Street Photography for the Purist

Forward by Deborah Delasio – Italy (edited by Chris Weeks)
I started photographing the street about 2 1/2 years ago.
I decided to learn on the battlefield; looking at people in the streets.
I started with a 50mm lens – even though it was the less expensive choice it was a winning choice. It forced me to learn. Now I love the 50mm and
almost all my photos are taken with it.
My bag is always light: A Leica M6 TTL and some rolls of Tri-X. Nothing else. Nothing needed.
No zoom lens for me, I love to be where things happen. Right in the scene. With a telephoto you are just an observer. In street photography you have
to be in the scene ... part of it.
I spend a lot of time looking around, watching what people do and waiting for the right moment. The greatest work for me is pre-visualization: I
make very few photographs.
Street photography turns everyday acts into the extraordinary.
To be a street photographer you need the right mix of sensitivity, agility and sense of timing ... not to mention being a little brazen.
I use only black and white films because I feel they are more akin to my viewpoint of the world - essential and melancholic.
Then I print my photos by myself in a little darkroom. I love the manual side of photography. It’s pure.
Street is really a great school and the city is a great organism pulsating with its’ inhabitants’ life. This is street photography.
Deborah Delasio (*deborahdelasio)