Street Photography for the Purist

(coco) #1

An SLR has its place. So does a view camera. As does a little digi. Even medium format.
None of the aforementioned belongs around the neck or on the shoulder or hidden under a jacket of the street photographer.
This is the world of the rangefinder. Go ahead chop down a fucking tree with a hammer.
Whether your budget is limited and all you can manage is a Bessa with some Voigtlander glass or your dad’s a dentist and he’s turned on by “hot
gear” and buys you the latest Leica and the fastest glass ... I implore you to start off your street photography quest with a rangefinder.
If you counter this that you can use an SLR with a long lens and stand away from the action, you’re not of the correct mindset to really understand.
Close this document.
Go back to macros.
They’re easier.
You have to be in the “middle of it.”
Immersed in the action.
There’s an energy which is palpable ... when you’re onto something.
You can feel it.
Right down to your fingertips.
You’re a hunter.
Not some pussy with a scope up in a tree waiting for some hapless fucking deer with no chance against a 30.06.
So what you froze your ass off for a day and a half? You killed a deer.
Up-fucking-close-and-personal. Go kill that deer with a knife. Then I’ll be impressed. ;)
That’s what this genre is all about.

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