What Makes A Good Street Photography Shot?

Hey guys what's up?

Last time, I got to talk to you all about where to start in photography. This time I feel it would be great to follow up with the idea of street photography. Now, why street photography you might ask. Well, street photography has been a very popular theme and route many photographers take. Whether you are a seasoned professional, or just picked up a camera a few days ago. This area of photography has been very popular by many, and it's actually an area of photography where many people can start. Think about it, you just need a camera and the outdoors. Doesn't necessarily mean a high-end DSLR from a top brand. Your phone (under decent quality light) can bring extraordinary results when you're out and about.

So what makes it so hard to have a great street photograph, and make it stand out from the thousands created worldwide and shared on social media? Well, the answer might be both simple and complicated. Ready for the answer? Okay, here it goes. At the end of the day, did you really care? Sounds simple right? Well not really. You see when taking a street photo. It all starts at home you see ( or wherever you are before going out in the street taking photos) and that right there already will make you stand out from the majority. Reason being is that when you go out and just start taking random photos, you don't have a game plan. So any picture you take won't tell a story. Ever heard "a picture is worth a thousand words" If so, then one way of interpreting that, which is something I came to translate it like this. My photo is telling a story, the only difference from another type of storytelling method is that it's capturing something in time. Freezing it and capturing something that will never ever be recreated, this holds true especially when it comes to street photography.

So many things are always going on, especially if you live in New York City. That many things around happening at the same time. There are millions of stories happening all around you. From the ways cars move at a certain street, the way people are interacting with one another (or not, NYC people could relate) from where and what time. To the way flowers and insects coexist in this concrete jungle. You see by just picking one idea, you can take a photo and quickly take another. After taking a few you notice you feel inspired by the same idea you originally had. But now you move on to something a bit different, only this time there's a connection, if there's a change is with a purpose. From this specific time, you're no longer taking random pictures. You're an individual with a mission, that mission is to take a photo that is a bit different in them yet still inspired by the original idea you started with. It is at this point you are telling a story, not just a story. But a story with multiple other stories, stories that are connected somehow. In the end you will end up with a photo story that flows and since it had a purpose. Everything on the frame is there for a reason, and anything that didn't make the frame is also not there for a reason. Why because you had an idea. Because you had a purpose.

Of course, editing and time of sharing on social media with the appropriate hashtags are important. But without this fundamental idea, nothing else really matters. From the type of camera, your editing style, or the amount followers you have on social media. If you start with this idea, especially with street photography. The only way you can go is up and in time improve and make great positive leaps in your photography as a whole.