5 Life Lessons from 5 Years of Street Photography

It’s been about 5 years since my interest and passion for street photography started.

Some things you can only learn from time and experience. So here I wanted to share 5 ideas I wish I knew sooner that have massively helped me with my street photography.

These are not practical photography tips but more conclusions I’ve come to realise myself over time.

Don't rely on others' opinions for your photo's value.

Whether this is the amount of likes an image gets or the number of people who share it their instagram story. This does not give your photography credible value. It’s an indicator that people have shown interest, but not an indicator that the image is of good quality.

People’s perceptions of your photography isn’t what gives it value. Depending on where that person is in their life, how they feel at that time, what they’re interested in, all determines their reaction to something. I’ve shown one image to three different people and received three different responses.

I shouldn’t attach their response to how good I think my photo is. It’s an unreliable source. But instead, listen to their feedback and opinion and then decide if I want to take it onboard if that aligns with how I want to improve my photography.

This could be exaggerated with the internet as it has allowed everyone to voice their thoughts, there’s so many different opinions flying around (including YouTubers like myself) that we just need to be aware that it isn’t personal and it doesn’t add or take away value from what we’re producing.

If we can’t rely on the judgement of others, how do we know if we’re making stuff worth while? For me personally my biggest tell is when I look back at my photos over the years and notice the little differences in what catches my eye and just how my awareness has improved. Street photography is one big game of learning to see, we all see different things and if I’m seeing things now that I couldn’t see a few years ago, I’d call that progression.

The things I see and the things I enjoy capturing happen before anyone else has stained it with an opinion.

Embrace the real world, it's better than social media.

This is an easy trap to fall into if we spend a lot of time on our phones.

Im convinced that being outside and involved in the world has to be better than quivering and hiding from it.

The biggest example of this, is the comparison between Twitter and real life. If you spend just a few moments scrolling it would appear as if planet earth and everyone on it are awful. There’s loud political opinions from left to right and climate change is killing everyone and it’s your fault. All of it is shown on your news feed in seconds. It’s overwhelming.

But if you step outside and speak to everyday people working in the city and walking the streets, it’s a totally different story. Everyday people don’t go around yelling about Elon Musk’s or why Andrew Tate was in prison. Everyday people are busy with their lives, walking from one place to other holding a loved ones hand or catching up with an old friend in a coffee shop or running through the park during sunset.

The real world is a much nicer place when you start looking for it.

Yes bad things happen and bad people exist. I’m not naive, but the process of learning to see the little moments and enjoying the process of seeing the details goes a long way to being present and being grateful that I’m here witnessing those too good to be true moments.

When you start looking for it, Humans are fascinating and moments are fleeting. let’s enjoy it, not run away from it. For that reason Street Photography has done wonders for my mental health.

Repetition is key; practice makes great shots. (action eats theory for breakfast)

The pursuit of getting a great image is what keeps us going back. With street photography there isn’t an expectation of getting your best work in 1 day. The best street photographers might capture 3 or 4 portfolio worthy images in an entire year.

It’s acceptable to not achieve anything great straight away, but then when you do get something great, it’s even more valuable.

I’ve spent nearly 12 years skateboarding, when I was younger I’d skate daily that taught me the lesson of repetition as much as street photography. You might spend hundreds of hours learning to kickflip and when you land your first one, it feels like winning the lottery, that sense of achievement is so fulfilling you want to land it again and again, then move onto learning a new trick.

If it was easy to do, everyone would do it.

The only way we can truly get more great photos, or land more tricks on a skateboard is to just get out there and do it, over and over and over again.

Learning from your great photos encourages you to keep at it, learning from your failures teaches you how to improve next time. The more you get out and try, the better you’ll get.

Explore photo books for inspiration and depth. (study what has stood the test of time)

Photo books have single handedly had the biggest impact on my photography, from the physical aspect of being outside and shooting to just how I think and feel about photography.

You have collections of work sometimes covering decades of amazing photographers careers dialled into a 50/100/200 page book.

There just simply isn’t a better way of seeing work on that level in such a digestible format.

For those who started photography and immediately created an Instagram account I imagine you’ve spent most of your time looking at photos on a screen. I cannot express the difference between that and seeing the photos bigger in person and physically in your hand. The work is so much more impressive in print.

Why I think photo books work so well is because there’s a barrier to entry. You’re so much more likely to come across amazing photographers work when it’s on a shelf or listed in a ‘The top 10 must read photo book recommendations.’ These books have been made with such care and effort and the work you find in them have been created intentionally, that has stood the test of time.

These books don’t accidentally make themselves and for that reason, photo books hold a level of quality that just isn’t guaranteed when you just randomly come across someones Instagram profile.

Know if you're capturing stories for the brain or eyes. (Storytelling VS. Aesthetics)

I first heard this idea about a year ago but for the life of me I cannot remember who said it or where I read this but this is not my original thinking.

What are you trying to achieve by taking the photo? Do we want to show people and say “look how cool this looks?” or “look how crazy that moment is” if the moment is one in a million, its funny, it shows an array of emotions, we’re reading the image, digesting all the details and coming to a conclusion about what was happening. There’s a probably story.

Depending on how good that moment was, the image quality, composition, the camera settings - almost all of it can be ignored and not matter at all. Capturing a great story in the wrong settings is better than shooting no story in perfect settings.

I think if the image sparks a conversation about the story in the frame that’s a great starting point, it’s affected the viewer in some type of way to question it further or look deeper. That is a photo for our brain.

If the photo is a “look how cool this looks” then it’s more likely to be front facing visual aesthetics, a nice bit of colour, a striking bit of light or pleasing aesthetics and geometry. That is a photo for our eyes.

In my opinion, photos for the brain are way harder to capture because they cannot be recreated, it’s down to the skill of the photographer to notice those moments.

But regardless of what’s better or not simply knowing what the difference is between the two types of photos will help take your work in the a certain direction with intention.

If the light is good and I’m walking around great architecture, they’re might be loads of cool shadows and silhouettes. I know in that situation to try and take some photos for our eyes.

The opportunity has presented itself for something really pleasing. This can be seen as fine art street photography.

However, if I’m walking down a busy oxford street in London then I’m looking out for those fleeting moments, coincidences and emotions from the passers by. I’m more inclined to document what I see and hopefully capture something special hidden among the chaos. If I do manage it, then that image is less likely to be aesthetically pleasing but in fact a raw documentation of what’s happening.

Just by simply understanding the difference and being aware of what i’m shooting has helped me get into the right headspace for the scene in front of me. It gives me focus and allows me to lean into that style more.

There’s a time and place for both, depending on where you are and what you’re doing, but if you’ve never considered what exactly you are shooting, maybe it’s worth a thought, are you taking photos for our eyes, or for the brain?

Bonus Lesson (but most important): HAVE FUN WITH IT.

Just simple being outside taking photos is a win. Whether you care about reason or style of your photographs, bottom line. I don’t think it really matters. Especially as street photography is a hobby for most of us, we shouldn’t take this too seriously. Having fun with this is important so just taking photos for the sake of taking photos is enough.

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