Street Photo Diary Issue 30: New Year Edition
It’s been something of an odd January here in Ireland. For a start, it’s been pretty bloody dark. Normally, we have a reasonable amount of sunshine during winter, with the odd storm, but this year, it’s been wet an overcast a lot. In fact, according to recent reports, parts of Europe have experienced one of the darkest January’s ever.
It has’t exactly been the ideal environment to go out an take photos. Being sick didn’t help either. I had just been thinking to myself I hadn’t really shot any street photography recently, and then, as if by magic, the opportunity presented itself, so off I went. Actually, this wasn’t entirely planned. I was out for a walk, and the light was perfect, so I figured, now is as good a time as any! I also wanted to try out my new little pocket camera.
The thing is, I’ve actually been questioning shooting street photography at all recently. I’ve seen a lot of people posting street images that, in my opinion, are a borderline invasion of privacy. I generally try and capture a degree of the environment, so that it’s not just a person, but rather a moment. But lots of people seem to think that shoving a camera in someone’s unsuspecting face, or capturing an angry “what the fuck are you taking my picture for” expression, is somehow good art. I’ve seen a lot of this recently, and it just feels wrong, and has kind of soured it for me a bit. I’m wondering if I even like this genre any more, when it can be so invasive. I guess I ‘m guilty of this a little at times too, so I can’t really judge, although I do try not to. Anyway, it’s all just food for thought.
In the mean time, here are some shots from my little excursion the other day. I used a Canon G7X Mark II to take these, and I don’t want to get into a gear post here, but my god, that’s a really impressive little camera. I edited the RAW files in Lightroom, with some processing using some of my own presets (Mostly QuickLux 2 and T-Pan). Enjoy.
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