Street Photography Workshop with Matt Stuart
At the end of May 2023 JP and I spent 6 days in Lisbon. The main reason for our trip being a full one day workshop with Matt Stuart on Saturday 27th. Matt has been one of my biggest inspirations for street photography ever since I discovered his work about 3 years ago, so the opportunity to spend a full day learning from one of the very best is something I couldn’t pass on.
For this blog I thought it would be cool to reflect on the workshop, share what we did and also my biggest takeaways from the day.
This could be a long one, so grab a coffee and chill out.
Before I breakdown the day I thought it would be great to get started with some words from Matt Stuart.
What was the workshop like from his perspective?
“Teaching people to be in the right place at the right time is my goal. Simple as that!
However, where is the right place and what is the right time? These are some of the factors that I try to teach students. I also enjoy going out and shooting with them, in many workshops the tutor does not go out with the students, they just wait at base to give the students a critique on their return. This to me is a rip off, the best way to learn is to see how people actually photograph, you learn so much more than just having your work looked at. So I always go out with my class. It starts slowly and ends with us all chasing the light, and getting hot and flustered.
This was a higher level of class than normal, many professional photographers trying to re find their mojo. Everyone was up for it and their were no slow coaches or newbies. I enjoyed the atmosphere and vibe.
Lisbon was fun, definitely a good destination for street photography. Reasonably cost effective and a guarantee of pretty good weather over the summer, also places like Narrativa and Photobook Corner felt welcoming and enthusiastic.”
Matt Stuart
We started the day around 10am at Narrativa, where we introduced ourselves to the group (10 of us) and Matt kicked things off analysing some of his best photographs.
I’m sure we’ve all seen many of his London street photographs but it was brilliant to hear him breakdown the process. How he took them and why he liked them.
Some notes I scribbled as he talked about his work:
1, 2, 3 Compositions - Strong photographs are likely to contain 3 elements (sometimes more) that cohesively work together, specifically 1 in the foreground, 2 in the middle and 3 in the background. If you have 1, 2 and 3 elements all complimenting each other you’re onto something! If subject 1 and subject 2 are good enough, it can be as simple as having a clean and simple background as your 3rd subject.
Quoting Matt, he asked the group;
“what’s the most common thing that ruins photographs? The background.”
Using a background that’s in the shadows, utilising the darkness to switch off any distractions whilst your subjects at lit up in the foreground and in the highlighted area is something Matt does a lot in his work.
NO SUNGLASSES and the importance of eye contact. If you’re being inconspicuous, taking photos around people in the streets it’s important to show friendly and positive body language at the same time.
One easy way for people to read you and know you’re friendly is with a smile on your face and eye contact. So Matt made it very clear to NOT be doing street photography with your eyes covered. It can be intimidating to strangers.
Fish, Follow, F**k - A popular quote from Matt is his three F’s technique. This is available to read in more detail in his brilliant book ‘Think Like a Street Photographer’.
“The key to getting good pictures is threefold: Find a location that looks promising, track something with potential, or jump straight in.”
(read his book Think Like a Street Photographer here)
Never think you missed it. Something Matt kept ensuring us was to remain in the right headspace. Don’t get annoyed at yourself for potentially missing a moment because it distracts you, takes you out of the present moment and can disrupt your flow. Keep your head up!
Sequencing - One of my favourite things Matt said was about photo books and how to sequence them. Which is very relevant for myself as I work on my first book ready for print towards the end of this year. I’ll keep some of this knowledge back though. I don’t want to reveal all the wisdom…
After a morning inside hearing Matts thoughts on technique, methods and ideas around street photography, it was time to head outside for the afternoon and see it in action. (but first lunch. of course).
The first thing Matt made the group do was to practise fishing in one of the public squares. He split the group up and we all headed out to find a location & composition we liked. We then had 20 minutes to try and implement some of the techniques Matt had previously been talking about. Like the 1, 2, 3 method I mentioned before.
I found a corner, next to a big archway where a lot of foot traffic was moving alongside a nice, somewhat appealing background. I didn’t take any super impressive photographs here but I’ll show you one frame that doesn’t completely suck.
Girl in red holding her head.
Boy with the jumper on his head, also in red.
Man holding his hips (similar shape to the first girl).
Finally, but very poorly, the girl in background is also in red. I tried balancing all these subjects around the red and white sign as well. None of the subjects are strong enough to complete the image but it was about practicing the technique that Matt wanted, it’s unlikely anyone would nail this within the first 20 minutes of shooting. But it was fun to try none the less.
After 20 minutes of fishing at each of our locations we met back up and shared our experiences. This is where things get even more interesting… Matt then walked around the square with the group explaining how he would approach each location and what kind of subjects/situations he would love to come together.
As we walked around the square, he talked about each scene in front of him, why the composition would work and why it wouldn't work. He was also throwing out random suggestions of possible photo outcomes, it was super interesting seeing him comment on what was happening in front of us. He was essentially evaluating possible photographs in realtime and showing us exactly how he would do it.
At one point, I couldn't quiet believe how the words that came out of his mouth would actually manifest into real life situations.
The following moments really happened…
Matt said at one point - “this corner is really interesting, it looks like people could potentially bump into each other…” - about 10 seconds later 2 people danced around each other in attempt to not collide. It was assuming, it was possibly a great photograph to be taken.
Another realtime example was when he saw a hat shop - “these hats on this shop look great, we just need another interesting subject to make it something good”. Again, about 10 seconds a women holding a big white hat infant of her face walked into the composition being perfectly lit by the sun. It was another possible photograph to be taken.
As these random situations took place, Matt was loudly and clearly narrating the action. As if it knew it would happen.
Clearly Matt isn’t a time traveler so how was he doing this? Personally I think it’s about good spacial awareness, reading the environment well and obviously, lots of experience.
Chasing the light.
For me, this part of the day was the most fun.
After some time fishing at various locations, we grabbed some water, coffee and Matt prepared us for a lot of fast paced walking as we would chase the light from afternoon into the evening.
Side note: This started with Matt tripping and taking a slam, I’m not even joking. He moved quickly to get a photo across the street and stumbled taking a pretty hard fall but keeping his elbow pointed upwards protecting his camera from the impact of the ground, he’s obviously done this before.
I totally didn’t need to share that, but when Matt reads this - he will find it funny. Good job no serious injuries took place. As a fellow skateboarder I understand that once you take a good slam, it wakes you up and now you’re ready to take on whatever comes next. maybe it’s an adrenaline thing.
A quick iPhone snap as Matt shows the group his composition and photo idea.
It was like I was using my camera, with Matt’s eyes.
I could write 1000 more words on how Matt approached each scene as the afternoon went on with specific examples, but this email would be too long. It already probably is too long. But let me tell you, it was seriously impressive.
As we power walked around the city, in between the streets, finding pockets of light and composing images, it was fantastic to hear Matt think out loud. If he noticed something, he told us.
Another key message from Matt:
You should all have burnt the backs of your neck and have a pale forehead. We want to walk with the light, not into it.
The following images were taken as we chased the light. But let me assure you, they weren’t taken with my eyes, these were all call outs and suggestions from Matt. We, as a group just simply pressed our shutter buttons.
Throwing the kitchen sink!
One thing (among many) I found interesting throughout the day was something Matt repeatedly said:
“throw the kitchen sink at it!”
For those who might be confused - from a quick google, this means: to try everything you can in order to do something or to solve a problem.
Matt mentioned more than 3 or 4 times during the day that you need to commit to your opportunity. He even talked about some of the very best photographers and how they captured some very famous images.
The greatest images took hundreds of attempts, nobody lands a lucky photo with 1 press of the shutter, although I’m sure there are rare occasions.
At the start of the day Matt shared some of his best work, explaining that those photographs sometimes took years of repetition to land successfully. If he liked a scene or opportunity he did everything he possibly could to get the result, and I love that.
In my opinion this really opens up the opportunity for everyone to capture those incredible moments. It just takes a lot of practice & commitment.
Following on from Matts words of throwing the kitchen sink at it. The next day, I took one of my favourite ever street photographs.
Throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Full of excitement the next day and ready to implement more of what Matt had taught us, I saw this brilliant poster of hands. (we actually walked past this during the workshop and he mentioned it had potential).
I stood at this spot for 30 minutes waiting for something gesture related to happen. I can’t believe I came away with this photo in such a short period of time to be fair.
When this group of people in the photograph walked through my frame all pointing and gesturing with their hands, I repeated Matts words in my head; “throw the kitchen sink at it” and proceeded to take about 20 photographs as quick as I could to get this 1 frame that works.
You see, at the end of the workshop Matt made a big point to find out how many photos people had taken in the day, he expected us to have really given everything we could. He doesn't shy away from a high shutter count, he encourages street photographers to take LOTS of photos. I proudly boasted almost 2000 photographs from Matts workshop when usually after a full day in London I would go home with maybe 500-600 raw files.
I know I’ve got to up my game because the following day when I got that image above, I really did throw the kitchen sink at it. If I didn’t. maybe I could have missed the one frame that worked.
We finished the workshop around 6:30/7pm with a drink in the main square. We rested our feet and reflected on the day, I’m grateful to have spent the day not only with Matt but genuinely a great group of people.
As photographers, we can spend a lot of time alone, so use this as a reminder to get outside, walk with others and share the passion.
Finally, I cannot recommend a workshop with Matt Stuart enough. This was without a doubt one of the very best investments I’ve made into my photography.
Don’t waste your money on a new lens, invest it in your knowledge.
Keep an eye on Matts instagram/website for updates.
Thanks everyone for reading this unusually long blog post and especially thanks to Matt for the great workshop.
Mike
