I have had a busy 6 months, both through work and with wonderful things happening in my personal life - such as daughters who have graduated, one with a first class degree and the other with a distinction in her Masters (very proud parent!!).
What this has meant though is I haven't had a great deal of an opportunity to go out and teach myself more photography skills. However, I have had a chance to reflect and understand I need to develop my creative instincts and style - something I am working on ... so more on that at a later stage.
An opportunity that did present itself though was following a talk at the Camera Club from Damien Demolder and Panasonic on street photography he was running a workshop. I had some holiday to take and whilst I have tried street photography in the past it seemed like a good opportunity to put myself outside my comfort zone (been doing that a bit this year with photo opportunities) and learn something new.
It was a cold but fantastic day trudging around the streets of Cheltenham. Damien was a brilliant teacher - go if you get the opportunity to attend one of his workshops - with lots of practical application of what he had taught. My experiences really surprised me and the main things I took away from the day are:
People really do ignore you - even if you are stood in front of them with a camera! You are able to snap away from very short distance ... as long as you aren't holding the camera like your phone and not up up to your eye! I was never brave enough to stand in the middle of the pavement and shoot as I always thought people would take exception ... far from it, as there were a few of us shooting people were asking us if there was something special happening!!
Being braver with the use of the light. I know photography is all about light but what surprised me was the difference that really pushing the exposure compensation made - you could create some really moody shots as this great example of John (a fellow participant) proves! This was taken in a shady alley where we practiced and played with the lighting for over an hour!!
Make sure you know the story and focus of the picture. Lots of my attempts at street have been around catching moments - but looking back I am not sure what those moments were and what picked them out of the background. You can use so much (colour, position, sharpness) to tell the story and focus attention in the right place as long as you are intentional about what you do. I'm adding it in - just got to do it quickly for this genre!
Look for the opportunities everywhere. The simplest of scenes lit and framed right can make an image as can the smallest or largest view. this image taken over lunch is a good example. It really got me thinking and I now find myself look for shots everywhere I go ... often only have my phone with me though and am trying to get somewhere quickly!!!
Overall it was a great experience and I shall definitely be attending other workshops to expand my knowledge and skills in the future ... just got to get out there now and take some photos!!!
I'll leave you with some of my favourite images from the day
Happy Snapping