Capturing the spirit of street-life

Wildlife photography is my preferred genre and will continue to be so in near future. However, like many of my fellow photographers, the visual storytelling side of street photography also has a special appeal to me. This appeal is powerful enough to push me into venturing out 4-5 times during last one year to explore the streets of Delhi, specially the older Delhi. Called the Purani Dilli (Old Delhi), its streets are special. There is a treasure lying to be captured in the busy, over corroded, packed and often dimly lit alleys of Old Delhi. I wish I could go out often.
Staged or As Is:

Street photography is a large term. It actually has many sub-genre. The most common and popular on the social media is the staged street photography. They at time s look awesome. You find the perfect setting, find some actors who will gel with the scene, often pay them in cash or kind, and shoot. You get a near perfect shot for social media. But the form that appeals to me is the shoot as is format. You go out on the street and shoot a scene as it is with real people garnishing it with your creative framing and technical skills, and then present it to your audience with your editing skills. This way you capture moments. While the staged genre will continue to flourish, the moments genre will also hold its special place.

Concept:

It is always good to have a concept in mind to shoot before you step out. If you do not have a concept, then you may find the scene too chaotic. I have seen participants in these walks often trying to shoot what others are shooting. If someone is shooting an old man puffin a bidi, let me shoot that too. And when you see the shots shared later in walk group, you find majority of them crap as they were shoot without any plan or concept. Even if it is not staged, you need a plan and concept to shoot. You will have to find beauty and interest in clutter. You make or create an Image by seeing and capturing differently. Technicalities often takes back seat as you have to shoot fast. Given the general lighting, and your understanding of light and your camera requirement, you set out with a set of basic setting. If a scene appeals to you, aim and shoot framing it the best possible way.

I had tried to create a series of images with a concept of ‘Life In Between’. The images of this series do not require me to connect with the subject. I will come to the topic of connecting to the subject later.

Some bread earned

A Fistful of colours

Pondering

Poles apart....Life of two child

Equipment:

A mirrorless is the best equipment for street photography. This is true for India, at least Old Delhi.

So why a mirrorless for street? I currently own two full frame Canon bodies. For the street outings, I have used the smaller Canon 6D Mark II body with Canon 17-40 F4 lens. Smaller is a relative term. Even the 6D2+17-40 combination looks fairly large as compared to the mirrorless combos. I had found that Canon 6D2 fails you when the light is low and scene has predominantly darker tones. You will come across many such scene once you are inside the labyrinth of narrow alleys of Chandni Chowk like the Kinari Bazar where only natural light you find are wafting through narrow openings. Either you need a F2.8 or better lens and definitely a better body in such places. A cropped body with 18-55 kind of lens is a disaster for those narrow alleys. The other option therefore is the mid-level mirrorless targeted at the prosumer photographers. As they are targeted at prosumer segment, the output is tweaked to be quite good. They boast of an exciting array of lenses. In the last walk, I found that Fuji 18-55 kit lens is a 2.8 at wide angle. This comes a s kit with XT-20 body. The combined size and weight of a cropped body mirrorless is much lesser than my Canon 6D2+17-40. You can easily put them into your bag and carry everywhere. These cameras being small in size, the average people on street will ignore you as a novice, amateur or tourist having fun. The bigger SLR often attracts unwanted attention. These makes you a bigger photographer trying to make money of images of poor people on street.

As I am currently exploring Sony and Fujifilm series for making my next acquisition, I will come back and update this space soon.

Technicalities:

Once out on the street, the technical aspect of camera setting will be least on your mind. Your eyes will be scanning for interesting scene. Rarely you get a second chance. Therefore you have to set your parameters before you start walking. Read the lighting scene and set your Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. Reading the available light scene will come from experience. As you will be shooting handheld, you need a minimum shutter speed of 1/60 to get decent frames. Once you have basic settings right, review first couple of shots. Change settings if required. Of course, you will fiddle with settings later as you shoot, but no point changing it after losing a moment. So, get it your initial setting as right as possible. This is true for wildlife also. You need to read the lighting scene and get your first setting as correct as possible.

Ethics:

One important aspect of street photography is to connect with subject. If you are shooting people close up, then you must talk and connect to get the best result. If the subject refuse then simply walk away. But more often than not, the subject is likely to cooperate. Keep in mind that do not try to create a scene of trying to make money of someone’s misery. Sometimes they may ask you for money or help after posing. These are poor people trying to make a living on street. The call is yours. Listen to your conscience. If you ask me, I had done it couple of times by buying a cup of tea or biscuit. I am presenting here few images where we had connected with the subject. Compare these with earlier series of ‘Life In Between’.

When you connect with your subject

Special mentions:

This exploration of city had made me venture out to different old Delhi with various people during last one year. These are Nizamuddin West with Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah and walled city from Turqman Gate to Chawri Bazaar with Asif Khan Dehlvi of Delhi Karavan. These were story telling non-photo walks. As Asif hold the group together with his story telling, I kept exploring with my camera. This continued with exploring the famed Chandni Chowk area from Parantha wali Galli to Dariba Kalan, and Khari Baoli to Sadar Bazar with Sundeep Bali and Fujifilm team. Sundeep is a brand ambassador of Fujifilm who had done a lot of work in old Delhi areas. It was a great experience learning with him.

And finally, this series of images were viewtifully edited on the ViewSonic VP2468 monitor specially designed for photographers.

Note: The author is ColorPro partner for ViewSonic. His and other ColorPro professionals' work can be seen at ColorPro Partners of ViewSonic. The latest series of ViewSonic monitors for Photographers can found at ViewSonic

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