Lessons from Street Photography

I love Street Photography, I love taking photos on streets though I am only an amateur. In fact, street photography does not require too much knowledge about this kind of art and you also don't need to care much on arrangement or light. The most important thing in street photography is Emotions. With any kind of camera, even point-and-shoot camera, you just go out and capture emotions on the street as they're in natural state.

At first, I thought that I have to capture people's faces because it's where emotions are expressed most clearly. But, you know, it's not easy to come closely without making people to lose their natural emotions especially in Asian countries like Vietnam. Although taking photos at close range is best in street photography because you can capture every single tiny emotions, I still realized that emotions are expressed through every parts of body, not only face. Even a person turning back to you, you can still capture his emotions through their movements, gait,... And not only human, even a tree can also reflect emotions around. Once I went out and took photos in bad weather, I noticed that not only people out there were in hurry through the head wind to come back home as soon as possible but also trees were oscillating to follow the wind for surviving. It's really incredible!

So the first lesson here is to capture others' emotions, to understand others' feel, you must have precise eyes which can grasp every single tiny behaviors from every parts, every sides, even what you usually think they don't have any emotion at all.

When I started street photographing, I usually went out and tried to find moments of emotions. Once, I kept walking until I was too tired and decided to take a rest in a small park. It's amazing that I took more photos there than all photos I had took before combined while walking on the streets. I realized that when walking and paying too much attention, I missed more great moments than I thought. Just choose a good place, a crowed corner, a park, a school gates,...you will see emotions are everywhere and easily to notice. I think it's serene state helps me to "see" others' feel around rather than walking everywhere and seeking them.

The second lesson I can say is emotions are everywhere around you, you don't need to seek for them, just a little bit sensitive to notice moments of changes and you will see a life full of emotions.

One thing I realized when sitting in a park and taking photos of people around is I had done this before but I didn't understand it. When I was sad, I usually went out to find a place where I could look people around then try to guess what they are thinking, what made them smile, what made them cry,...I thought I did that just to forget my sadness but it's more than that. I saw many great moments of emotions but I also failed to capture it. It's exactly the same as you fail to take a big chance although you know it's there.

The third lesson is you must keep your your sense working all the time and make it become your natural intuition if you want to capture great moments of emotions.

If you can do these three lessons well, undoubtedly you will be successful, successful not only in street photography but also in life.