Issue 152 of the SNYC Newsletter
Greetings everyone! Spring has perhaps sprung. The temperatures are warmer and we are now on Daylight Savings Time and the daylight hours are longer. Hallelujah!
That said, the photos in this issue were all taken on a rainy cold day on March 9th. We had such a great time and captured some great photos in spite of or perhaps because of the nasty weather. Sunny days aren’t necessarily the best for street photography.
Business is picking up and I’ve had a number of new customers. Welcome! And there are a number of returning customers. Thank you to everyone. The thing that many of them have in common is that they’v never shot street before.
Street photography often seems scary to people who haven’t done it. But it needn’t be and we explore different methods and styles of street in my workshops. We always have fun and capture some fabulous street shots.
Happy shooting! If you’re not enjoying it, you must be doing something wrong. Let me know or better yet, take a workshop with me.
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust
Reader’s Comment
The Shoot New York City newsletter exists for you, the readers. And, your comments and suggestions are always welcome. One of the major issues of social media sites is that there’s no dialogue.
There is much that we can all share about our experiences in photography and it’s so easy to comment on the newsletter. Just hit reply in your email or on the button below.
Oh no, there weren’t any comments on last issue. I always look forward to hearing about your experiences in photography as well as your questions. Don’t be shy.
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Thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee!!! Maybe one day we’ll be able to have a coffee in person again. Mucho love.
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What is Abstract Street Photography?
People frequently ask me what abstract street is. Good question. There is no simple answer to this question. And, I say that’s a good thing. I wrote about Abstract Photography in an issue of Curious Frame and it includes abstract street.
When we talk about street photography in general, there are many different styles and techniques for shooting street. On one extreme is the Gilden style in your face street. I personally find that very offensive and disrespectful.
Between the in your face style and the abstract street style, there are many possibilities. In my workshops we work with a number of methods and styles. In some of them the face is visible and others not.
All of the photos in this issue can be seen as abstract street to different degrees. The opening photo which is very minimal with a person holding an umbrella and that’s all we can see, could be considered abstract street.
The same is true with the second photo with just an outline of a person with an umbrella and steam. For me, the above photo is without question, abstract street. Minimalism is one form of abstract street.
This is another photo from the same workshop. As an aside, the photos of mine in this issue are the jpgs with some post processing. I’ll talk more about that later.
And I should mention that the man taking the workshop with me was totally new to street photography and he had a great time overcoming his hesitation about shooting street.
In the above photo we were inside a McDonald’s getting warm and dry and shooting raindrops through the windows. By focusing on the raindrops and having the person be a fuzzy outline this could be seen as an abstract street shot.
Had the weather been different on that day we would have likely captured photos more akin to straight ahead street photography. But in my workshops we always work with the elements and the neighborhood. And no two workshops are the same.
The most difficult thing about capturing raindrops is managing to get your camera to focus on the drops. In my experience, it’s necessary to use manual focus.
People often comment about how close my subjects are to my camera. But I don’t approach them. They walk into me. In the above photo we were standing under scaffolding taking a break from being in the rain. I already had the camera up and I just clicked as she walked through my frame.
Using different kinds of framing methods like the photo above can also be considered abstract street. But perhaps I am using too many of my own photos. So I’ll provide a few examples from other photogs.
Yes, Saul Leiter is a favorite photographer! He was a painter first and continued painting throughout his years as a photographer. When you are shooting abstract street photography, you’ll more likely use a longer lens.
Perhaps a 50mm full frame equivalent is a good start. That said, all my photos these days are taken on the Fuji X-100V with a fixed lens at 35mm equivalent.
In his photo above, he’s clearly shooting outside through a window with some condensation on it. Condensation, like steam and raindrops are great for abstract street.
As well, the fact that the photo is black and white with a lot of negative space really helps to isolate the subject. This photo almost looks like a painting.
So here are 2 images by Ernst Haas. While it’s rather easy to find images by photographers on the internet, the sad fact is that most sites don’t bother to list the year the photo was taken and the title of it. Sorry for not having that information here for you.
Abstract is a funny word. Abstract ideas or styles of art have a way of leaving people in the dark. But it needn’t always be true. None of the photos that I’ve used in the newsletter needs explanation.
As photographers we might ask how these photos were made. If the above photo by Ernst Haas was in focus, it would just be a fabulous street photo. As it is, it’s an incredible abstract street photo.
While I can’t really tell you where abstract street begins, I will say that once there are no identifiable images in a photo, it is totally abstract. So long as there are identifiable images in a photo it is abstract street.
Okay, one more photo in the abstract street category by me. And yes, I still do some color. I choose color when it seems appropriate. For me, minimal colors that are strong and complementary are perfect.
This photo is on the edge of becoming entirely abstract. With a little tweaking I could blur the person and umbrella in the photo.
So I don’t know if I did a very good job of explaining what abstract street is, but I welcome your comments and suggestions. AND if you’d like to submit an abstract photo that you took, I’d be happy to feature some in upcoming issues of the newsletter and I’ll do a part 2 to abstract street in the future.
The 2021 Fave Photos Contest
So I’ve been working on a method to share the entries to the 2021 Fave Photos Contest. As I’m unable to post all of them in one newsletter as there are too many, the next best choice is that I send a separate newsletter for each category.
The categories are: Abstract Street, Documentary, Landscape & Nature, Street and Urban landscapes. So that’s 5 categories which means 5 issues mailed out separately. I don’t want to flood your inboxes, but I would like to have all the entries to get a fair chance to have their work seen.
You don’t have to be part of the Facebook group and you don’t have to have entered a photo to vote. Before I send them out I’d like to know if this method works for you and I hope that everyone will vote.
Biweekly Photo Assignment -Abstract Street
There are many different methods of creating abstract street photography. The images in this issue of the newsletter are just a few of the possibilities. Reflections, steam, blur, raindrops, minimalism, multiple exposures and more.
As usual, you can interpret this assignment and don’t be afraid to post creative photos. I think that it should really be an enjoyable exercise.
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 @shootnycity. If you're not a member of the Facebook group yet, all you have to do is request to join.
It would be great if as a group people would comment on photos submitted as well. Let's have fun! Happy shooting and sharing! And you can connect with other people that you share an interest with.
Further Viewing
I really like Tatiana’s approach to photography and this video is a good intro into the work of Ernst Haas.
Upcoming Workshops:
Workshops are a maximum of 4 people. Social distancing and masks are followed in crowded areas and for the comfort of people attending the workshops. And with fewer people in each workshop everyone can gain even more individual attention.
Workshops are only being scheduled on a weekend day now. 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.
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!
Agree with you Leanne, rainy days give great opportunities for good photos . Looking forward for the rain when I am in NYC. Love reading your Newsletter 👍🏻
Thanks for this discussion and for including something by Saul Leiter. He's my absolute favourite photographer and I have several of his books. I first became aware of him when some of his images appeared in Jane Livingston's 1992 classic The New York School Photographs 1936-63 which I managed to find second hand. In fact a new book about him and his work has now arrived in our bookstores here in Australia, its called Forever Saul Leiter. I had to buy it and can't recommend it enough. A painterly genius!