For All You Would Be Street Photog's

I'm not an aspiring street photographer but I love his work and his approach.

That was awesome thanks for sharing.

Very cool, Roy, thanks for the link. Brandon shows that we can deeply touch each other with one photo and a few words. He is making outstanding art.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

What a great find, Roy. Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I will now certainly re-think my approach to street photography. Not that I do much of it... but now I will reconsider.

Here is a guy who loves people and it shows in his work. He's not about exploitation, he is all about storytelling.

Mr. Erickson...
Thank you so much for sharing Brandon Stanton with us. In all honesty, I was very touched by his work and his "personality." Mr. Stanton seems to be a wonderful human being. I wish I could be just a little like him. I posted this video on my Facebook page I was so impressed by him.

That said, Mr. Stanton is not a "street" photographer. While it is true he takes his images of strangers in the street, he first talks to them and then has them pose for him (informally) but they still pose for his camera.

The first hard rule (we have a few hard rules) of "street" images is NO posing. Posing is anathema for the street photographer.

Street Photography...The act of taking photos of people in public urban areas in a candid manner. This means that when it comes to street photography, you don’t ask your subjects to pose for you. Instead of asking people to take their photo, you simply take their photo. In addition, street photography integrates the people and their environment...

Mr. Stanton takes Street Portraits....
Although capturing posed street portraiture can capture strong images (I love Mr. Stanton's images), the truly exceptional images are those which are captured candidly in my opinion.

This is from Eric Kim...a widely known teacher/photographer in street photography.
'Now what makes capturing candid street portraits inherently better than capturing posed street portraits? Well to start off, it takes guts to take photos of people in public (without asking their permission). Frankly speaking, I think that street photography is 80% having the (guts) to go out in public and shoot strangers while only 20% is skill. There are many skilled photographers who can capture great posed images, but don’t have the stomach for going out and taking photos of strangers. It definitely isn’t for the faint of heart (which makes it so challenging and fun)."

I would submit to you that what this person is doing is every bit as brave as going out shooting people without talking to them first, perhaps more so.

Getting locked into labels for this type or that type of photography, or music, or anything else for that matter s limiting, imo. So what if it doesn't fit a definition of "street photography"?

Pedantry is the enemy of creativity.

"The first hard rule (we have a few hard rules) of "street" images is NO posing."

One again "rules" imply there are penalties for breaking them and people to enforce them.

Which one of you enforces the rules Robert?

It may be YOUR rule Robert but, in reality, there are no "rules".


I agree with HW they are much braver than someone sneaking around taking "candid" shots and this kind of work gives "street" photographers a good name.

Mr. Kateley,
You say "that what this person is doing is every bit as brave as going out shooting people without talking to them first, perhaps more so"

I kind of agree with you, kind of....But let's not forget that this Mr. Stanton appears to be an extreme extrovert with a beautiful smile (and just a tad naive imo).

You then say, "Getting locked into labels for this type or that type of photography, or music, or anything else for that matter s limiting, imo"
Labels describe....If I went to a concert with the intention of hearing Classical Music and what is played in Rap...I would not be happy....I want to know in advance what the program is about.


Mr. Crothers...
We use rules for any game. We play chess with a certain set of rules. If you use the rules for checkers while you play chess, you will be penalized by losing the game.

Mr. C...
In order to talk to me on FAA, you had to use the rule of signing in and then going to Discussions...If you had picked images over Discussions, we would not be having this charming give and take.

So, in reality there are rules for any game. We may be born free but everywhere we are in chains.

As for who is braver, lol....You pays your money, you takes your choice....
Have a good day Mr. C....

Maybe I missed something but, I know he got more views by uploading his images to FB however, I didn't see where he mentioned it improving his financial situation. Perhaps that's why the video was made.

That was nice! He's obviously a person who likes people. I wish I was brave enough to do this, because I love looking at street photography and portraits. I'm a little afraid to go downtown with a camera, though, because sometimes people are not nice. I was followed around my local marina by some security guy who said "people don't like photos taken around here." What, boaters? Were they smuggling drugs from Columbia? Whatever!

Does anyone know what camera he is using? That large LCD screen is something I need.

"We use rules for any game. We play chess with a certain set of rules. If you use the rules for checkers while you play chess, you will be penalized by losing the game. "

What are the "penalties" for not following your street photography rules?

@Patricia - That's surprising. I've been around a lot of marinas and never seen that. I did notice years ago that the marinas in your area seem to have a lot more locked gates. Maybe this is due to a more populated area.

HW, I know I am too sensitive about it, so perhaps I should be more adventurous! I wasn't even taking photos of the boats but of the flower gardens around the marina. I think the guy just didn't have anything else better to do at the time. Not much exciting happens in my town ... it's pretty quiet. But I've gotten stopped by traffic cops more in the year I've lived here than I did in 20 years in California. Small towns, lol. Nothing for them to do.

Street photography is not for everyone. But I like it. Keeps me on my toes, gives me a rush. I forget about my aches and pains when I am on the hunt for good candid images.

Once upon a time, I was paid to take portraits of people including company executives (how I met my wife, the executive). But I prefer not chatting up my street people. Take them as they are, and how they go about their lives without giving me a pasted on smile just for the camera.

The cops see me taking images of people in a rather seedy side of town. They don't bother me. In fact, I've taken pics of the cops as they are making arrests (See 3 of my police in action pics in one of my galleries here). I respect the police. My wife works with them and I have also at one time when I had a German Shepherd protection dog at my side.

My current street project is taking images of "outsiders...underbelly of society...poor...mentally ill..." I grew up as an outsider..poor, mental...so I empathize with them. It's all good.

But candid street photography is not for everyone. Why ask for trouble? Unless you are like me and like the rush.

Robert, interesting about "the rush." Glad that works for you, lol. Nothing about being around people gives me a rush. Your lady with the big earring is a beautiful capture!! Love that.

thanks for sharing.

Holy double post batman!

"We use rules for any game. We play chess with a certain set of rules. If you use the rules for checkers while you play chess, you will be penalized by losing the game. "

What are the "penalties" for not following your street photography rules?

Mr. Crothers...
That's easy. Having to read what you write.

"There are no rules in street photography. But this doesn't mean that taking portraits of people on a street is street photography."

Philip, you just contradicted yourself there.

Robert it is obvious you can't answer my question (I knew you couldn't). But go on thinking there are "rules" and you are following them and you are in charge of defining them and calling people out when the "break" them. I doubt anyone will care. The rule breaker in this post has sold 30,000 books. Is that right? How many books have you sold? You may want to consider breaking the "rules"!

You know this is ONLY called "street photography" here. The link calls it portraits.

One thing I really admire about this guy is he treats his subjects like humans instead of candid props for "gritty" and "raw" photographs.

The people in the gritty and raw photographs are people. They have stories. Their stories are probably more interesting than the pictures most people take of them. Anyone with a camera can sneak a shot of the homeless guy. It has been done. Obviously far fewer people can actually TALK to this guy and learn about his life and circumstances.

Watching this video makes me want to try doing it. I don't take people shots as a rule but I have when I was in school. One time, at the beach, I saw a guy with a BIG Mohawk walking around. I gathered the courage to ask him if I could take his picture and he was happy to pose for me. (I guess someone with hair like that LIKES attention after all). They turned out pretty good.

Maybe a trip to the beach soon is in order to try what this guy is doing?

" I don't mean to include the taking of formal portraits of people, because that's not what street photography is. It's not that complex."

Unless that is what the person taking the shots thinks it is. He can call it "street photography" because, if you remember, there are no rules.

Mr. Sweeck....
I respectfully disagree with you (as do many other street photographers)...

Let's read what Mr. John Free, a social documentary and street photographer, has to say about the Rules of the Game. (Mr Free has taught classes and workshops at USC, UCLA, Pasadena City College, Newport Art Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has worked professionally at his craft for more than 30 years. For his personal work, he does street photography.)

Here are a few of Mr. Free's rules for those of us who wish to engage in “authentic” street photography.

1. No posing or anything contrived.
“Follow the straight and narrow road of the great photographers. In my 43 years of study of “Street photography” I have learned that the most basic rule is that there should be no posing or anything artificially contrived.”

2. Prepare for the moment of truth
“Practice operating quickly and effectively when a subject is presented to you. Most unprepared photographers seem to freeze up at the moment of truth because they are unable to follow a well practiced plan of what to look for and what to check when evaluating a possible subject.”

3.  Rule 3
“The only caption should be the place and date of the photograph. When showing photographs if you remain silent you will not dilute the viewers experience by talking about the photograph, so you will get a natural reaction”

4 Get in close
“My favorite photographers, Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier-Bresson, where gentlemen photographers. They didn’t rush up to scare some old women to get a cheap shot of someone up close. They moved smoothly through life, mostly being invisible to those around them so they could get so close to their subjects.”

Me...Mr. Free has a few more rules for “authentic” street photography that I don’t follow for one personal reason or another.

Mr. Sweeck...
I seem to have misunderstood what you wrote. You have one or two more brain cells than I do. Please forgive.