Streets

The challenge with shooting wide open in the streets is that things move quickly. In the time it takes to adjust focus, the next shot can be gone before you can press the shutter. This is where zone focusing comes in.

I’m not much of a portrait photographer, but I’d like to get better at photographing willing participants. That includes barely willing participants, as strangers in the street often are.

I don’t shoot a lot of color these days, but when I decided to spend the day of July 4th in the streets of San Francisco with my camera, it seemed almost criminal to shoot in black and white.

Fillmore Street, live music, food and crafts vendors, and people from all over The Bay—the perfect reason to spend a few hours out with a camera.

While I was shooting in Manhattan, I was convinced that I was off my game, that my efforts were wasted. But I know better—just keep shooting, focus on doing the work, and push through the doubt.

The first time I joined a half-day workshop at Leica SF, Santa Con also happened to be going on down the street. What luck.

Another visit to Manhattan during the perfect time of year to spend a few days in one of the richest street photography environments in the world.

The weather was hot as hell, the air was swampy and smelly. There were costumed nerds everywhere. An off duty jewelry store security guard threatened to shoot me. DTLA.