This was a half day workshop starting at 12pm and going on until 5pm, myself and the other 4 participants met Paul outside the Brighton train station entrance, I didn’t know what Paul looked like but I found myself looking out for someone with a big yellow Zippy head (you’ll understand what I mean if you’ve seen his Twitter avatar).

The day started with Paul taking is to a part of Brighton that I hadn’t been to before that he thought would be quiet so we could get warmed up taking “non peopled” shots. The area was a square in front of St Bartholomew’s Church which actually turned out to be a lot busier than he expected. It was a great place to take shots both with and without people, you have the church, graffiti, a table tennis table and alley ways. After giving some us some pointers we were sent off to take some pictures without people and get warmed up.

Brighton Street Photography Workshop

Brighton Street Photography Workshop

Brighton Street Photography Workshop

Brighton Street Photography Workshop

After spending some time in the square we moved on to London Road, walking up and down it and into the market to take some people pictures this time, Brighton is full of interesting people and colourful backdrops, a great place for street photography. It was during this time I realised there was something wrong with my lens, the front barrel was all loose, I hadn’t brought another lens with me so I had no choice but to carry on and hope it didn’t affect the photos.

Following our time on London Road we walked back towards the Laines to take some photos in the more crowded area. We then picked up a late lunch from a local Tesco to eat in Pavilion Gardens and chat about street photography and more tips.

After lunch we walked to North Street for more photos before it was time for me to leave. I learnt some useful tips from Paul and found the workshop very useful, I’m glad I did it. I was a bit worried that none of the photos would come out because of my lens, but there seems to have been no ill effects. As is often the case when you go out with a group I didn’t take any photos that I think are particularly good, but I thought I’d share some anyway.

Brighton Street Photography Images

All images shot with my Leica M6 TTL and Fujifilm Superia 400 colour negative film shot at EI 800, developed by AG Photo Lab and scanned on my Epson V550 with Silverfast 8.

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Fomapan 400 Images

All images taken with Leica M6 TTL and Voigtlander 35mm Color Skopar and developed in Kodak XTOL.

Portobello Road, London

London

London

London

London

London

London South Bank

London, South Bank

My Gear

I didn’t want to take loads of gear, I wanted to use just one camera and one lens. I took with me my Leica M6 TTL with Voigtlander 35mm Color Skopar f2.5, 5 rolls of Fujifilm Superia 400 and my Weston Euromaster lightmeter. I didn’t bother taking a bag, just loaded up my pockets.

The Street Photography Workshop

The workshop started at 10am with the talk that Matt gave at the Photography Show, despite having heard it already it was still interesting to hear again offering a refresher on Matt’s techniques. A lot of courses (not just photography) often spend a lot of time going over the basics this can be quite dull and usually unnecessary, luckily there was none of this. Beyond mentioning the need for fast shutter speeds, there weren’t any boring explanations of aperture, iso etc nor was there any talk of gear. Following the talk we were split into 2 groups there were about 20 of us in attendance so there were 10 in each group. There were 2 assignments, “following” and “fishing”, each group was given one of these assignments for the morning and would swap over for the afternoon.

Following

The group I was in was given the “Following” assignment, for this we were each given a map with a route marked on it and told to go out separately and follow the route taking photographs as we go along. What I liked about this was that we weren’t all going to go out as a big group. Firstly big groups stick out like sore thumbs, which isn’t ideal for street photography and secondly groups of people tend to spend more time chatting than taking pictures.

I headed out at just after 11am and was told to be back by 1pm giving me just under 2 hours to walk the loop. The route took me along Oxford Street, down New Bond Street to Piccadilly, along to Regent Street back to Oxford Street. I tend to walk quite quickly so I walked the loop twice before heading back. I should try to walk a bit slower as I probably miss quite a lot while walking so fast. I shot roughly a roll and a half of film during that time. Back in the training room everybody was selecting 5 of their best images from the assignment and handing over their memory cards to have the images transferred for the review later in the day. I obviously couldn’t do this as I was the only one apart from Matt shooting film.

Fishing

After lunch we headed out for the afternoon session my group were led out by Matt and each dropped off at various spots along Oxford Street to “Fish” for photos. This felt a bit unnatural to me I like to walk and keep moving, maybe stopping for a little while if I see a good background. Staying in one place for an extended amount of time was a new experience for me. I was placed at a busy junction with a lot of foot traffic, including some interesting characters. Interesting characters alone a good street photograph does not make though. I was getting plenty of photos, but because it was so busy it was difficult to isolate individuals and place them with interesting backgrounds. Matt would pop around to each of us offering tips, such as where to place ourselves, how to go unnoticed and even pointing out possibly interesting scenarios. I will definitely try fishing again, but in a different location maybe.

Image Review

After the afternoon assignment had finished and we got back to base everyone gave in their memory cards again to have their selected images copied over for review. I could have brought my x100s for the workshop instead of the Leica, but the M6 is my street photography camera now and I didn’t want to use anything else so I chose to forgo the image review. Even though I couldn’t have my images reviewed it was still a very interesting part of the day. Matt showed each persons images on a projector, giving a brief critique of each image, what was good, what was bad etc. I actually learnt a lot from this despite not having my own images reviewed, Matt showed us why a perfectly acceptable image may not be a particularly good street photograph.

Results

Unfortunately I didn’t get any good photos from the day, but this is to be expected, street photography is hard and you cannot expect good photos every time you go out. I also think that my notion of what makes a good street image has changed since the workshop. Images that I previously would have considered quite good I now realize aren’t so good after all. The only reason I have added any photos from the day at all is to show that I did take some, not that I think they are any good. I will not be sharing any of these images on social media at all.

Street Photography Workshop – Oxford Street, London

Street Photography Workshop

Final Thoughts

Overall I found the street photography workshop to be excellent. If I have one criticism though it’s that I think there were too many participants meaning there wasn’t enough time for much one on one interaction with Matt. I think for a workshop such as this 10 would have been more appropriate. Matt is an excellent street photographer and a great teacher, I hope to take what I have learnt from him and put it into practice in my future street photography.

It is true that there is little barrier to entry into street photography, but that cannot be the only reason that people choose to do it. For myself there are a number of reasons why I started street photography, firstly I was already interested in photography, I’d tried different styles like landscapes and macro, but none of them interested me. When I discovered street photography, I was blown away, here was something that I could do, it mixed well with my love of walking city streets, photography and people. Now, I can’t draw or paint or play music, but I can pick up my camera, allowing me some form of artistic expression, can you call what I do art? Probably not, but it’s art to me.

I freely admit I’m not a great photographer, street or otherwise, but why shouldn’t I be able to share my images anyway. Who decides who’s good enough that they’re allowed to share their images anyway? If I don’t share my images how will I get feedback or know if I’m getting better? I don’t think anybody sets out to make bad street photography, I believe we are all striving to be better photographers and that takes time for some of us. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born with artistic talent and most us will never attain it, I’ll probably never be a great street photographer, but I still want to try. Just because we don’t have the talent does that mean we aren’t allowed to pursue it anyway? This isn’t just a street photography thing, this applies to anything, do we give something up just because we don’t have the talent that some others do? I don’t think so, I am going to continue to do what I love even if I don’t have the talent for it.

Michael is right there is a lot of bad street photography out there and I am as guilty as anyone of adding to that mass, but how do we turn that bad street photography into good street photography? Maybe the good street photographers out there should be offering to mentor some of the bad ones, I would love for someone to mentor me and help me improve and I am sure there are lots of other people out there who would like this too. You never know some of these bad street photographers may turn out to be the next Henri Cartier-Bresson or Joel Meyerowitz. We should be supporting our fellow street photographers, not just with likes but with genuine support, like Michael says buy a book from a peer. I personally do buy a lot of books and although I do have some of the classics like The Americans, I also have some from lesser known current street photographers too. Only through support and education can we make change, I love street photography and I want to see it thrive, if you think my photographs suck, tell me, but tell me why they suck, what can I do so that they don’t suck anymore?

Sorry Michael, if I’ve missed the point of your article completely, I am more than happy for you to put me straight.

Finally please check out Michael’s website if you haven’t already, his work is excellent, maybe even buy one of his books. You can also follow Michael on twitter.

Recently I’d been feeling quite down and uninspired with my photography, I’d developed roll after roll of rubbish and was just a bit fed up with it all. I think the main reason for this is that a few months ago I finished a contract in Canary Wharf and started a new one in a small town outside of London and street photography opportunities have been limited. Every lunch time I go out with my camera, just as I did in London but invariably go back to the office without even releasing the shutter. I was telling my wife about it a couple of weeks ago and she suggested that I have a day in London on the Saturday as the kids were at a friends Birthday party anyway.

On the Saturday morning I had breakfast in a local cafe with my wife, to fuel me up for the day ahead. When we got there some friends of ours were already there, I told them what I had planned for the day and my friend said “You know Pride is on today?”. No I didn’t, I had no idea, it not being something I particularly keep up with. I’ve never been to a Pride event before, not for any reason other than it not really being aimed at my demographic. Obviously I fully support LGBT rights, not actively I suppose, I’ve never been on a march or anything, but in spirit I do. I had originally planned to have a look around Shoreditch as I’d heard and briefly seen that it would be a good place for a spot of street photography. That changed when I heard Pride was on, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity for photography.

Normally when I go out to do some photography I take my Think Tank Retrospective bag a selection of cameras, lenses and other bits and pieces that weigh a ton. This time however I decided to leave the bag at home and just take my Leica M6 TTL, Voigtlander 35mm f2.5, Weston Euromaster lightmeter and a Japan Camera Hunter half case filled with film.

Heading out to my first Pride

I got the train into London Victoria, then the tube to Green Park and then walked to Regent Street. I got there about 13:30, I think the parade started at 13:00 and the streets were lined with thousands of people. As soon as I got there I knew it was going to be a good day, there was a great atmosphere, with young, old, gay and straight together for a good time.

Regent Street, London

Regent Street, London

I couldn’t see much of the parade as it was so busy, most of my photos of it are shot either over the top or around other peoples heads. I’ve read somewhere that when going to events such as this you should turn around and look to the edges of the crowd for more interesting street photos, so this is what I did. I don’t have many images of the parade itself as I decided to concentrate on the crowd instead. My camera was already loaded with a half exposed roll of Kodak Tri-x which I blew through in a matter of minutes. This is when I realised I’d made a mistake, my film case was mostly filled with black and white film and a day like this called for colour film. I had 2 rolls of Portra 400 with me, but I knew this wouldn’t be enough for a whole days shooting. I loaded a roll of Portra into the camera and continued to photograph the crowd aware that the film wouldn’t last long. I’d read on the Pride in London website that there were stages for music setup in the streets of Soho and I knew Calumet had a shop that sold film in Wardour Street, so after shooting a roll and a half in Regent Street I headed for Soho.

Regent Street, London

Soho, London

I found Calumet and purchased 5 rolls of Portra 400 from them at what I think is one of the cheapest prices around for Portra. With my pockets filled with film I headed back out into Soho, where in my opinion the party was really happening and where I spent the next 3 or 4 hours.

Soho, London

Soho, London

There was a great party atmospherein Soho especially along Old Compton Street, with music playing from the bars and people dancing in the street. Everywhere I looked there was someone interesting to photograph and nobody seemed to mind, I think this gave me the confidence to get closer than I normally would. I’m still trying to get over the uncomfortable feeling of taking a strangers picture up close, but this experience has helped a lot.

Soho, London

Soho, London

I spent the rest of the day in Soho, leaving for home about 7pm, I would have stayed longer but I had to get home. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, I might even go to Brighton Pride in August too. The photos I took during the day may not be the greatest street photos ever taken but, at least I have a few from the day that I like. I took more pictures that I liked in that one day than in the last 3 months combined.

Soho, London

Soho, London

Soho, London

Soho, London

All images were shot with a Leica M6 TTL and Voigtlander 35mm Color Skopar f2.5 loaded with Kodak Portra 400@1600. The film was processed by AG Photolab and scanned by me with the Epson V550. Click here for the full gallery.