Street

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Street photography is the graphic documentation and collection of unique moments from the urban world around us. The moment and the actors who interact in the scene will never repeat. In landscape photography, for example, much of the scene is static and only the light and weather conditions change significantly. In street photography, the weather conditions and light are variables too, but by far the biggest variable is the ever-changing actors and props in the scene. The actors come and go and interact with their surroundings in different ways, adding dynamism to the picture. The uniqueness of the final picture is not only determined by the situation itself, but also how you as photographer interact with the scene; literally, how you see the unfolding situation. The photographer is also an actor in the scene. You need to get in close.

Whenever you go out in the street, there are opportunities for making pictures. The biggest obstacle to doing this is a big, bulky camera and an array of different lenses. Carrying too much gear is not a good idea. Bring only a single body with a fixed-focal lens or perhaps a moderate zoom, and leave everything else at home. My favorite lens for street photo gives me an effective focal length of 24mm to 120mm. Many of the true masterpieces in street photography are shot with range finder-type cameras with a single lens, say 35mm to 50mm ...

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