I'm working on a new collection, I would
love to find out what you think.
Thank you Mr Holden.
Very very nice actually.
Surprising.
Fun fact, only one of them
was actually taken by me.
Which one?
Which of these was taken by you?
Well, of all people you should be able to
tell if you know your photographers.
No artist ever found their
voice by playing it safe.
And regardless of what you might see from
the outside, the
photographers you look up
to did not find their voice overnight the
first day they started taking photos.
Every photographer that you admire
started in the exact
same position as you.
Just a person with a camera
with a want to make photos.
When you give yourself time to indulge
and practice
photography, you'll find yourself
capturing all kinds of subjects,
especially within street photography.
People, street features, dogs,
cityscapes, whatever it might be.
It can be tempting to see an image and
think, this is pleasing,
this has a nice aesthetic.
But does it do
anything for you as a viewer?
Or is it just a pretty picture?
Often these images will
focus on just a single subject.
And it could be something as
simple as an inanimate object.
So something like a sign, the edge of a
car or a fuel station.
You know, the usual suspects.
These images are a pleasure to look at
and that's often good
enough to make it a nice
image.
Sometimes it feels like you could go to
that same location,
shoot that same subject at
that same time of day and
recreate a near identical image.
And when that's the case, it sort of
feels like anyone could
have taken that photo.
My biggest problem right now is probably
being a bit too shutter
happy when it comes to like
stylish characters or people who seem to
be kind of dressed loudly
or have a loud personality.
And sure these characters are kind of
like shiny objects and
maybe a grey kind of boring
street scene.
But on their own, they do not create an
interesting image and it's
very important to remember
this.
This one.
This was taken by a magnum photographer.
Okay, okay, yes,
extra points for the name.
Due to the subject matter and the colour
palette, I'm going to say Martin Parr.
Correct, Martin Parr.
But actually he took the other photo.
That one there is mine.
What?
Impossible.
This was Parr.
This was you.
Being inspired by other photographers is
good, but this can
become a problem if we do not
focus on finding our own perspective.
When you're starting out, imitation can
be a great way to learn.
We see the photographers, filmmakers and
other artists that we
love and we want to recreate
that same feeling that
they've created in their work.
This can only take us so far though and
it's quite a short distance.
We need to find our voice in our work to
then make it meaningful for ourselves.
When you reflect on your photography,
certainly when I reflect
on mine, you can feel that
street photography is a
celebration of the everyday.
It's the ability to see the unique and
beautiful moments in the
repetitive mundanity of modern
life.
I will never apologise for sharing more
clips from this video,
potentially the most valuable
video on street
photography I have ever seen.
People in the city now are so used to
everyone with cameras, be
they cell phones or cameras.
I mean it's just part of our existence so
I think if you're just starting out, just
know that if your body language is good
and you have a smile on
your face and your intentions
are good, it's not that hard.
But it took me a long time
to get over that shyness.
There's a writer, Rebecca Solnit, and she
has a wonderful quote
which says, "The magic
of the street is the meeting of the
errand and the epiphany."
So I think that kind of nicely sums up
street photography so if
we're going on an errand,
we'll see if we have any epiphanies.
There are countless quotes from Melissa
in this video and each
of these have had a bigger
impact on my street photography than any
piece of gear or book that I've bought.
The lessons in persistence and practice
as well as the ability to
notice the minute details.
Personally I enjoy
humour in street photography.
I enjoy poking fun at things and kind of
having observational humour
baked into my photography.
When I'm looking for moments on the
street, humour feels
like that perfect sweet spot
of the effect I want for my images.
It's inoffensive to the subject, it's fun
for me as a
photographer and it's enjoyable
for viewers of the photos no matter if
they see it tomorrow
or in two years time.
And of course tender
moments are great too.
Often we can see ourselves
reflected in these images.
You can put yourself in their shoes and
often you think of
someone else in your life when
you look at them.
It's part of the reason why love songs
and romance is such a
popular thing in music.
It's because it's a universal experience
that anyone can relate to.
In these moments, whether they're
humorous or they're
tender, these are the ones that
are hard to repeat.
These images are going to have a much
more lasting effect
and they're not something
that anyone else with a camera can
instantly repeat because
you captured a specific moment
between two people.
In our images, a funny or a tender moment
can be great but they can be even better
when they're paired nicely
with a supporting subject.
Ah, now this.
I like this.
Oh yeah, it's okay, I guess.
No no no, this is promising.
This is a good sign.
I don't know, it feels a
bit generic, I don't know.
No no no, shhhh.
Shhhh.
This is my idea of a very nice print.
Collecting a variety of subjects can be
useful, so long as you pay
attention to and organise
what you are collecting.
For example, I
photographed dogs a lot in the past.
And more recently, I
found an interest in couples.
I found an interest in obstructed
subjects and I found an
interest in people with their
hands behind their backs.
And since noticing these trends in my
photography, which I'm naturally
capturing when I'm on
the street, I'm starting to organise
these things and sort
of keep a mental note of,
oh I should look out
for more shots like that.
I like this.
More of this would be
interesting if it was done this way.
And who knows, in years to come, these
could just be useless photos.
But they could also turn into something
quite interesting if done
properly and done consistently.
I briefly mentioned before the importance
of a supporting subject.
I want to show you one
example here to make sense of this.
This is a crop of a full image.
If we have this main subject occupying
our frame, sure this can
be slightly interesting.
Again, I like the obstructed subject.
We can see they're poking their head in
through a window and
they're holding a cigarette
in one of their hands.
We can interpret a few things here.
Who are they listening to
or who are they speaking to?
And what is this building that they're
poking their head into?
When I reveal the full
frame, you can see this cross.
This cross becomes
our supporting subject.
This reveals that this
building is in fact a church.
Now we have the obstructed subject, their
activity and the
context with the cross showing
us that the building is a church.
Sure, they're probably just not allowed
to smoke inside or
they're too polite to smoke
inside even if they're allowed to.
But the kind of half in, half out
position, along with
hiding their smoking or taking
it outside of a religious building, just
adds like another layer
to that image and it helps
create a story for
the viewer to interpret.
Which makes this image a lot more
interesting than many
images I've shot of just a single
subject. It's not an amazing image, I know, but it
helps us kind of see
the difference between
just a single subject not doing much and
then something with a
little bit more story there
for us to then read into.
This topic of the supporting subject has
been covered in much
more detail in this month's
membership video, which you can find in
the description below this video.
I share bonus videos every month so
follow the link to find out more.
You call this a supporting subject?
I mean, it's an okay example, isn't it?
This is a supporting subject.
What the, where did he come from?
It's called mitosis.
Okay, well, while you're doing that, you
should probably give
this a watch as well.
Both of you, give us a
couple of views, yeah?
And subscribe while you're over there.