Visual intent is a must-have mentality of a street photographer when out looking for a good shot.
If you just wander around just hoping to see something happen, you probably won’t see much in the way of good street photography material.
Photographers look for change that happens before their eyes. Walking, looking, observing, is an active mentality. You’re looking for something that is connected, in some way or another, to a strong intention that you have.
Your intention helps you discover the moments when you can capture a shot that is worth keeping.
I find that when I think about my intentions before going out to do street photography, I am thinking about finding a scene that gives me the opportunity to express myself in the way I see life.
It might sound heavy, but as a photographer, and a writer, I’m automatically inspired and fascinated by the fact that, really, we are alone. We desire to be together, and sometimes we over do it when we try and build friendships. It’s the human condition. Aloneness, trying to find a way into other people’s lives to create fulfilment. That’s the short version. …
Berlin is a city that people visit for a weekend, a week maybe, a friend told them to come and stay a few days — ‘it’s such an interesting city, you’ve got to experience it.’ So, you feel the pull of the offer, and go.
At first, just like any city, Berlin is full of strange faces and smells, the traffic sounds like most city noise, the streets full of tempting offers, doorways that lead into dark passages and cellars, and the next corner with its posted signs suggesting that you walk this way, or that way to discover a new experience, can make you feel as if a good weekend stay is ahead of you. …
“The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.”
-Robert Doisneau
Walk into the Unexpected City
When we stop and think about it, our own neighbourhood, the local manor, the small side streets and the local square that we tend to take for granted, is more foreign to us than we’d admit.
Living with a cat or any pet is an exceptional experience. Cats don’t do anything you tell them, they don’t even take suggestions. In the photo above is Stubbs and I.
I live with three cats. Recently, Stubbs became very sick, I didn’t notice at first. I just thought she was tired and wanted to spend a little time resting, or be alone on the bed. But when I took a good look at her, I saw that she wasn’t closing her eyes, and it appeared as if she was suffering.
Often, animals won’t show you that they are in pain. They don’t moan about pain, or howl and bicker the whole time.
I’m pretty sure that’s an instinct. If a cat was in the wild living in a herd, or family of cats, it would have to be strong and able, all of the time. …
Street photography, call it Candid Photography if you like, or simply, Photography, is a bit stressy as it is, but with the Covid-19 Virus problems of Lockdowns and stay at home orders, it can be worse than ever to find a decent human subject on the streets of your city.
Curiosity opens doors to other worlds. And it’s always up to us how deep we venture into those worlds. It could be good, it could be bad. That depends on our own attitude.
The Idea
There’s a Raymond Carver story about a couple in their kitchen, they spy on a neighbour who is spying on his own wife. The married couple are voyeurs, enjoying the view. Both acting as if they have discovered another person up to no good.
They allow their curiosity to keep them looking, so they turn the kitchen lights off to get a better view, and to ensure that the peeping tom husband creeping around in the garden doesn’t notice them watching as he watches his wife undress in her home.
The couple have done this before, we can tell because of the things they say, “He can’t see us with the lights out”, I always say this. …
The attack on the Capitol Building of the USA was inspired by lies. The constant repetition of negative anecdotes about neighbours, made up stories of drug lords entering the country, pizza parlours that harbour paedophiles, and a Democratic Party that, apparently, has hidden agendas to destroy the American way of life. Absurdities.
News interviews are telling of the mentality of many of the people who took part in storming the Capitol. When asked by a TV station interviewer if the violence was justified, two middle-aged women who look just like your neighbours, answered with giggles that there was no violence. Apparently, free speech extends to saying what you want, and expecting it to be believed. And that’s been most of the problem.
Democratic Rep. Connor Lamb, made a statement after listening to Republicans still trying to create their own narrative of the events at the Capitol, “That attack today, it didn’t come out of nowhere,” he said, “it was inspired by lies, the same lies you’re hearing in this room tonight, and the members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves”. …
Life is a simple thing that we give meaning to. All the activities in the world, the actions that people repeat daily, are about people putting meaning into life. Unfortunately, life has no map, or pre-planned handbook that will show the way forwards.
One of the biggest deceptions of human existence is the idea that we can, somehow, predict our future with well set plans. Hence, the saying, “man plans, God laughs”.
If you want your life to be worthwhile, so you feel alive, and that you experience meaningfulness each day, you need to exert effort into daily existence. That means become interested in something that you alone deem valuable.
It doesn’t matter what you choose to call meaningful, what matters is that you put the energy into giving it proper attention. This allows your mind to experience the value of the action.
Here’s an example. I love weight lifting for strength. I lift the weight up, and then let it down. Then I lift the weight up, and let it down again. I basically do this for about one hour each session. And I find it exhilarating, enjoyable, and it gives me a sense of being alive — there’s nothing like the last rep on a military press. The thrill of it, will I be able to finish it, or will the weight overwhelm me and drop? …
The art of digital photography is always disputed as an idea of thinking about photography. Digital has changed the meaning of a photograph and probably has more of an impact on our lives than we at first realize.
Taking pictures, doing a shoot, or just making snapshots of the Christmas tree, are all acts with an intention to capture a moment. But it can often lead to a desire to manipulate the original to fit the intention.
An image and memory are two very different things.
We can imagine things, but we can’t keep those imaginings as solid images in our minds. The memory has a way of changing things. Even memories that we claim to be rock-solid factual memories of a past event, have probably changed to suit our own perception of life.
A camera takes a shot, and holds that digital image for as long as the pixels don’t deteriorate, or become manipulated in post-processing the photo. That’s what makes photography a useful tool. It also becomes a tool that we use to manipulate our vision and ideas. …
