Prowling the streets

I take all sorts of photographs, but the type of photography that gives me most satisfaction is so-called "street photography". Now I even hesitate to use this term. I have seen other people flamed relentlesly for describing themselves as street photographers - being accused of comparing themsleves to Cartier-Bresson and others. I can't think of a better term however. It's the images that you see around you everyday as you go about your business. It's your view of the world. You choose to capture what you find quirky, poignant, artistic, funny - memorable in some way to YOU. If other people like the photographs, then maybe you have touched on something universal. Maybe you bring to peoples attention something they never considered worth looking at, or to look at it in a different way.

A key aspect of this type of photography is you cannot plan it in the same way that you plan a studio photograph, or a travel shot. You can find situations where there is more chance of an image turning up, but often the best images come from the most un-promising beginnings.

In my next post I'm going to discuss how one particular image, which I'm quite fond of, came about