally from France she now lives with her family in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She leads workshops worldwide, writes books, produces a weekly podcast, and is an official X Photographer for Fujifilm USA.And she’s the host of the very popular podcast Hit The Streets.

Although the pandemic has slowed down her workshop schedule she doesn’t let that or the bitter cold in Minnesota keep her down. She’s proof the none of us should complain that we can’t pursue our photography because nobody is out, everyone is wearing a mask or that it’s too cold.

For example, Valerie began a project called On Ice where she has been photographing the community of people who enjoy life on the frozen lakes of Minnesota.

A selection of Valérie’s photos

Links from the show

• Valérie’s Website
• Valérie’s Instagram
• Valérie’s Workshops
• Valérie’s new book: Street Photography Assignments
• Hit The Streets Podcast

I’m writing this on January 15 which means we have just published the January 2021 issue of Street Photography Magazine.

We are super excited because the January issue kicks off our year of women street photographers with a special issue that features work by all women. And throughout the year each issue will feature a super talented woman street photographer.

Publishing a Photo Book Workshop

Also this month we are holding our very first remote workshop, Publishing a Photo Book with Harvey Stein.

If you’re planning to publish or even thinking about it I encourage you to check it out. Harvey is a very inspirational teacher.

Harvey is a longtime New York street photographer who teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York, also called ICP. He has also published nine monographs over the year with the 10th scheduled for next spring.

This lively, 7-week interactive workshop will be held each Tuesday on Zoom beginning January 26th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern time.

And you don’t have to be a street photographer to get something out of it.

Some of the takeaways form this course are:

• Generate book ideas
• Sequence images
• Identify potential publishers
• What and how to present to publishers
• Evaluation of your project
• And much more.

If you’re planning to publish or even thinking about it I encourage you to check it out. Harvey is a very inspirational teacher.

Click Here to learn more about the workshop.

Interview with Michael Ruggiero

Our guest this week is Michael Ruggiero. He’s passionate life-long photographer, former photo journalist professional chef.

Michael has been heavily influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lee Friedlander, Mary Ellen Mark and Garry Winogrand. In fact while living and photographing in Paris in the early 1980s he had an opportunity to meet both Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz. He even shares the story of how he met Cartier-Bresson in the interview.

He has had solo exhibitions in Fort Collins, Colorado – Philadelphia New York and Boston.

As a black and white film photographer, Mmch of his work comes from a number of long-term projects including Over the Road about American long-haul truckers. In fact we will be publishing part of that work in the March issue of Street Photography Magazine.

A selection of Michael’s images

Links from the show

• Michael’s website
• Michael’s Instagram

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021. Twenty twenty is finally in the books and perhaps we can all have a sigh of relief.

Anyway I am very happy to announce that we have declared that 2021 will be the Year of Women Street Photographers.

So each month during the year we are choosing a woman to be the featured photographer of the month. And our first issue of the year, which will be published on January 15th, will feature street photography created by all women.

Keith Dannemiller

Our guest this week is Keith Dannemiller, an American photojournalist who has been living and working in Mexico City for the past 30 plus years.

Keith is no stranger to Street Photography Magazine. He was the featured photographer in September 2016 and has contributed content to the magazine and podcast over the years. So it was good to catch up with him to see what he’s up to during the pandemic.

Keith is currently independent, but over the past 31 years he was associated with two US photo agencies: Black Star and Saba. In Latin America, he has covered a wide variety of situations, ranging from Nicaraguan Recontras to street children in México City to life on the US-México border and the evolution of a refugee camp in the Mexican state of Chiapas into a thriving community today.

As a photojournalist he covered the First Intifata in the occupied territories of Palestine the late 1980s. In our interview Keith told me the story behind this assignment and how he came to cover an event on the other side of the world and how it became a book project 30 years later.

That’s right, he’s currently working on two books at the same time.

My favorite project of Keith’s is about LaBestia, which means The Beast. It’s the nickname for a freight train that travels from the southern Mexican border through the length of the country to the US border over 1600 miles away. Hundreds of migrants, men, women and children, escaping economic hardship and gang violence in Central America risk their lives riding atop the freight cars. He uses his camera and heart to tell a powerful story of desperation and hope for a better life.

He lives with his wife in the Colonia Nápoles of Mexico City and often conducts street photo tours of this unique metropolis.

You will learn this and more when you listen to my conversation with Keith Dannemiller.

Keith’s Links

• Keith’s Website
• Keith’s Instagram
• Keith’s Facebook
• Eyes on Main Street Festival

Thanks to the Internet we now live in little silos of individual realities. The shared experiences we had before this phenomenon no longer exist. Then along comes the coronavirus pandemic that has thrust into a new shared experience not felt since the 911 attacks and the Kennedy assassination. It is a common reality we cannot escape.

No this isn’t another story about the pandemic but it is one example of how one very creative person has reacted to the changes the pandemic has forced upon his family, business and personal life.

This week I had an opportunity to sit down with Shlomi Amiga from Toronto Canada. He’s a commercial photographer, avid street photographer, husband and father of two young boys.

Once the lockdowns began Shlomi saw his wedding photography work, which was a key slice of his income, vanish over night.

He had been thinking about phasing out the wedding side of his business, but now the decision was made for him. The pandemic had accelerated the change he was already contemplating.

The extra time has given him the mental space to develop the studio-side of his business and find new avenues to be creative. For example Shlomi has applied his creativity to video by creating a new YouTube channel called Nerding out on Photography. In his first segment about street photography

To keep his creative juices flowing he began sharing his knowledge with other photographers worldwide through a new medium, video. He’s created a YouTube channel Nerving out on Photography that shares his vision and thinking about street photography composition. He uses a few examples of his own work to help the viewer create a mental picture of interesting visual elements to recognize in the street. He did a brilliant job of making an abstract concept real and memorable. This is no small feat.

I’ve embedded the video below this article for you to see for yourself.

Change is inevitable, and the pandemic has accelerated it many times. Sometimes sudden change works out to be a good thing. It requires us to make difficult decisions and take action that we would normally avoid. And maybe the constraints the we’ve had to endure over the past nine months will result in some new creative ventures that we wouldn’t otherwise have considered.

Shlomi’s Links

• Geeking out on Photography YouTube Channel
• Shlomi’s Website
• Shlomi’s Street Photography Instagram

Our guest this week is Ashley Tillery, a street photographer from Arlington, Virginia.

Raised in a military family Ashley moved around a lot as a child which exposed her to many different cultures and places. But it wasn’t until after college while working as a folklorist in rural Alabama that she found the inspiration to begin photographing communities of color. And she has been doing it ever since.

Fast forward to today, armed with only an iPhone she continues to follow her passion documenting the people she meets in the DC metro area. Currently she shoots in the Gallery Place / Chinatown area of downtown DC. Here she focuses on making compelling and personal street portraits of perfect strangers.

It’s through her work that Ashley was invited to join the DC Street Photography Collective, which is high praise indeed.

Don’t get me wrong, Ashley does more than make portraits. She captures candid moments on the street too. All within her mission to document the lives of people of color.

Ashley is smart, friendly and funny which enables her to connect with her subjects in a very personal way. She gets close, not just physically but emotionally which is evident in her work. It’s obvious that she gains the trust of her subjects who respond in kind. The result is a visual narrative of a community most of us only see from a distance.

After you listen to my conversation with Ashley be sure to spend some quality time with her work.

A Selection of Ashley’s Photos

Links From the Show

• Ashley’s Website
• Ashley’s Instagram
• Ashley’s Facebook
• DC Street Photography Collective
• DC Street Photography Collective Instagram
• Robert Trejo Jr.
• Eyes on Main Street

Lifelong New York street photographer and educator, Harvey Stein, has published 9 books throughout his career and I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with him about several of them over the years.

When he finished his latest book, Then and and There, Mardi Gras 1979 we got together on a Zoom call to discuss the book and what he’s working on currently.

This book is quite different from Harvey’s past monographs. Its created from a collection of polaroid photos he made over 40 years ago at the Mardi Gras with a Polaroid SX70 “instant” camera. Something used by millions of consumers at the time to photograph family holidays and vacations. In fact my mother had one and it’s still around here someplace.

There is only one printing of the book, once it’s gone there will be no more. You can obtain a signed copy directly from Harvey by sending him an email at [email protected].

During our conversation I learned much more that the backstory behind the photos. Because it’s also about how Harvey made a real book, one that will be in peoples’ personal collections and in libraries for generations. All from a box of photos that he had tucked away in a drawer and almost forgotten.

It’s a story about how putting yourself out there and taking risks to show your own work can lead to unexpected opportunities.

It’s a story about overcoming the restrictions of the pandemic by using your photographic vision to tell stories about the people and places near you that were overlooked in the past.

And it encourages you to follow your interest and imagination to create projects that will hone your own skills and enrich the lives of your subjects.

Harvey is always a gas to speak with, and I always learn something new each time we speak. I come away from those conversations looking at my own work a little differently.

I hope you will too when you have a listen to our conversation.

About Harvey

Harvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, author and curator based in New York City. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and has taught in several undergraduate and graduate photography programs. Stein frequently lecturers on photography both in the United States and abroad.

He was the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts Gallery, located in the East Village of Manhattan from 2009 to 2019 until it lost its lease and closed.  He has curated 66 exhibits since 2007. His photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe-89 one-person and over 165 group shows to date. 

His images are in more than 57 permanent collections including the George Eastman Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago,  the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Bibliotheque Nationale. 

He has had nine books of his photographs published, including Coney Island 40 Years (2011) and his two recent books, Mexico Between Life and Death (2018) and Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979 (2020). His work is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York City. See Harvey’s work on his website www.harveysteinphoto.com and @stein.harvey on Instagram.

Photos from the book

Links from the show

• Harvey’s Website
• Photographing People with Intention Zoom Course 10/6/20 – 11/10/20
• Harvey’s Instagram
• Harvey’s Facebook

Other Interviews with Harvey on Street Photography Magazine

• Street Photography Magazine Featured Photographer July 2014
• New York Street Live “Briefly Seen” by Harvey Stein
• Mexico Between Life and Death – Interview with Harvey Stein
• Podcast Interview November 2015

One of the great frustrations in the digital age is that e easy it is to make your photography available to the world, yet so difficult to get people’s attention and to take the time to look.

Street and documentary photographer Chris Suspect, the Street Photography Magazine featured photographer in August 2020 issue, has figured it out. He regularly enters his work in competitions, attends festivals (at least he did when you could do that sort of thing) and just getting to know people personally. And most recently is self publishing a series of photo books, which have been very successful.

After speaking with Chris I realized that he is the living embodiment of the old adage “Don’t wait for the phone to ring.”

In this free sample of the interview from our most recent issue of SPM, Chris Suspect, shares the details about how he creates and promotes his self-published books. Plus he tells us the story behind his latest book, Old Customs.

Links from the show

• Chris’ website
• Chris’ book Old Customs
• Chris’ Instagram

Photos from Old Customs

When you ask Kevin Fletcher of Portland, Oregon what he does he’ll tell you that he’s an image maker. Like all good elevator speeches there’s so much more to it.

Professionally he is an independent Directory of Photography who does commercial work around the world, most recently for Netflix. And he’s working towards doing more narrative work like short films. As a visual artist he is also a damn fine street photographer who applies the rigorous skills of filmmaking to his still photograph.

Earlier this year he completed a personal project titled 82nd Avenue of the Roses about an urban street in Portland.

That project won the Lensculture 2020 Street Photography Series award against some tough competition. We include some of the images in this article so you can see for yourself.

During our discussion Kevin tells us about his motivation for creating the project and how is cinematography experience influences his street photography. In the process he gives us insight as to how filmmakers think throughcomposing and lighting scenes and how those skills apply to photographing in the moment on the street.

One thought that really stuck out to me from our conversation is that Kevin says not to make editing decisions while shooting. Basically do only one thing at a time. When you are making images, don’t think about which you will keep or discard later, just keep shooting and focus only on making photographs.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Links from the show

• Kevin’s Website
• Lens Culture 2020 Street Photography Awards
• Stephen McLaren Drive Lincoln Project
• The Third Man movie
• Endeavour television series

Selections from Kevin’s 82nd Avenue of Roses Project

Our guest this week is Montana documentary photographer Kelly Gorham is a former photojournalist, filmmaker and Director of Visual Media at Montana State University. As a filmmaker he is about to finish a PBS documentary film, titled Mavericks, about the story behind the ascendancy of Montana skiers to the heights of competitive freestyle skiing. In fact Kelly is a former competitive freestyle skier himself.

Well into his career, Kelly attended the prestigious Kalish Workshop for Visual Storytelling in Rochester New York. He says it was an amazing experience that changed his life and how he approaches his work.

As a lifelong resident of Montana he learned patience by photographing wildlife in Yellowstone National Park near his home. He would seek out a beautiful background and wait for hours and sometimes days for animals to wander through to make a few good frames. He uses this same approach when photographing on the street in the cities he visits while traveling.

Whenever I conduct an interview, whether for our podcast or the magazine I always try to learn at least one new thing from our guest. I figure if I learn something you will too.

Recently I’ve been trying to do more documentary work and I’v been looking for ways to become a better visual storyteller. I knew I was missing something fundamental, but I didn’t know what. It’s been a frustrating experience trying to figure that out on my own.

Then during our conversation Kelly explained how he approaches a new documentary project I had an “aha moment.” You know the old adage says, “when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears?” That’s what happened to me.

Kelly opened my eyes to something that has been in front of me all along. I didn’t quite realize it at the time. That little piece of advice means a lot to me. I need to thank him for it.

So please take the time to listen to my conversation with Kelly and I hope you will benefit from it as much as I did.

Links from the show

• Kelly’s website
• Kelly’s Instagram
• Mavericks documentary film
• Kevin Carter’s Starving Child and Vulture photo
• Kalish Workshop for Visual Storytelling
• Arnold Newman, portrait photographer

A selection of Kelly’s street photos

Street scenes in New York City. January, 2020. Photo © Kelly Gorham.

Bremen, Germany ©Kelly Gorham

Minneapolis Airport © Kelly Gorham

Although the Coronavirus is not currently in the headlines that doesn’t mean it’s gone away. On the contrary it’s still there and just as dangerous. Now that we’re collectively letting our guard down I fear that it will come roaring back. But I hope I’m wrong.

Like you, I’m sick of hearing about it. The disease has taken it’s toll on family and friends, the economy and to a lesser extent our work as street photographers. It’s been a drag being locked up for the past few months and to be honest I’ve been in a funk. It’s caused me to put aside many of my good habits and I’ve lost interest in getting out to make new images.

That’s why Ashley and I pulled together a panel of longtime street photographers to discuss how the pandemic has affected their personal work, businesses and psyche. The panel is Lauren Wellesvaler from New York, Valérie Jardin in Minneapolis, and Jens Krauer in Zurich, Switzerland. We got together in a live town hall format via Zoom on June 3.

I knew intuitively that we’re all facing the same issues, but the act of talking about it with other photographers made it sink in. For me it was a cathartic experience. Valérie said that this has been a stressful experience for everyone and dealing with stress requires energy. We only have so much energy available so something has to give. Why didn’t I think of that before?

For your convenience we embedded the replay video in this podcast post in case you prefer to watch it.

But because this is a podcast I assume you’re on the go and not able to sit down to watch. Therefore this episode includes the audio portion of the discussion for your listening pleasure. Up next is our discussion about Street Photography during the pandemic.

Video Replay

Although Debby Cole, a former business owner and corporate executive from Austin Texas, spent spent most of her adult life as a landscape photographer she never considered street photography until she attended (almost by accident) a workshop with Valerie Jardin in Paris. Debby says it changed her life.

Since then Debby has traveled the world to connect with people and sharpen her skills. Even during the height of the pandemic, Debby ventures out almost daily to discover new things to photograph in Austin.

Her transformation into a passionate street photographer was so profound that she was compelled to record her experience in a new book, Letting Go, How Less Becomes More.

Links from the Show

• Debby’s Photography Website
• Deborah Cole Connections
• Valérie Jardin Website
• Peter Turnley Website

A selection of Debby’s street photos

Better Together. ©2020 Deborah Cole

High Tea ©2018 Deborah Cole

Generations ©2018 Deborah Cole

Errands ©2019 Errands

Stripes ©2018 Deborah cole

SoCo At Rest ©2020 Deborah Cole

Morning Stroll ©2020 Deborah Cole

Like you I’m learning how to become better at the this elusive art form we call street photography. No matter how much I know or have learned there’s always more. It’s like crossing the ocean. Once you reach the horizon, what do you see? Another horizon.

So each time I interview a street photographer for the magazine, our podcast or just a regular conversation I alway try to come away with at least one lesson or insight that I can apply to my own work. I ask about things that I struggle with hoping that they are issues that may affect you to. After all we’re all on different paths up the same mountain.

Recently I had a conversation with Swiss street and documentary photographer Jens Krauer. I’ve been a fan of his work for quite some time and thanks to an introduction from writer and photographer Gina Williams I had an opportunity to meet him.

Several years ago Jens left a secure career in the corporate world to pursue his passion for street and documentary photography. To finance his personal projects he takes on paid commercial photography video production gigs.

On the street Jens is a keen observer of not only light, but the key elements in an often chaotic scene. Then zeros in to work the scene when possible.

And is extremely mindful of the photos he chooses for public display by being a ruthless curator of his own work. Rather than publishing hundreds of his images on his website and Instagram he shows only a handful of his best work. Jens says he prefers to be known for five great images rather than being famous on Instagram.

I found him to be very insightful, thoughtful and willing to share his experience. I’m sure you will too.

Links from the Show

• Jens’ website
• Jens’ Instagram

A selection of street photos by Jens

Matt Jerrams sheltering in place.

I hope you’re are enjoying yourself sheltering in place. Of course not. It has been an interesting time, hasn’t it.

Because we’ve been stuck inside Matt Jerrams and I got together the other day to record an episode indulging our favorite guilty pleasure which is street photography gear. If you are a regular reader of Street Photography Magazine or listener to this podcast you probably know that we don’t talk much about gear.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t like like it. In fact, I’ve found most of us have a bad case of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). That’s why Matt and I got together to discuss some of our favorites. I know it may seem a little Fuji-centric at the beginning. That’s because we both shoot with it regularly. But Matt is such a gear head, he’s got plenty for everyone.

Have a listen.

Links from the show

• Matt Jerrams Instagram
• Fred Miranda Website Buy/Sell Forum
• KEH USCamera World UK
• RangefinderForum Gear Classifieds
• Fujix-forum Classifieds
• Fujixseries Classifieds
• Fuji-x-forum (similar name, different site):
• Fuji X USA Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook Group.
• Fuji Second Hand Market (UK/Europe)
• Micro 4/3 Forum Classifieds

(Sorry for all the Fuji links. I had them in my bookmarks so I thought I’d share them)

I’m back from my trip to New Zealand and getting back into the swing of things. Sorry for being offline for so long. When we left the US things were relatively normal, and in New Zealand it seemed to be business as usual.  Although we watched the stock market melt down on television, out on the streets of New Zealand life was normal.   And on our ship (that’s right we were on a cruise) we were fat,  happy and almost oblivious to the rest of the world.

Then all hell broke loose. Our cruise was suddenly cancelled and for a few days we didn’t know how we were going to get home. When we did finally get back (I’ll spare you the details) we landed in a world different from the one we left. Im still trying to get my head around it.

I’m sure you’ve had enough Coronavirus talk to fill the rest of the year, so let’s put that aside and talk street photography.

Today our guest is Shlomi Amiga. He’s a commercial photographer from Toronto Canada and very active street photographer who has just formed a new collective for Canadian street photographers. Shlomi was also the featured photographer of the month in our September 2019 issue, so be sure to check out him and his work after you finish listening to this.

If you’ve ever thought of forming a collective with like-minded photographers this is a good time to do it. If you’re like everyone else you’re stuck at home for the foreseeable future. Shlomi put his group together pretty quickly by starting an Instagram account. So have a listen to my conversation with Shlomi Amiga where he tells us how he made it happen.

Shlomi has very graciously offered to perform a few portfolio evaluations for free. If you’re interested you can contact him directly by email at [email protected] or DM him on Instagram at @callmeshlomi.

Links from the show

• Shlomi’s website
• SPYSPC Instagram
• Shlomi’s Instagram

Today our guest is Austin Texas based street photographer, Tom Chambers.

Tom has been a very active street photographer since the 1980s when he began photographing in and around El Paso Texas. Since then he’s lived all over the world including India and China. He began his photographic journey while working for NASA on the Apollo project where he documented the lunar soil brought back to earth by the Apollo astronauts.

Tom is also a teacher and he’s putting that experience to work to introduce photographers in his area to street photography. Most recently Tom created an intensive street photography workshop in partnership with the famous Precision Camera in Austin called Street Photography and Documentary Portraiture. The month-long program runs each weekend during the entire month of June.

Tom says that it’s vital that street photographers get to know their camera inside and out so that they can be totally focused on the activity in the streets while shooting. He says when editing your photos it’s critical to evaluate each image in terms of it’s importance to you.

Links from the Show

• Street Photography and Portraiture Workshop – Austin, TX
• Tom’s Website
• Tom’s Facebook

A Selection of Tom’s Street Photos

©Tom Chambers

©Tom Chambers

©Tom Chambers

©Tom Chambers

©Tom Chambers

ON ASSIGNMENT: SEVILLE, SPAIN PILGRIMAGE TO EL ROCIO

Today our guest is New York Street and Documentary photographer Lauren Welles. If you’re a regular listener or magazine subscriber then you’ve likely heard her before. She’s a former attorney, now full-time photographer who is passionate about her craft. On top of that she’s witty, articulate intelligent and just a fun person to talk to.

I just had the best conversation with her about storytelling through photography that I want to share with you here. During our conversation she told me about a Leica sponsored workshop she is holding in Seville Spain in late May – Early June along with photojournalist John Kral. It’s part of the ongoing Leica Akademie Series. And Street Photography Magazine will publish some of the best images from the workshop in our August issue, so be on the look out for that.

Links from the Show

• Lauren’s Website
• Seville Spain Workshop – May 26, 2020
• Lauren’s Instagram
• John Kral’s Website

A Selection of Lauren’s Stickball Project Photos

@ Lauren Welles

@ Lauren Welles

@ Lauren Welles

@ Lauren Welles

@ Lauren Welles

Susanne Baumgartner and Lynn Kaplan – Miami Street Photography Festival 2018

I had an opportunity to meet Susanne personally at the Miami Street photography festival back in December 2018. She was there as a finalist in the Singles and after seeing her body of work I was not surprised.

As a pharmaceutical rep, Susanne is required to ravel to various parts of Europe. This enables her to practice street photography during her free time on the road. Many of us in the US would gladly spend thousands of dollars just to get to these places, but Susanne visits them routinely.

Suzanne says that her greatest lesson from practicing street photography as it is that she’s become much more observant of the things that happen around her, whether she’s shooting or not.

During our conversation she shares some very practical advice for street photographers of all levels. Bottom line, she says to make better photos and to be more comfortable shooting in public places you have to do it… a lot. Like anything else, it takes practice

Although Susanne may come across as quiet and sometimes humble, her photography skill speaks for itself. And she produces some of the most humorous images I’ve seen in a long time. I learned a lot from her during our time together. And you can too when you have a listen to my conversation with Susanne Baumgartner.

Links From the Show

• Susanne’s Website
• Susanne’s Instagram
• Siegfried Hansen’s Website

A Selection of Susanne’s Street Photos

Photo @Greg Burnett

When it comes to the contents of Street Photography Magazine, 2019 was one of our best years yet! We had so many amazing submissions come in and we are so excited to see the quality of everyone’s work getting better and better each year.

In this episode of the Street Photography Magazine podcast, Bob and I talk about some of our favorite articles and our favorite featured photographer interviews too.

Listen in to find out what our 2019 favorites were and find the links below if you’d like to revisit them for yourself.

A Few 2018 Favorites

Bob’s and Ashley’s Favorite Article

• Doing the Most by Andy Hann

Ashley’s Honorable Mention Article

• There’s No Place Like Home for Street Photography by Deborah Cole

Bob’s Honorable Mention Article

• Salt Fever by Karl Dedolph

Bob’s Favorite Featured Photographer

• Greg Burnett in the July issue

Ashley’s Favorite Featured Photographer

• Julia Dean in the August issue

Every month, we receive dozens of submissions for our Street Shooters of the Month feature, which appears in each issue of Street Photography Magazine. From those images, Bob makes a careful selection and chooses six special images to be published. It can be tough to choose with so many talented photographers sending us fascinating street shots from every corner of the globe, but choose he must and choose he does.

Once a year, Bob and I sit down to talk about our favorites. With over 70 images to choose from each year, making a final selection can be tough. To aid us in this endeavor, we chose a few specific categories to guide our selection: street portraits, storytelling, timing and minimalist. Check out our selections just below, and if you’d like to hear what we loved about each image, then click on the audio player below to listen in on our conversation.

Also, keep those submissions coming! To submit an image to be considered for the Street Shooters of the Month feature, first register here as a user. After registering, simply click on Submissions > Photo Submission Form from the homepage to submit single images. No need to upload full size images guys, we prefer you keep each image at 1600 pixels wide and 72 dpi.

Congrats to all our favorites this year, and muchas gracias to everyone who submitted their images. It’s a privilege to see work from around the globe and we are so happy we can share it with the SPM community.

Best Street Shooters of the Month 2018

Street Portraits

Ashley’s Favorite

Old Stock by Eoin O’Neill

This photograph was taken in Limerick City in April 2019, it shows an elderly man sitting on steps on the street. He is smoking a tobacco pipe and the lighter that he holds in his hand is broken. his face and his hands are weathered and his gaze is fixed firmly on the street around him.

View on Website

Bob’s Favorite

Turban by Yasser Alaa Mobarak

Turban of Sikh Man at Delhi.

View on Website

Storytelling

Bob’s and Ashley’s Favorite

Finding Myself by Rajiul Huda Dipto

A barber was there in the side of street in Dhaka and I was in the traffic jam. I saw, he was showing the customer how well he has shaved and then he looked at the mirror. I think, he tried to find himself in that. Probably, he was finding the inner beautify of himself instead.

View on Website

Timing

Ashley’s Favorite

Bob’s Favorite

Yellow by Francesco Gioia

I took this picture near Bond Street in London. I was walking when I saw these two kids wearing yellow rubber rain boots. At the same time, a man carrying two yellow bags was walking towards me in the opposite direction. As soon as he got closer to me, I pressed the shutter.

Minimalist

Bob’s and Ashley’s Favorite

Museum Visitors by Irina Escoffery

During my visit of Vanderbilt museum I saw couple of guests standing on the balcony and looking around. I loved the way those two individuals look like.

View on Website

Today’s guest is Andy Walmsley.

He is a resident of the UK, an IT professional in the telephone systems industry, a street photographer and huge film enthusiast. He’s also the host of the Photography Insights podcast.

Andy began his photographic journey not long ago doing street photography with a digital camera. But as a very curious guy he began to explore the world of film…and he became hooked. To say that he is enthusiastic about film and photography in general is a vast understatement.

He has been on a journey ever since and in the process he created the Phlogger blog followed soon after by his podcast Photography Insights, which can be found on his blog and just about any podcast directory available, most notably iTunes.

Andy’s enthusiasm and curiosity is infectious, just listen to his podcast and you will see for yourself. He’s not afraid to reach out to anyone in the photo world which is how we first met two years ago. When he decided to start his photography podcast he reached out to me for advice. We’ve been in touch ever since.

Links from Today’s Episode

• Phlogger Website
• Andy’s Instagram
• Quinn Jacobson – Victorian Film Processes
• On the Night Bus – Nick Turpin

A Selection of Andy’s Photos

Today’s guest is Gulnara Samoilova. She’s an accomplished street photographer, founder and, curator of the Women Street Photographers Instagram feed. She is also an award-winning Associated Press photojournalist most notably for her photographs taken during the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11.

Her work is part of major collections at venues like the Museum of the City of New York, The New York Public Library, New York Historical Society, The Akron Museum, 9/11 Memorial Museum, and Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Her photographs can also be found in several prominent private collections like Elton John and Steven Kasher. Plus her work has been exhibited in numerous one-person and group shows around the world. Impressive.

Gulnara will be the featured photographer in the March 2020 issue of Street Photography Magazine where we’ll learn more about her personal work.

But today she tells us about her passion to promote the work of other women street photographers. She does this by curating the Women Street Photographers Instagram feed and managing the traveling exhibition of their work. All of which keeps her very busy.

Links from the Show

• Gulnara’s Website
• Gulnara’s Instagram
• Women Street Photographers Web Site
• Women Street Photographers Instagram
• Focus on the Story Festival
• El Barrio’s Artspace PS109

A Selection of Gulnara’s Photos

September 11, 2011 Terrorists Attacks. © Gulnara Samoilova

© Gulnara Samoilova

© Gulnara Samoilova

© Gulnara Samoilova

In this episode, our guest is Michael Kowalczyk, a photographer I met last year at the Miami Street Photography Festival, where I was honored to be asked to do a portfolio review with him. Michael is a multimedia specialist at the University of Konstanz in Germany. He’s also a prolific street photographer.

Since we met last year, Michael has leveraged his skills as a multimedia expert and photographer to create the unique website streetphototip.com, an excellent resource for the street photography community. On the website, Michael gives detailed explanations about many award-winning street photographs and maintains a list of street photography competitions going on worldwide. What’s more, he’s doing all of this on his own time and on his own dime.

I was particularly impressed with an article Michael wrote about the making of one of his own photos titled “Medellin Mirror”. He goes into great detail about how he spotted an interesting photo opportunity of a man carrying a large mirror through the busy streets of Medellin, Columbia and how he worked the scene as the man moved through the crowd. The article contains several of the shots from the series plus his final selection both before and after post processing. It’s a very powerful learning experience.

To learn more about Michael and get some pro tips from him, click the audio player below to listen to our interview. And make sure you take some time to explore the pages of Street Photo Tip – you’ll find all the links you need just below the audio player.

Podcast Links

• Street Photo Tip website
• Michael’s Website
• Street Photo Tip Instagram
• Street Photography Contest Calendar
• Making Of “Medellin Mirror” Interview with Michael Kowalczyk
  
• SPM Podcast episode about writing about your street photography

A selection of Michael’s street photos

Stephen McLaren, editor of Magnum Streetwise, is a freelance photographer, author, curator, former TV Producer and aspiring script writer. Born and raised in Scotland, he now resides in Los Angles, California. In addition to being a very talented writer Stephen is also a highly accomplished street photographer himself. Some of his personal street photography is displayed in this article.

Magnum Streetwise is a collaboration between Stephen, his publisher, Thames & Hudson and the photographers at Magnum.

Throughout this project Stephen worked closely with over 40 Magnum photographers like Elliott Erwitt, Martin Parr, Bruce Gilden, and Richard Kalvar to select images from their vast portfolios for the book. During these conversations he captured their stories and picked up tips to refine his own style.

More than a book about the street photography of these legendary photographers, it’s also a history of Magnum itself.  It’s big, it’s meaty, it’s full amazing photographs, but more important it’s full of stories from these legendary about how they work and think.

Magnum Streetwise is a must have for anyone serious about street photography.

Links From the Show

• Magnum Streetwise at Amazon
• Stephen’s Website
• Stephen’s Instagram

A selection of Stephen’s street photos

©Stephen McLaren

©Stephen McLaren

©Stephen McLaren

©Stephen McLaren

©Stephen McLaren

Blogging about your street photography carries with it some huge benefits. You’ll see traffic to your website increase and you’ll notice the people who come stay longer as they get to know your work on a new level. In a world flooded with street photography images, writing about your photography will make your images stand out as unique. Your images will carry more weight as you shed light on the stories they contain, regardless of whether the story is about yourself or your subjects. Best of all, writing about your work can help you gain clarity when it comes to your goals as a street photographer and the message you hope to transmit to others.

But the million dollar question Bob and I hear all the time is, “How? How can I write about my images if I’m not a writer?” It’s an excellent question and a reasonable one too. Most photographers are more interested in visual creativity than that of the written kind. But the thread that may very well connect all creatives is storytelling, and this is where words can really add something special to the way you share your photographic work.

Blogging about your photography doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.

In this episode of the SPM podcast, Bob and I discuss how to write. We break it down into a step-by-step process and show you that writing doesn’t have to be intimidating. We even go over quite a few writing prompts to help you get those creative juices flowing and find your inner writer. To make them easier to use we’re including them right here in this post for easy access. Remember, your words are valuable. Write about who or what inspires you, tell a story, explain your techniques, describe your challenges, celebrate your successes – the sky is the limit!

Writing Prompts for Street Photographers

• What was happening at the time you took the photo (the back story)?
• What captured your attention?
• How much did you work the scene (about how many frames did you take) and why did you choose this particular photo as your favorite?
• What challenges (personally or photographically) did you face on the street? How did you overcome them?
• How did the people you met while shooting affect you?
• What did you learn from any give experience on the street? What might you do differently?
• How did you feel while shooting and afterwards?
• How did an image or moment affect you externally and/or internally both in positive and negative ways?
• Why did you choose to create a series of images or work on a specific project?
• Who or what inspires you to do street photography? What photographers, painters, writers, etc. inspire you as you create your images?
• What has street photography taught you?

Keep this list on hand as you think about what images you will publish on your blog. And feel free to add your own prompts questions to the list too!

Usually we wish you happy shooting, but this time, we’ll wish you happy writing! As always, feel free to get in touch with any challenges you are facing or other tips that have helped you write about your work. We are always happy to hear from you and to get your feedback. And be sure to listen in to this podcast for more tips on how to create written content to accompany your images. We’ve prepared some practical, easy to use advice that will help you to succeed at writing – even if you’ve never tried writing before.

Michael Stern is Los Angeles based commercial photographer who specializes in construction and industrial still photography and timelapse photography. But he’s much more than that. Michael leverages his artistic and technical skills to become a storyteller of his clients’ projects.

His motto is: Think like an artist. Shoot like a director. Edit like a storyteller. These words of wisdom can serve all street photographers well as they work.

In addition to his work as a commercial photographer Michael is a longtime instructor at the Los Angeles Center for Photography (LACP) where he has taught a basic photography for several years. He’s in good company because other instructors at LACP include Sam Abell, Julia Dean, Ibarionex Perello, Matt Stuart, Joe McNally and too many others to list.

Michael’s favorite advice for photographers is to pay attention to what strikes you and stops you cold and to be brutal in editing your work.

Links and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

• Michael’s Website
• Los Angeles Center for Photography
• How to Submit Photos to Street Photography Magazine
• Tips for Creating a Photo Project or Article

A Selection of Michaels Recent Work

Worker candid portraits of the Crenshaw line in Los Angeles, CA

Worker candid portraits of the Crenshaw line in Los Angeles, CA

Worker candid portraits of the Crenshaw line in Los Angeles, CA

Progress photographs of the Crenshaw line in Los Angeles, CA

Alex Casares spends most of his workday driving throughout his vast rural Arizona county.  He loves it because it gives him the ability to take his camera to pursue his passion for street photography while he works.

Because he visits open desert, small towns and urban areas through the day results in a an eclectic style making photos of a wide variety of subjects.  In any single say he can make images of anything from broken down trucks, cactus, horses, street people and dog walkers.

Alex is very active in the Street Photography Magazine Facebook Group where he regularly posts new photos new photos and provides feedback to other members. His enthusiasm for our craft is infectious. We can all use a little of that.

Links from the show

• Alex Casares Website
  Alex’sPhotography – Instagram
  Alex’s Dog Dayz Project – Instagram
  Dogs Best Friend by Lee Freidlander
  Bystander by James Preller
  Street Photography Now by Sophie Howarth, Stephen Mclaren
  The Americans by Robert Frank
  Chance Encounter (with Robert Frank) blog post on The Online Photographer
  Everybody Street – Video
• A selection of photos from Alex’s ongoing Dog Dayz project

©David Ingraham

I started publishing Street Photography Magazine almost by accident.

For the past 10 years I’ve owned a web development business that specializes in creating online training websites. Back in 2013 I was researching some new iPad magazine technology that looked like a good application to be used for courses to be delivered over time.

After purchasing a license to create a magazine app I had to create a magazine to learn how it worked. So I decided to make a magazine about my favorite genre of photograph…Street Photography

The magazine took off and I haven’t looked back. That was over 6.5 years ago.

But my day job is still leveraging internet technology to deliver training via the web. And I continue to be intrigued by some of the creative ways people are using this technology to help others learn new skills.

Carter Williams – Lighmob co-founder

Kevin Gondo – Lighmob co-founder

Recently I met the founders of LIghtmob who have created a really cool mobile-based photography knowledge sharing platform that enables you to connect directly with an instructor to learn a number of photography skills.

It looked really cool, so I had to give it a try. I signed up for a lesson with award winning street photographer, David Ingram in Los Angeles. It was a very unique learning experience and I learned a lot from him.