It’s funny, most of the important moments in your life leave a mark. Some of the most important events in your past leave a scar, or if you’re lucky a fond memory for you to remember. As I sat down to write this piece it was remarkable how easy some of these memories flooded back to me. How the very simplistic act of watching a YouTube video would turn into the greatest catalyst in my life, and affording me the perspective for which I now view the world today.
About 5 years ago I stumbled into my current career as a photographer. To say this transition to being a full time photographer would be easy, but what important aspects of your life ever are? Kind of funny how it takes a while for you to recognize the love of your life right? It was late one night and I was searching YouTube for something to watch and I stumbled upon a “Street Photography settings” video by Jason Roman talking about the Fuji XPRO-2 and Fuji X100F. At this stage in my photography journey I did own a camera, but it sat collecting dust in my closet for a truly inexplicable period of time that I’d rather not talk about. As I sat watching this 10-minute or so video about street photography and looking at all of the images that Jason captured with these cameras I got bit by the photography bug, and hard. A multi-hour YouTube binge ensued, whereas I devoured any and all videos I could get my hands on pertaining to photography and street photography. The next morning I woke up with the urge to finally unbox that camera that had been collecting dust in my closet all those years and take some pictures.
I’d love to make up some story about how I was so inspired and invigorated by my passion for photography that I spent the next days, weeks, and months crafting my photographic style, diving head first into my new found passion. But the truth is, while I took a couple bad photos and some extremely out of focus pictures of flowers, I quickly returned the camera to its box and went about my life. A few months had passed and with a trip to California on the horizon I decided it was the perfect opportunity to break out my camera for the trip. It was the perfect beginners camera, a Canon 60D with an 18-135mm kit lens. I will say, had it not been for this trip to San Francisco, Yosemite, and then Los Angeles, I’m not sure I would be doing photography full time today.
After capturing what were some of the most cliche, unimpressive images in history I had now deemed myself a full fledged photographer and a pro photographer at that. And a professional like myself could not be caught dead using an entry level camera like the Canon 60D so I immediately headed to my local camera store (Shout out Unique Photo) and traded in my gear for a brand spanking new Canon 5D Mark IV. Because if any other photographer out there can relate, it is always the gear that makes the photographer, and in no way shape or form does it have anything to do with skill, passion, or drive.
I spent the next 6-months or so with my shiny new toy documenting my life. I had yet to take the leap of bringing the camera out and about in NYC to try my hand at street photography because it all felt too intimidating at the time. I had watched far too many videos of street photographers and their small compact Leica M cameras or Fuji X series cameras to feel comfortable walking around the city snapping candids of strangers, so I started slow with a drive to the Bronx. To say that this trip was a success would be a hysterical oversimplification of what happened that day. But, over the course of a commute to and from a New York Yankees game, I took enough photos through the window of my car to realize that my desire to be a street photographer was real, and this Canon 5D MKIV just wasn’t going to be it for me.
While my gear journey has taken me to a lot of different mediums both digital and film and I’d love to wax poetic about how each camera, lens, or film stock impacted my photography journey we would be here for days. Truthfully, in my past I was entirely too impacted by what one of my photography idols used, or one of the many photographers I saw on instagram. This “gear acquisition” syndrome I developed had for a while a real detriment in my photography. I was no longer creating images for me, or using the gear I felt fit me best, I was more interested in what the gear I used SAID about me. I’ll simply state that the most important singular lesson I can give when it comes to gear is this; find the camera that works for you, and use that.
About 2 years into my journey with photography I had what I will affectionately coin as being cursed with my passion for street photography. This love affair for street photography blossomed into something special and grew exponentially when I had the ability to learn from those that came before. I devoured book after book on the subject and countless documentaries detailing the lives of some of my inspirations, Joel Meyerowitz, Gary Winogrand, Bruce Gilden, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fred Herzog, and Bill Cunningham just to name a few. But it was a documentary I stumbled upon called Finding Vivian Maier that changed everything for me. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, or the work, I implore you to check out anything and everything you can on Vivian Maier because it changed my life completely.
I would define street photography pretty simply, as photography that features candid or chance encounters, random documentations of life around me. What I cannot properly define is the impact it has had on my life. To be frank, it has been a transformative experience for me. It has helped me find my eye and my vision for the work I create. Each day I spend walking with my camera I see new and interesting things, I tell new and interesting stories, I “meet” new and interesting people. I now have this super power where I see life in frames. My everyday life has been transformed into a beautiful ballet that I am lucky enough to witness. Every day events are no longer normal, or mundane to me but a symphony of visual acoustics.
From time to time I go through some of my favorite images that I have captured over the previous 5-years on this journey and smile with an odd contentment. It’s funny to think that these moments I’ve captured are frozen forever in time and that I am the person responsible for them existing. Street Photography has given me a perspective in my daily life that I can only be thankful for in every way imaginable.
There is tragedy in some of my images.
There is love.
There is happiness, there is joy, there is sadness, and there is boring mundane nothingness.
The simple truth is that this little passion of mine has taught me to find the beauty in everyday life. That there are fleeting moments that pass without a moment's notice and in actuality that is essentially the essence of life. One string of fleeting moments. What street photography has taught me is that we are often incredibly lucky, blessed, and we don’t take nearly enough time to appreciate it. This documentation of life has become my greatest joy, my greatest love affair. The use of my camera not just as a tool to earn a living, but as a means to tell a story has changed the way I live my life, and view my life forever.
The greatest lesson my passion has taught me is that anyone is truly capable of doing anything. If 5 years ago you told me I’d be sitting here, finishing an article to be along with images I created I would have laughed in your face. Life sure is funny that way. Sometimes the most important thing in your life is sitting in a closet, collecting dust, just waiting to be unwrapped to provide you the necessary perspective of what your life means.