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Look for contrasts and similarities in your street photography

Stark contrasts as well as uncanny similarities within an image will always stand out, as they make us ponder, think and smile, rather than simply being a ‘nice’ picture. As you begin to open your eyes to your surroundings you will start to notice contrasting and conflicting moments.

Balloon Girls—london, UK Canon EOS 350D |18–55mm ƒ/3.5–5.6 lens Balloon Girls—london, UK
Canon EOS 350D |18–55mm ƒ/3.5–5.6 lens
Contrasts can work on either a visual or metaphorical level. Some of the more obvious contrasts you’re likely to come across are light versus dark, big versus small, rich versus poor.
If you take a look at the photo Balloon Girls, it is an image of stark contrasts: the whimsy of the two young ladies peering through a shop window, a balloon floating from one of their wrists, against the huddled figure of the homeless person in the bottom left.
Similarities can work in any number of striking ways, from colour and shape to motion and position. In particular, look out for moments of resonance within those of stark contrast.
Trio—london, UK Nikon EM | 24mm ƒ/2 lens | Agfa APX 100 film Trio—london, UK
Nikon EM | 24mm ƒ/2 lens | Agfa APX 100 film
With the photo Trio, you are presented with three unrelated tourists, standing in the same pose, attempting to do the same thing. All similar, but all different.
Whether you shoot with a digital SLR, a Holga or the camera on your phone, today’s cameras let you seize the moment and shoot whenever and wherever you like. This makes them perfect for street photography, the genre choice of some of the greatest photographers of all time, with names like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Weegee and Robert Frank turning gritty reality into iconic images. In The New Street Photographer’s Manifesto, Tanya Nagar will open your eyes to the photographic potential of our urban world, offering the tricks and techniques that put you in the right place, at the right time, and let you create amazing photos.

New-Street-Photographers-coverThe New Street Photographer’s Manifesto
Tanya Nagar
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RRP for print edition: £9.99