The photography book market is now so super-saturated that it’s rare to find one that’s truly stimulating but I think this one comes close. The reason is because to understand photographs some understanding of the photographer is useful, and this is what you get with Forever Saul Leiter. It’s stuffed full of B&W and colour images supported by quotes from the man himself and an excellent short appraisal by writer and photographer Akiko Otake. Of course Leiter’s colour work is excellent but he was equally good in black and white. When you look at the contact sheets you can see he’s gone thro ..read more

I’m often asked about whether we should ask strangers if we can take their picture and, if so, is it really street photography? We usually refer to these pictures as street portraits – and they’re becoming very popular. For me, a street portrait  is a posed, rather than candid, portrait of a stranger on the street; typically, you’ll see someone who looks interesting and ask them if you can take their photo. And, if you’re new to this, you’ll probably be surprised by their reaction: 9 out of 10 say ‘yes’. So far, so good, but is this truly ’street photography’? It’s a matter for debate. I ..read more

Far too many people I’ve met, particularly during the past 18 months, have been affected by some form of mental health issue, ranging from very mild anxiety to crippling depression – maybe due to the pandemic, maybe not. So what, you may be thinking, has that got to do with street photography? Well, in this article I’m going to explore the relationship between mental health and photography and, in particular, how we can use street photography to improve our mental health. It’s been a tough 18 months for many of us but as we have now hopefully seen the worst of the pandemic, we can really ..read more

I’m often asked what street photography books I’m reading at the moment – or what my current recommendations are. So I’ve curated my list of favourites and have put them all in one place. Please have a look at my online bookshop. All the books here are for sale through Amazon and the links will take you directly to Amazon. If you buy a book, please do so using these links – it won’t cost you any extra and you’ll still get your usual Amazon low prices – but it means I’ll get a few pennies as a ‘thank you’ from Amazon. You’ll find the bookshop HERE. Do keep an eye on this page – perhaps bookma ..read more

You’re possibly aware that I’m nuts about Venice. I’m less nuts about running, but I try to do it to stay fit and to compensate for all the over-indulgence. However, as a birthday present two years ago, Johannah bought me entry into the Venice 10K run and I have to say it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. The views are just breathtaking and make you easily forget about the pain. I don’t use the word lightly, but I’d say that this is an ‘iconic’ event and one I intend to do every year. This year, the run is on 24th October and is open to anyone to take part (you can register here). If y ..read more

I once had a boss whose motto was ‘JBDI’ (just bloody do it!) and I think he had a point. I’m constantly hearing about street photographers complaining because ‘there’s nothing to do’. Well, I think they’re wrong and there is plenty to do. Yesterday I needed to be in Liverpool (for legitimate work-related reasons) and, looking around for street photography opportunities, I quickly realised there were none. The streets were empty. But I thought ‘hang on – there’s an opportunity here’. The light was stunning, with bright sunshine and a clear blue sky, so I just decided to do some photography. No ..read more

There’s a very interesting space where street photography can be used in corporate marketing applications. I was approached in November by a marketing agency working on behalf of the NHS: “We’re working on a job and we need some images – like yesterday”. And the brief was a topical one: a set of images to support a digital and poster campaign to help stop the spread of the corona virus. They needed images shot in a ‘street style’. Not what I would really call street photography but it seemed like a worthy campaign. I couldn’t say no. This image-led campaign, which is currently running, is call ..read more

My new street photography zine is available for pre-order. It’s a portrait of the stylish, charismatic and sometimes eccentric Venetian people – i Veneziani. The zine is 44 pages, A5, full colour, printed on silk stock and saddle stitched. This is a limited first edition of 200 copies. The cost is £9 including UK P&P (please contact me about overseas shipping costs before ordering and I’ll give you a quote). I expect to be dispatching orders week commencing 1st February. You can order a copy HERE. Street Photography Zine – ‘I Veneziani’ (Price includes UK postage. For overseas postage plea ..read more

We all make mistakes as street photographers – me included. And there’s no shame in that – but the important thing is to recognise some of the common mistakes we make – and that recognition is the first step towards eliminating them from our shooting. So in this YouTube video are some of the mistakes I regularly come across. The post New video: your street photography mistakes appeared first on StreetSnappers ..read more

This is one of the questions I am asked most often. I’m not going to go into great detail or technical data here, just a quick tour of my camera bag, explaining ‘what’ and ‘why’. The first point to bear in mind that as a Fujifilm ambassador, I use Fujifilm cameras and lenses exclusively. This is not because I’m paid to use them (which I’m not!) or because I get free gear (which, sadly, I don’t!) – it’s because I love using that gear and it does exactly what I need it to do. My main, everyday camera is the Fujifilm X100V, which is just about the perfect camera for street photography; it’s small ..read more