As street photographers, we often hear questions like, "Is it weird to photograph people without asking?" or "Are you allowed to do that?"
That WHY stuck.
I asked myself, well, why do I have such a passion for photographing strangers? What is so exciting about capturing people in pictures?
I guess the answer is simple: Because life is so incredibly exciting, diverse and beautiful.
Cities, streets only come to life through people. Normal everyday life, when examined more closely, is always somehow interesting. What do we humans do in this city? And how does that possibly change over the decades?
In fact, there are many reasons why street photography can quickly develop into a great passion.
What's so exciting about photographing strangers? Often it is simply an aesthetic reason, but it can also represent a kind of documentation of a certain time.
Fun!
The most important reason is: it's fun to go hunting with the camera. The process itself, the experience of taking photos, is a lot of fun. And in street photography it usually requires very little effort. Just take your camera and get out. On any occasion, at any time of the day.
A long running stitch is certainly not fun for the woman, but for us street photographers it is a good reason to take a photo, especially with all the other lines in the picture.
Contemporary witness
A historically important reason for street photography is that it is a contemporary witness. Many street photographers see their goal in documenting life. And it's great that many people around the world are documenting their here and now.
It is important to photograph and document how life is today. Whether in humanism, documentary photography or reportage: street photography captures conditions here and now that will make you think, will make you smile tomorrow or will soon seem completely out of time. Everything that is so normal to us today can look very bizarre tomorrow.
How people make phone calls… will we still have cell phones in 20 years? We no longer hold them to our ears, as we did in the early days, but often hold them to our mouths.
Will we continue to use masks in our everyday lives? Just ten years ago, in Europe we looked at Asian tourists who were wearing masks out of caution and respect. Then followed several years in which we were obliged to wear masks. The whole culture changed and today masks still are seen in the daily normal European life. Who would have said…
Right here, right now
The low threshold for simply taking a quick photo is certainly an important factor for its popularity.
It's true that really good pictures don't come easy and you need a quiet window of time for yourself so that you can immerse yourself in a mental flow and be completely focused on the matter.
But you usually don't have to travel far or spend a lot of money for material, so you can just do it.
Taking photos on your own doorstep can sometimes be a challenge because finding something interesting may sound impossible at first. But by playing with patterns, reflections and silhouettes you can easily create something new and creative even in a street that you take every day.
Never bored
The good thing about street photography is that you never get bored, no matter where, no matter what time of day, what weather, what country and what city. Wherever there are people or human elements in urban areas, you can do street photography and take creative photos.
Street photographers observe the world around them. Even if the place seems so boring, there is always something to discover photographically and convert creatively. So look forward to the next delayed train or a never-ending queue. As long as you have your camera with you, you can't really get bored.
A boring gray station court, here in Hanover. A place that you usually leave quickly, where you stay only because your train is delayed. But look at the huge potential for cool street photos here!
We find things
Where we don't expect anything, exciting things suddenly happen before our eyes. We just find them.
I like to refer to one of my favourite characters, Pippi Longstocking. She says: “ I am a Thing-Finder… Somebody who hunts for things, naturally… The whole world is full of things, and somebody has to look for them… The best things are almost always found where people live.”
And that's exactly what we all do in street photography: we look for things, for situations, for our cool photo - where there are people. We always find something and we do it having fun, being relaxed and happy, just like Pippi!
Shop windows are good playgrounds where you can practice. Of course, someone designed the window display, so it's not your creative credit. However, you can still create something new from existing elements. You can play with details and use reflections to create an interesting new image. This is also a good way to train yourself to photograph people without actually approaching people.
Surprising diversity
Street photography thrives on the diversity of people, cities, the way they dress and behave. The fascinating, limitless diversity is exciting and so complex that it is difficult to reach its limits. Therefore, in street photography, we are constantly surprised. Nowhere does this work as well as on the street.
I photograph people because I like to watch them and enjoy the variety with genuine interest. Through my camera I learned to see and perceive people better. I learned to like people more, and today I can go directly to talk to complete strangers, which was something I never did until a few years ago. The camera, street photography, took away my fear and shyness of strangers
People are diverse and that makes them special and exciting.
People are diverse not only depending on the country or city, but also within a city. In Cologne, Germany, you meet different people on the Domplatte than in Ehrenfeld or Lindenthal. In Hamburg we take completely different photos at the fish market, at the main train station or at Jungfernstieg, not to mention the Elbe suburbs. In Rome, Paris, New York and Tokyo it is the same: depending on the district, you will meet people dressed very elegantly or casually, observe great loneliness or happy people.
Like every big city, Cologne has a variety of neighborhoods, and each one creates certain images and moods.
Repetition
You can repeat the game with your camera as often as you like, it will never be the same. The same person in the same clothes doing the same movements or interactions is as unlikely as being picked up by a starship from another planet. So, something new will always happen and you are there to discover new situations and increase the quality of your photos through repetition.
Many award-winning images were created through perseverance. You'll soon know the top spots in your city. You can visit them again and again and at some point it'll just fit: the perfect person in the perfect place at the perfect moment. Just like Henri Cartier-Bresson's “instant décisif”.
Banal place, banal scene but somehow a cool photo because it plays with the lines. Simply photographed from above down into a passage.
The same corner on the train station court in Hanover, where different levels, reflections and surfaces create the picture.
We can tell our stories
We observe social and cultural circumstances and impulses and document them through our photography. But we are – contrary to documentation and reportage photography – not committed to the truth. We are not journalists so we don't have to show what's real. We can show what we like. We can artistically recombine things that don't belong together. This is wonderful because it gives us much more freedom to create a world the way we like it, in our pictures. But obviously, using photography and not mere fantasy pictures created with Artificial Intelligence.
This photo is a contemporary document as it reports on the loads of packages sent following the pandemic. People began to stop going shopping and instead started ordering everything by mail.
In street photography we try to design our pictures as an honest depiction of the street, i.e. not to pose them, if possible not to address people beforehand, and certainly not to create anything with artificial intelligence. These are the unwritten ethical foundations of the discipline. In this respect, we are committed to the truth in some way.
But since we are not journalists and our primary job is not to tell others what is happening here and now, we have total freedom and are able to carefree play around. We are free to decide to what extent we commit to the truth and to reportage, or when we want to play freely and paint with light, like painters, with a free interpretation of what we see. And our personal perspective creates a filter. We explore life in urban areas and observe people, and we are allowed to convey our own attitudes or moods in our pictures. Basically it's a big game and, lived as such, it's a lot of fun.
The section you select in your photo may distort the information. The striking ASS letters look funny to a tourist, but the photo only tells half the truth, because in reality it is an excerpt from the city name GRASSE. This way, a completely different meaning was created by a photo which does not show the whole name.
A picture that is not staged, but taken from life. Someone had a banana party on this square in Hanover and then unfortunately forgot about the trash. A classic street photo, but at the same time a documentation of human behavior in the city.
The same place in Hanover as with the banana peels, but with completely different contents. Where does your attention fall, what do you want to show and say?
Community
An important reason for street photography is the sense of community. Street photographers are somewhat special characters who like to wander the streets alone for hours with their camera. But most are highly social creatures and enjoy both concentrated single work and partying in the community.
The advantage of being integrated in a community means sharing the fun to be together with like-minded people and exchange ideas. You can learn from others, show and discuss your photos, solve specific technical questions and learn about new trends. The network may lead to joint exhibitions and other things that alone you would not be able to do.
If you're traveling for work to a foreign city, you can use social media to ask if anyone is there and has time for a photo walk together. You can often find someone who will show you their city and with whom you can build a new, enriching photography friendship. Experiencing a city, a foreign country, a new community under the guidance of local people is wonderful, and is also a little adventure that enriches you. And you may bring up new ideas because you look at their city from a different perspective. So it's a give and take that enriches everyone.
Guidance
There are many more “WHYs” in street photography. It teaches us to see, to perceive, to consciously filter things. We recognize beauty, tension, humor in everyday life, on the way to the office, going shopping.
We talk about why we use this camera and not that one, why we prefer to go out in a collective or alone, why we prefer to take photos in colour or monochrome.
The most important thing is that you enjoy street photography and want to spend time in the city with your camera.
If you take the time, it can be very enriching to play creatively without much effort and also come into contact with new people.
The cell phone is always with you and allows you to take photos anytime, anywhere.
Asking yourself WHY can give you direction. Why do you want to take photographs, to relax and enjoy colors and light effects, or rather to document a status quo in society? This question alone will show you how your style can develop further – whether you take playful or meaningful photos. The transitions are fluid and you can also take meaningful, playful pictures.
In any case, dealing with this helps in the development of your photographic personality.
We hope you enjoy to develop your skills and find, define and specifically pursue your own WHY.