• Urban street photography is more accessible than ever for anyone with a smartphone. 
• But however accessible, urban pictures that stand out are tough to capture. 
• I’ve found that the best results come from staying in one place and waiting for the perfect shot.

You could call me a street photographer. 

For the last ten years, I’ve been taking photos of urban landscapes — first in photo school, which I attended in Austin, Texas, and now, around the world, as I work as a travel reporter for Insider. 

Now, you might picture me running around neighborhoods to capture a plethora of scenes and moments. But the reality is quite the opposite. Sure, I move around a bit, but I’ve found that the best results often come from staying in one place for a period of time. This allows me to observe my surroundings, frame my image, and wait for the opportune moment. 

Finding the best spot to wait

When it comes to picking the perfect spot, a few key factors come to mind. First, take a look at the light. You want to find an area with even lighting, which could be in the shade on a sunny day, or anywhere on a cloudy day. Or perhaps you want to find a stream of sunlight hitting a specific spot. 

Once you find great lighting, look for an interesting backdrop to frame your image. This depends on what you’re going for: If you want to show the fast-paced nature of a city, you might seek out a busy street behind your subject. Or perhaps you’re looking for something more iconic and defining, like a skyline. Maybe you want to show a piece of the city that slows the pace of life, like a park. The choice is yours. 

Waiting and snapping

Once you find the frame you want, get comfortable and watch through the lens as people walk by and perhaps interact with each other. Every time something in the frame interests you, take a snap. As far as time goes, you can wait minutes or hours, but you’ll know you’re ready to move on when you’ve captured the shot you were waiting for. Happy shooting!

Whenever we have our picture taken, some of us fuss over how we look. We hope for a good hair day or think a certain angle is our best. Now imagine seeing your picture and thinking that outward appearance doesn’t match who you are inside. It’s a reality for a lot of trans women and trans men, but Orlando-based photographer Harry Aaron hopes to empower them through the truID Project. “I’ll be helping both masc and fem presenting transgender individuals both in Florida and beyond get portraits taken that really reflect their true ID, their true identity,” Aaron said. On a Saturday in early June, he transformed a local studio to feel like a Hollywood photo shoot with all the lighting, equipment, makeup artists and hair stylists one would expect to see at a big-budget shoot. “My background is a combination of sports, portrait, advertising,” Aaron said. “I’ve been fortunate to work with companies like WeWork, Peloton, WWE, body armor the Drink company.”He said that knowledge has helped him better serve the people whose pictures he’s photographing. “It’s brought me a wealth of experience behind the camera and getting a better understanding of how to make people feel comfortable in front of it,” Aaron said. Even though the trans men and women who participated in the truID Project got to feel like stars, they didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to get their pictures taken.”truID Project is a pay-what-you-can portrait event series,” he said. “If you’ve got two bucks in your pocket, I’ll still send you off with a professional portrait.”Jaz is one of the people who had Aaron take her portrait.“It enlightened me. Brought me back to good times in my past life,” Jaz said.Even though her curiosity brought her to the photo shoot, she has a keepsake from the day to hold on to.“Just admire them. And show some associates from my peer support group or something like that,” she said. “I’m really impressed. It’s like, it’s so cool.”Aaron’s inspiration for the project stemmed from the recent news stories affecting LGBTQ+ people.“Seeing the barrage of negativity that’s been directed toward the trans and LGBTQ community overall, especially in Florida, I wanted to try and do something for those in my community, direct action, that could help people even on a 1-to-1 level,” Aaron said. And he received help from volunteers like Tiffany Borroso, the owner of Orlando Bridal Makeup. Tiffany said she didn’t think twice about volunteering her services to help.“I think it’s just so important for somebody to feel like they can represent who they are without hiding it or feeling scared or feeling like they can’t afford to do something like this,” Borroso said. “For me, I didn’t even think about not being paid or whatever being here on a Saturday, I don’t care what day it was. For me, it was important to be here and show up for the community in such a special way.”“I want this to be a situation whether you’re using it for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, whatever it may be- emailing it to friends and family that you haven’t seen in a while, I want to send folks off with a photo where they can say this right here is who I am,” Aaron said.

WATERTOWN, Mass.—Project Save Photograph Archives is thrilled to announce a major move to a new space this summer. The new location – 600 Pleasant Street in Watertown – will feature an exhibition gallery and larger office space.

When its doors open this fall, Project Save will be one of the few hubs for photography not just in the Boston area but in the entire region, featuring exhibitions from the archives, various workshops and lectures, as well as exhibits of contemporary photographers. 

The move represents a significant milestone and comes less than two years after the addition of new executive director, Dr. Arto Vaun, who has brought a fresh perspective and transformative vision to Project Save. Vaun’s commitment to elevating Project Save’s profile and highlighting its true value has already produced a wider impact and attracted a larger audience. 

Through initiatives such as the annual Artist and Research Residency, the Conversations on Photography series and interactive new website, Project Save has launched a bold new vision to claim its rightful place in the national and international field of photographic cultural work. 

Founded in 1975 by Ruth Thomasian, Project Save Photograph Archives is a groundbreaking nonprofit that champions photography as a means of preserving and sharing the global Armenian experience and social history in general. Its collection spans over 80,000 hardcopy original photographs from around the globe, making Project Save the oldest and largest such archive in the world. 

According to Vaun, “We’re living in a time when once again there are forces actively trying to rewrite history and erase any traces of Armenian culture. There’s no clearer, more powerful and direct evidence to counter such attempts than photographs.”  

In the past year, Vaun has also built a new advisory board with experts from premiere institutions such as the Getty Museum, the Smithsonian, Harvard, the Library of Congress, Boston Public Library and Oxford. The members range from curators and archivists to scholars and acclaimed photographers and artists. 

“The fact that such successful professionals who are non-Armenian have enthusiastically joined our board tells me that Project Save has great potential that’s beyond just the Armenian world,” Vaun said. “It also reaffirms the fact that Project Save’s legacy is extremely unique, important, and must be secured for future generations.”

According to Vaun, the upcoming move is part of a larger plan for growth. “Our 50th anniversary in 2025 will be a major milestone. The goal is for Project Save to secure its own permanent building in the next five years,” he said. “It would further solidify Project Save’s identity as one of the few important photographic archives and museums in North America, and one of the most vital organizations dedicated to social history and the global Armenian experience.”

Project Save has launched a JumpStart campaign to rally investors around its new vision and plan. “Amazingly, we’re like a 48-year-old startup,” said Vaun. “The product is already built, unique and strong. It has incredible potential and wide appeal. But there’s never been the proper kind of investment to realize that potential. So this is a very exciting and rare opportunity, not only for our organization but for all those who care about introducing a wider demographic to Armenian culture and history.”

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

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BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

The Friends of Council Grounds State Park are again holding their ninth annual amateur photography contest in 2023, and they want to encourage visitors to Council Grounds State Park (CGSP), located just north of Merrill, to “come and enjoy the park and remember to bring a camera along and take photos for the contest.”
Park visitors in previous years have captured some wonderfully unexpected and candid images of animals in the park and people enjoying Council Grounds, as well as great images of plants and landscapes, to enter into the contest.

Rules
There is no cost to enter and the rules are few and easy to follow. All photos entered into this year’s contest must have been taken within the boundaries of Council Grounds State Park between Aug. 1, 2021, and July 31, 2023, (a two-year period), and each person can enter only one photograph, so pick your best image to enter. Professional photographers and anyone who sells their photos are not eligible.
Images must be in color, submitted as high resolution digital JPEG files, emailed to: [email protected], and may only be submitted between July 1 and July 31, 2023. Keep images at their original aspect ratio (don’t crop them into weird thin photos) for best results. No panoramic, digitally enhanced, or altered photos. Submit images that be enlarged and clearly printed in an 8×10” format.
Photos can be submitted in one of four contest categories, so submit your photo in the best category for your photo’s subject matter.

Photo contest categories are:

• Plants (includes wildflowers, trees, shrubs, fungi, berries, cones, etc.)
• Wildlife (includes animals, birds, insects, etc.–anything found walking, crawling, hopping, or flying in CGSP.)
• People using the park (includes people engaged in any activity in the park–walking, hiking, cooking, swimming, biking, fishing, exploring, just relaxing, etc.). (Please do NOT include photos with recognizable faces of people.)
• Landscapes (includes broad scenes, sunsets, sunrises, rivers, etc. but remember, no panoramic images.)(This is the most popular category.)

Each photo submitted must include:

• Contest category
• Date taken
• Photographer’s name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number

By entering the contest, photographers verify the image is their own and agree to have their submitted photos used/copied/displayed/published (without fee or compensation) in conjunction with the contest, including in local publications, in articles relating to this or future contests; online at the Wisconsin Parks Website, on the Friends Facebook page, etc., and displayed in the Park contact station; on cards or postcards for sale by the Friends Group; and/or saved or re-used for any future purpose by the Friends of Council Grounds State Park group.
Any photo that does not comply with the contest rules, is not properly labeled, or is deemed inappropriate in any way by the Friends of Council Grounds State Park Board will be rejected.
Contest judges, DNR employees, and Friends Group members and their families are not eligible to enter.
Complete rules are available online at: dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/councilgrounds/photocontest or on the Friends of Council Grounds State Park Facebook page. Copies of complete rules are also available at the Park office and in the entryway at the Merrill Chamber of Commerce office.

Judging
After July 31, a panel of judges from the Friends Group will narrow the entries down to the top three in each category. Photographer names will not be revealed to the judges. Any category with fewer than eight entries may be canceled.
The three finalist photos in each category will then go to public voting to determine the final first-and second-place winners in each category. Public voting will take place from Aug. 15 through Aug. 31, 2023. Finalist images may be viewed on the Friends of Council Grounds State Park Facebook page, at the Park contact station, and at the T.B. Scott Free Library in Merrill, Wis. The public will vote on their favorite single image on the Friends of Council Grounds State Park Facebook page or by emailing their vote for their favorite image to [email protected] Only one vote per person. Duplicate votes will be eliminated.
Winners will be notified and announced in Sept. 2023.
First-place winners in each category will receive a 2024 Wisconsin State Park vehicle sticker. Second-place winners in each category will receive Council Grounds merchandise or a gift certificate valued up to $15.