1. Are you a professional photographer? No. I do it as a hobby
2. Why street photography? Street photography is so inviting due to its simplicity as it requires no special gear, but at the same time, it is very rewarding and exciting. Every photo walk is unique even if you take the same path over and over again. I always like to compare street photography and mushroom picking - you wander in a forest, your eyes are focused, your mind is clean and if you are lucky enough there is something to put on a table afterwards (I think those who like this activity can relate).
3. How would you describe your photography style? I like to shoot candidly and unobtrusively. The viewer should not feel my presence in the photos I take. I tend to isolate my subjects and try to reduce the amount of distracting details within a frame.
4. What makes a good picture from your point of view? What do you look for in an image? For me, a good photo is the one which brings some emotion. It is not necessarily an emotion reflected by the person in the photo, but it can also be some abstract photo with pleasant or eye-catching composition. Sometimes it is not even a photo itself that makes it good, but also the combination with a well chosen title.
5. How do you educate yourself to take better photos? I mostly get inspiration and ideas from books about street photography or from YouTube channels I follow.
6. Where in the world would you most like to photograph? I do not have any particular country or city in mind - every new place brings excitement and a fresh perspective. But Porto city in Portugal is the place where I always want to go back.
7. Who would you most like to photograph and what kind of pictures do you avoid to shoot? I try not to restrict myself when on the streets and shoot everything that catches my eyes: reflections, shadows, silhouettes, portraits, etc. But I avoid taking pictures of people if it can portray them in a bad way or if I feel like taking advantage of them. Oh, and I also don’t like cars being in the frame except when it is the main subject.
8. Have you been confronted by someone whose photo you took on the street? What would be your advice on how to avoid confrontation when doing Street Photography? So far I have not faced any serious situation, only several negative remarks, more like “what are you doing here with your camera?!”. As I mentioned, I like to blend in and do unobtrusive street photography, so in most cases, people do not even notice I took a picture. The best advice would be to read the mood and respect others - if the person clearly does not like to be photographed, I just move on. Or just run 😀
9. Your favourite street image of your own to date and why? It is constantly changing. Currently, I am thinking about one photo I took in 2018 (never posted anywhere) where three very similarly looking men (of similar body shape, all wear short sleeves, have watched on left wrist) walk on a sidewalk in one line and each of them has their left leg at the same position so that their feet almost touch the ground (there is only a gap of about an inch). This photo always reminds me how random things on the street can fall together so perfectly and that it takes a bit of luck as the perfect moment can be gone in a split second.
10. Your favourite piece of equipment? I do not have a favourite one, but I really started to enjoy photography when I switched to mirrorless Fujifilm cameras. At the moment I have Fujifilm X-T2 and just love that it has physical dials for all major settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO and more), so I can even prepare for the shot with the camera being off. It is like a Swiss knife with a pretty compact and classy body. Also, a pair of comfortable shoes.
11. What are your favourite settings (Aperture. Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance, Focus, Manual/Auto, Image Format – RAW/JPEG) for Street Photography and why? All camera settings greatly depend on the situation, that’s why I like to use cameras which have physical buttons/dials for those adjustments. But if we talk about the most common settings, then the white balance is always on ‘auto’ (can be easily adjusted in the post). ISO is also set to ‘auto’ most of the time with some upper limit. Shutter speed depends on the time of the day - if there is enough light, I usually keep it at 1/1000 s or a bit higher. If the camera allows, I configure separate buttons for focus and shutter as I like to pre-focus and when the time comes instantly take a shot. I always shoot RAW as it gives more flexibility in post-processing (also, I use black & white mode in camera, but RAW file leaves me a possibility to still use a colour version later).
12. Is photography art? Without a question - it allows me to express myself and pushes me to see creatively.
13. Black And White or Colour? When it comes to street photography, all of my photos are in black & white as I think that colours are unnecessary for what I want to say with each of my shots. But in my personal life, I often do colour photography as well.
14. What are your thoughts on editing? I use standard adjustments in post-processing like cropping, exposure, contrast, highlights, etc. which help to emphasize certain details but nothing over the top. When it comes to street/documentary photography, I think that scenes should be kept intact and heavy“photoshopping” should not be applied as this genre then loses its purpose.
15. Why do you share to Progressive Street and who would you like to see showcased from Progressive Street? I just joined Progressive Street and haven’t shared anything yet, so I guess it is too soon to answer these questions as I still need to get familiar with you all 🙂 I have never belonged to a street photography group, so it was really nice receiving an invitation to join after meeting and chatting with some of the members in Milan.