Issue 178 of the SNYC Newsletter
Welcome everyone! I do hope that you are shooting and enjoying the weather wherever you are. I’ve been shooting so much lately that I’m having difficulty spending time looking at what I’ve taken. And shooting on rainy days.
All of the photos in this issue were taken during a photowalk in Midtown with Street Badass on 22 April 2023. It was lots of fun and it allowed me the possibility of just focusing on shooting. This is something that doesn’t come so easily when I’m leading a workshop.
Also, all the photos in this newsletter are the monochrome jpgs out of camera with minor adjustments using the Fuji X Weekly film recipe for Tri-X. I am simplifying the shooting process these days. And oh, I’m shooting straight Auto mode as well!
Welcome to all the new subscribers and thank you to everyone for reading the newsletter and taking my workshops. It’s such a pleasure to meet everyone from around the world and even those who are in the neighborhood.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Let’s dialogue about street photography.
As always, Happy Shooting!
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust
I write this newsletter to share my thoughts & experiences on street photography. I hope that you find it of use in your journey. If you are able to, you can support me by buying me a coffee. No sweat if you’re unable to contribute. The newsletter is free for all. Thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee!!! Maybe one day we’ll be able to have a coffee in person. Mucho love.
Point & Shoot
In the early days of photography, many photographers studied art. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, André Kertsz and Saul Leiter to name a few. Their were also the artists that complained that photographers were just too lazy to go to art school.
Nowadays it seems that everyone can operate a camera ranging from a mobile phone and up. If you study photography now, 99% of all classes concentrate on the technology. Few courses offer methods to go beyond the technology and provide creative methods to shoot.
I am unschooled in art and photography. I am self-taught. My approach to photography has always been to use the camera as a tool. To get beyond the technology.
Digital cameras are full of bells and whistles. Many of them that we won’t necessarily use. And some cameras are very difficult to navigate the menus and find what you’re looking for. Film cameras are pretty basic.
I’ve gotten used to my camera and I can usually get it to do what I want it to do so I can concentrate on observing and shooting. Point and Shoot! That’s the name of the game in street photography.
Shooting from the hip or lifting and shooting are my 2 favorite methods of shooting. In other words, not using the LCD or the viewfinder. It’s fun!
Chance is an important aspect of shooting street photography for me. I want to be in the moment and clicking what I see. To feel like the camera is an extension of me. That I no longer need to look through the camera. I am the camera.
Previewing photos that I’ve taken are kept to a minimum. First of the day I check settings and take a few test shots to check exposure. After that I only preview if the light has changed. And I am often surprised when I later look at my photos and see the ones that I missed and the ones that I captured.
I feel that there’s too much emphasis on skipping steps in the process and going from pressing the shutter to posting on social media.
The art of shooting is for me, one part of a process that I concentrate on. It is very enjoyable for me. All other parts of the process such as deleting, editing etc. come after the day of shooting.
I do shoot with a few instant film cameras and that is a very different style of shooting. And it’s fun. But for digital photography I treat it in a similar fashion to shooting film, point and shoot. And be surprised later. Maybe the world of all things digital has made us less patient about the whole process.
As always, your comments are always welcome. It’s nice to have a dialogue about photography and share our experiences.
It’s way more important to know how to take a picture than to use a camera.
Olivia Bee
Biweekly Photo Assignment -Body Parts
I’m obsessed with capturing photos of legs. This assignment is about body parts as the subject. Probably without showing the entire person. Yes, it’s always about being creative.
This is a voluntary assignment if you want to take part. You can submit your photos to the Facebook group for Shoot New York City and also on Instagram tag @shootnewyorkcity. If you're not a member of the Facebook group yet, all you have to do is request to join.
The app is a very cool way to read this and many other newsletters at your leisure. The archive of the Shoot New York City newsletter is available for the issues published on Substack. Thanks for subscribing and reading.
Further Viewing
I just stumbled upon this video and this creator. I really like his advice.
Upcoming Workshops
Workshops are a maximum of 5 people Workshops are only scheduled on weekend days. If you would like to have a weekday workshop or a workshop in other areas of NYC, let me know with some lead time and I’ll see if others want to also attend it. Otherwise I continue to provide private workshops on weekdays and in other neighborhoods.
Coney Island Workshop is on Monday 29 May, Memorial day. This is always a great beginning to the season.
For those who haven't done a workshop or photo tour with me in the past I have a number of reviews on my website and also on TripAdvisor! Workshops are both for people who live here and also travelers, as are photo tours.
Photo tours are one-on-one and arranged on an individual basis for both neighborhood and photographic style and can be designed as a workshop as well. They are customized to your interests and level. Thank you for your patience and Stay Safe!
Hi Leanne! I'm just now getting around to finding fellow street photographers on Substack. Happy to have come across someone roaming the great streets of NYC.
Good to prevent about the mythical manual setting notion