Street Focus 53: The Anniversary Show with Steve Simon – Q&A and Street Challenge
Street Focus is one year old! Thank you all for your support, it's been an amazing year and I have lots of great shows coming up. This week I'm excited to have award winning photojournalist and documentary photographer Steve Simon join me to co-host the show! We delve into the differences between shooting street and photo journalism and much more.
Steve Simon has been passionate about documenting the beauty and drama of the human condition his entire photographic life. The author of five critically-acclaimed photography books with works in major museum collections worldwide, he is on the 
faculty of the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York.
Steve is as passionate about teaching as he is photography. His recently launched blog: thepassionatephotographer.com has info on workshops he teaches globally, including Street Photography Workshops, PhotoPlus Expo, Nikonians, Gulf Photo-Dubai, MacWorld & Nikon Mentor Series. He has been published and profiled in a variety of magazines: Photo District News, New York Times Magazine, Life, Harpers, People & Walrus among them. Corporate clients include Nikon, SanDisk, Sony Music & Apple. Among his honors: Art Director’s Club NY, Canadian News Photographer of The Year, Global Health Council, NPPA & PX3. His book THE PASSIONATE PHOTOGRAPHER was chosen one of Amazon’s Top Ten Arts and Photography books. He is working on a new book on Street Photography.
To learn more about Steve's October 2015 NYC workshop, click here. Follow him on Twitter and on FB.
And The Winners Are….
The winners will receive an ebook of their choice from our friends at www.Rockynook.com!
Picks of the Week:
Steve's pick: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment
Valerie's pick: Steve Simon: The Passionate Photographer
NEXT STREET CHALLENGE: You best street image shot since Street Focus started. The photograph has to be shot between Sept. 15, 2014 and Oct. 15, 2015. Deadline to enter your pic in the comment section below is October 15.
For some inspiration, here is a collection of images by Steve Simon:
Thank you Valerie and Steve!!!!!
All three well deserved. Congratulations.
Thanks for a good program.
Heres my contribution to this week contest:
From the streets of Suzhou China
Excellent episode, I enjoyed it a lot..
I’ll try to participate with an entry, it’s on my flickr page: https://flic.kr/p/vqFFfk
A recent photo from Madrid. How many entries can we post?
One more, also from Madrid. Check out the dog.
Valerie if only one entry is allowed just delete the one you like least 🙂
Thought bubbles – Varanasi
Hi Valerie, I haven’t missed an episode since you started but this is the first time posting. This was shot near the Korean War memorial in DC close to the reflecting pool. I call the “Will you?”
My best shot from the last 12 months, hope a train counts as “Street”!
I like the humour in this image Leon, Nicely done!
We trekked to down Philadelphia to see the Pope Parade in center city. This is my favorite shot of the night because of the contrast between the loving gestures of the Pope to the crowd and the stern look of the body guard on the back of the “Pope Mobile” and the police officer in the foreground.
Congratulations on your anniversary!
On the morning of April 25th 2015 an earthquake killed more than 8,000 people in Nepal. Many people lost everything.
Congratulations on year one of your POD Cast. Keep up the great work!
You asked for a photograph taken in the last year that was influenced by the show. My photograph has two things that I would not have done without the show helping me along.
First, I typically shot when it was a nice overcast day. Even light. Mother Nature’s light box. In the last year, I have discovered how wonderful the contrast of shadows and light can be.
Second, Wait… Wait for the photograph to unfold. I never stood still, I was always moving. I never took the time to let the photograph happen.
I had walked past the building many, many times not giving it a second look. A few weeks ago when walking past it I stopped… WOW, look at that light, look at those shadows. All that was missing was someone in the frame.
I sat… Not my style… I sat and waited… It was hard for me… For more than 20 minutes I sat… Then finally that single person to walked in the correct spot. Bingo!
Thanks so much Valerie and friends
Monty Montgomery
Well done – worth the wait.
Nice lines, repeating shapes and contrast. The wait paid off strikingly.
I felt fortunate to capture this roving gang of wheeli-ers in Baltimore:
I would like to submit this photo to the October competition (personal best image). This is a photo of a storyteller from North Carolina that entertained the crowd of people that gathered before they took a train ride.
This is my best and favourite image from the past 12 months. It was taken in the Jewish Quarter during one of our workshops. I hope you like it as much as I do 😉
Great Podcast thank you! My faviourate pic this year is this…. taken on a work trip to London, paddington station, it always blows my mind how busy the cities are compared to my quiet corner of Wales!
Great show as always Valerie! Can’t believe you have been doing the show a year now – I really love it! Had to listen to the Alastair Arthur episode again before I went to London last weekend – when I took this shot. Keep up the good work!
Hey Valerie, congratulations Street Focus is my favourite podcast
Anton, very nice image. It makes one wonder what’s in the darkness below and the contrast reinforces that question.
Love the podcast Valerie! Can’t believe it’s already been a year! My favorite photo I took in the past year is this panorama of the “MIT Alps” during the brutal winter we had in Boston in February 2015. This was a parking lot near MIT where they were dumping all the excess snow. I couldn’t fit the whole thing in one frame so I had to stitch it together. You can get a sense of scale by the woman taking a selfie on top of the mound, the bobcat snowplow in the right of the frame, as well as the buildings in the background. Looking forward to another year of Street Focus and more street photography for me!
Congrarulations on a great podcast. This one was shot in downtown Salt Lake City this summer. I found it interesting how everyone is looking at their phones.
Happy anniversary! I enjoy the show, it makes my commute something to look forward to. I took this at about lunchtime when the light streams down Melbourne’s lane ways.
As always brilliant podcast Valerie. Your’s was the 1st podcast I started to listen too and I look forward to it every week. I’m especially enjoying the street tips episodes.
Here is my entry for this week’s photo competition and is my favourite photo that I have captured recently. This is captured near Paddington station, London and is from Paddington Basin. As soon as I saw the backdrop I knew this would produce a great bnw photo. All I needed to wait for was the right subject. I hope you like it
Joyeux anniversaire. Really enjoy your podcast Valerie. Hope you enjoy this and all the other posts for your 1st anniversary show.
Happy anniversary, Valerie. Great episode, Steve Simon is one of my favourite photographers – because of him I am now using back-button focus 🙂
Here is my entry for the street challenge, called “Golden Autumn”.
Very nice shot. That’s how I want to grow old – walking with my sweetie.
Oh this warms the cockles of my heart.
Terrific shot Thomas. Just a perfect moment captured beautifully
Thank you Thomas! Please contact me at your earliest convenience: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/contact/
Wow, it’s been a year already? Congrats!
Congratulations on a great year of street photography talk. Keep up the good work.
Well spotted. I love the 3x3s
A wonderful image Robert, nicely seen and captured 😉
Brilliant photo Robert. Love the composition with the 3 lots of 3 people and all those wonderful shadows
Thank you Robert! Please contact me at your earliest convenience: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/contact/
Valerie, congratulations on your one year anniversary. You are such great inspiration for me.
Here is my submission for Street Challenge #53. B&W is, by far, my preference, however, in this image color makes the picture. I call it “Yellow Pants”.
Congratulations. Love the podcast and the interesting perspectives you present. Here’s my submission for the anniversary challenge. I call it “Crazy ladies in Nashville (TN)”.
HOW TO USE A SELFIESTICK
The girls in the Photo just went crazy with their selfiestick.
From Times Square, New York
Congratulation with the one year birthday for Street Focus. I am listening to the show every week, when I take my bicycle the 7 kilometers to Work with my earplugs in my ears.
HOW TO USE A SELFIESTICK. The girls on the Photo just went crazy with their selfiestick. From New York City, Times Square
Thanks a lot Valerie for this wonderful year. I share with you all this shot made 26/04/2015.
Boston2015
interesting
Man walking by a closed delivery entrance of a cinema in Vienna/Austria from August 2015!
Congratulations on the first year, looking forward to many more episodes.
Three locals in Chester UK enjoying a smoke.
Here is my greatest shot. It was taken on the same day i listened to the first streetfocus-epsiode (the one with Marius Vieth). It was really inspiring. Thanks a lot for that and all the other episodes full of inspiration and information.
Such a fantastic street photo. Love the PoV and the long shadow created by the couple walking through your shot
Valerie, I love your work and podcast. Here is a photo I took last week in San Francisco during an Eric Kim workshop.
Congratulations on your podcast anniversary Valerie! I hereby submit one of my favorites I’ve taken in Chicago this past July entitled ‘Popcorn angels dream’ a couple of weeks after the Out of Chicago Photography Conference. Best wishes and looking forward to many more years of Street Focus podcasts.
Congratulations with the anniversary!. SF is the highlight of the week during my commuting. Here’s my contribution, titled “Street talk”.
At bird level. April 2015
Thanks for making Thursday my favourite day of the week, Valérie! The photo is “Market Day: Paris”, taken very recently. 🙂
LOVE THIS!
Thanks very much, Anntoinette.
Hi Judy! Thank you 🙂 Please contact me at your earliest convenience: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/contact/
Thanks very much for your kind words about this photo, Valerie. As usual, I learned a lot by listening to the critique!
Felicitation et merci pour un podcast vraiment très bien executer. J’ai commencé récemment la “Street Photography” et tu me garde motivé. Ma contribution, une photo prise cette été dans le sud de la France.
ps: comment es-ce-que l’on dit Street Photography en Francais?
Street Photography ou Photo de Rue… 🙂 Merci Frederic!
Love the show Valerie! Here’s my submission from this past Summer. A chalk artist from a local street fair.
Valerie, thank you for your podcast. The anniversary podcast was one of the best. Here is my photo for this week’s contest – taken near the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis. Street Challenge Week #53
Street challenge #53. Well, I am not sure if this falls under the category streetphoto May be beachphoto???… Elba, Italy, Summer 2015, Fuji X100s
Love the shadow here Jan. A nice moment captured 😉
Congratulations one year. I have been trying to catch up with all your podcasts since I did not start until August. Here is my entry taken last August after listening to about 4 of your earlier podcasts. I am looking forward to meeting you in May in Paris.
Félicitations! Je viens de vous trouver pendant l’été. Bonne chance avec la deuxième année du
podcast.
I just found your podcast during the summer and am still trying to catch up with previous episodes. For the contest, here is a lady I spotted on a trip to India in February 2015.
1st Birthday – congratulations Valerie, I’ve certainly enjoyed, and appreciated, your podcasts over the past year.
Here’s my entry – a ‘free-runner’ performing his acrobatics on Waterloo Bridge, London – seen as I was on my way home one evening last autumn. Hope you like it!
Definitely a decisive moment Nicely done Justin 😉
“A woman who mistook her friend for a bicycle”. This is a photo I took last month just near my home in Seattle. I hope you’ll enjoy its imaginative character and its surreal narrative. Street challenge #53.
“A bearded woman who mistook her friend for a bicycle”. This is a photo I took last month just near my home in Seattle. I hope you’ll enjoy its surreal narrative. Street challenge #53.
I love the beard on your lady on the left a nice find Karolina 😉
Thank you Teresa 🙂
Congratulations on 1 year! I think this is my best street image for the year. It was taken in Central Park, New York in January using my Contax G1 on Tri-X 35mm film.
Beautiful backdrop and image David 😉
Thanks Teresa!
You can feel the mood
This feels like a timeless classic David. Love the mood and composition with the couple in the distance against the close up aspect of the man in front
Congratulations and keep up the inspirational work! Here’s a shot from a chalk walk at a local Summer festival.
Congratulations Valerie! I do always enjoy the show and am looking forward to the next episode. I can’t decide on “the best one”, but i definitely like this one from Easter Sunday 2015 in New York, Central Park.
Félicitations !! Et merci !
Beautiful shot. Love the minimalistic style and those wonderful silhouettes
Thank you!
Congratulations on the one year anniversary! I’m a big fan of your show and always learn something each week. One day in the future i’d love to join one of your photo workshops. Looking at the submissions thus far it is clear that street photography as a so called category of photography has so many different styles within it. It always amazes me the different perspectives and stories that people can tell in a single photo. I myself am playing with reflections at the moment so have added one of my most recent. I look forward to another year of shows 🙂
Train station of Saint Quentin en Yvelines
Alors un grand et heureux joyeux anniversaire! Que la passion de la photographie ne nous quitte jamais!!!
Here is a shoot I’ve made in Fredericton, Canada. I walked into the street looking for some good stuff to shoot, and then this boy came and never stop to follow me, so I asked him if I can capture his attitude, but he just think about it during a couple of second, and he gave me a “No…” So I asked if I just can get a shoot of his hand with his pop-corn bag, and then he say “OK! :)” So…I get the shoot!
Congratulation with the one year birthday of your podcast, looking forward to many more years of Street Focus. Here is my image shot in Montreal last August.
Merci,
Taken in June 2015 in NYC…The more I looked at him the deeper he was going into it. ” Deep” it’s the name.
Mannequins Judging.
Entries are now closed, thank you for participating!
Thank you all for the kind comments. I am touched! This has been a great adventure and I look forward to many more exciting episodes. THANK YOU for listening!!!