It is very simple. Here is a Conventional Wisdom .
Just Shoot And Do Not Think About It.
Ows?
Embrace surprise. Go with the flow. Touch the groove. Smell the Street. Let the genius inside of you do the work.
Just Shoot And Do Not Think About It.
Let me illustrate how.
THINKING. If you are working on a job you use a lot of your Brain, whether you like it not, you are paid for it and you must THINK about it. You deal with a specific problem and you are hired to Think, Solve, Find a Solution to a specific problem which requires time and substantial amount. If you are a a professional Photographer and you are hired to take pictures of a certain event, you do not do street photography, you do what you are hired for. You need to Think about what to frame, you need to photograph images that would satisfy your client.
If Street Photography Feels like Work- I don’t want to do it.
UNTHINKING. In doing Street Photography you FEEL for it. Your brain cannot help you find a solution because no problem is presented. There is no WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and HOW. In Street Photography there is only WHY and you are not even required to answer it. Much as when you truly love somebody, there is no specific answer. There is only that FEELING. You use your Heart rather than your Brain.
In Street Photography, the more you open your heart to possibilities, the street can randomly offer, the more powerful are you images. The more it is yours. Needless to say the more you use your heart, the less friction you have, the easier it gets.
Oh, we love to say that Street Photographers are Artists. Well as an artist, we do not dwell into definite, tangible, measurable, palpable problems, we deal with fuzziness, undefined, often times confusing emotional problems. We do not go and plunge ourselves in a photowalk and think our way out for an answer. We walk and find our way, knowing Images do not reveal themselves in a Question, Images reveal themselves when we begin to wonder and wander.
Shoot to Shoot.
Truth is- most of the time, whenever I shoot, I am not particularly conscious of what I shoot, like how Painter creates a painting. It so happens that shooting everyday, looking intently at a variety of images everyday, studying what works or not, makes me recognize and be familiar with elements that clicks and makes a photo. Most of the time, the conscious shooting only resides when certain elements that I find interesting, presents itself prior to the fact, that shutter click, when capturing the scene via camera.
I think through repetition, studying even contemplating on photos that “feeds” my subconscious on what to shoot the next time I am on the street. The subconscious just connects your whole being, mind, body, eyes, camera- to the street scene.
Preparation is the key, the mind can only see what it is prepared to see.
Conventional Wisdom
Repurpose
“Thy Will Be Done”
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