“The photo was taken in Post Alley, which runs under the Pike Place Market in Seattle. It was not a grab shot. I composed the photo and waited for people to come by and start climbing the stairs. The picture was shot with a Leica M6 and 35mm f2 Summicron lens on Tri-X film. If memory serves, I set the shutter speed for 125th of a second in order to get some slight blur in the man's leg to illustrate motion. Using a Lecia, which shows a larger field of view than the actual image area, gave me a brief instant to see the subject coming into the frame before I pushed the shutter. The camera also has almost no shutter lag. Still, I sat there and shot two rolls of film of people starting to climb the stairs before getting the shot I wanted. Most people thought I was taking a picture of the poster on the left.”
“Walking through the streets / lanes of Venice this year I set my Fuji X-E1 to 1/30th sec at f6.4 using my 18-55mm Fujinon lens set to 18mm focal length. With the flash set to slow and walking at a steady pace, as people passed me. I held the camera above my head and angle down slightly. This young lady was walking passed me and I fired the flash off.”
See more of Paul Griffith's work on his blog and on G+.
I'm happy to send Paul and Don each a photography book , compliments of our friends at Rocky Nook Publishing.
Q&A Segment:
This week I answer questions sent by Don Conrad and Michael Jolliffe about photographing children in the streets and how to get a spontaneous reaction from your subjects in street photography.
Interesting video clip by Thomas Leuthard to illustrate the point in question #2.
New Street Challenge: HUMOR!
Capturing humor in a fraction of a second may be the most difficult challenge in street photography. Also we all have our own definition of humor and it varies greatly from one culture to another…
I invite you to go out and shoot some motion in the streets over the next couple of weeks, then upload your best shot in the comment section below. The contest ends on November 27.
Posts are moderated to prevent spam so your image may not show up right away. I will pick my favorite before the next Q&A episode, and post the image on the show notes that week.
Tips for shooting humor in street photography: I invite to read an article I recently wrote for dPS (Digital Photography School) Using Humor In Street Photography.
I urge you to seek inspiration by looking at the work of great photographers such as Martin Parr and Elliott Erwitt
Visit our growing Street Focus community on Google+
The 2015 photo workshops are filling up quickly!! In Paris in January, May , September and October, Rome in April. Weekend workshops added in the US as well. I hope to meet some of you in 2015!
Samples of humor in the streets for more inspiration. The images below are the Copyrighted by Valerie Jardin.
I'm a photographer, strategist, and former combat photojournalist with decades of experience in media and content creation. I help creatives thrive through storytelling, technology, and smart automation.
