Although I like photographing people, I never dared to step into the world of street photography. But recently I have tried it a few times, with mixed results. I would like to share my experiences and give some tips for those who like to try this for the first time also.

I always look in wonder at the amazing photos by famous and not-so-famous street photographers. Often these are presented in black and white and that does have a nice feel to it. Since I like black and white photography a lot, I tried that kind of street photography a few times.

Street photography is all about capturing life on the streets of a city. It’s not specifically about capturing people, but it can be a significant part of street photography. At least, that’s what I believe. But capturing people without their explicit consent is something that I find very difficult.

My regular camera isn’t the perfect camera for this kind of photography. A large DSLR or large mirrorless camera feels a bit obtrusive, and I always think strangers feel intimidated when I point my camera at them. After all, a large 50mm, 85mm, or 135mm lens is not that inconspicuous. The last thing I want is a stranger that reacts threateningly, something that seems to happen quite often nowadays.

The Equipment I Use

Street photography is where my small Fujifilm X100V comes in handy. It’s an inconspicuous camera that produces amazing images. It has a fixed focal length with a field of view similar to a 35mm on a full frame. This does mean I have to get close to my subjects. That has its downsides and upsides.

The upside is the connection you get with the subject and the moment you’re capturing. The downside is not being able to maintain my distance. It is almost impossible to shoot without being noticed. I could use my Canon EOS R5 with a longer focal length and keep my distance, of course. But somehow it doesn’t feel right.

I reviewed the Nikon Z fc a while ago. This is a camera that I find also perfect for street photography. It’s small, and with the standard zoom lens, it doesn’t feel as threatening as my larger Canon. I got some nice photos back then, and people were rather interested in that retro-looking camera instead of being bothered by being photographed.

This is similar to what I encountered with my Fujifilm X100t. Just like with the Nikon Z fc, people believe you are photographing with film rolls. That makes it interesting, and suddenly they don’t seem to feel threatened anymore. It makes street photography a fun thing to do.

A Bit of Street Photography in London

Unfortunately, there is no real big city close to my home. There are some that almost fit the description, but these don’t have that real big-city vibe. The people living there are different from the big city folk, somehow. It’s something I noticed when I was visiting London a few days during the SWPA 2023 event for Sony. I use the free time I had to walk through the city of London, and I took my Fujifilm camera with me (sorry about that, Sony).

I used the black and white film simulation profile while shooting in raw, and I used manual focus, set to the hyperfocal distance. This way there was no need to wait for the autofocus to lock onto something. I also played around with intentional camera movement, which was possible thanks to the built-in neutral density filter. Those few hours in the city of London were a lot of fun. Not for the impressive landmarks, but for life on the streets.

The results of my first steps into street photography didn’t produce any world-class photos. But that wasn’t my goal. I just wanted to get familiar with this kind of photography. I do like to think some of my photos are worth keeping. In other words, I am happy with some results.

Lessons Learned So Far

There are some lessons learned, for sure. I know the technique known as zone focusing is quite a useful way for street photography. Just use the hyperfocal distance of your aperture in combination with the focal length, or predetermine the distance you would like to shoot and set your focus distance at that setting.

Often, this only works for short focal lengths. If you want to use a telelens, focusing is mandatory. But when zone focusing is possible, it allows you to shoot inconspicuously from the waist, without ever looking through the viewfinder.

Although I used aperture priority a lot, I believe it can be a good choice to set the exposure manually. Especially during the daytime, when the buildings produce deep shadows in the harsh sunlight. Since daylight doesn’t change in brightness that much, it becomes much easier to set the proper exposure once, and forget about it.

Aperture priority is also possible, but you need to keep an eye on the exposure compensation. If the sunlight gets regularly obscured by clouds, or if you shoot at the end of the day when the light intensity changes rapidly, aperture priority is much faster. But if it’s a sunny day, setting the exposure once will be enough. As long as the light doesn’t change.

Know the City and Its Inhabitants

There is one last thing I noticed when I was walking through the streets of London and along the South Banks of the Thames. If you know the city, it becomes easier to capture great photos. You learn where and when the light is at its best, and what the best locations are. This way you can be at the right location at the right time.

You will learn when the people are passing by and perhaps even notice patterns. You will be prepared. On top of that, if you can go back more often, you increase the chances of capturing unique moments, with great light, amazing shadows, and interesting people.

These are my findings with street photography. Take a look at the photos in this article to judge if I’m on the right track. I know I still have to learn a lot, but it always takes time to master a certain type of photography. The most important thing is having fun with it. And that’s what I had.

If you have tips or advice for street photography, feel free to share in the comments below. Perhaps it will help me to take another step in this interesting kind of photography.

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A local wildlife photographer has maintained a vivid outlook on life after a battle with rectal cancer.

Nearly two years after his diagnosis, he is only discovering more and more that he desires to sharpen his focus on his longtime passion: wildlife photography.

Pace Clyncke has called Greeley home for the past 22 years. As a kid, he grew up with a love for the outdoors, paired with a love for film and photography. Around 2017, he found wildlife photography to be the perfect fit.

“It’s not the only thing that gets me up in the morning, but it’s something I almost need to do before I go to bed,” he said.

Clyncke snaps pictures of animals, whether feathered or furry, roaming the outdoors around Weld County. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, he is out and about, predominantly in Greeley, Windsor and other northern Colorado locations, whenever he has the chance to take photos of wildlife species.

As people drive up and down Weld roads, many don’t know what’s mere feet away from the paved road — “a hidden gem right under your nose,” according to Clyncke. Several wildlife sites host different species all over Weld County, Clyncke said, while pointing out a great blue heron in a tree off the Poudre River Trail near 59th Street.

His favorite animals to photograph are owls and bald eagles, which can be found all around the county, according to Clyncke.

New outlook on life

In November 2021, Clyncke faced a setback in his life when a colonoscopy revealed he had rectal cancer. He immediately began going through radiation before progressing to chemotherapy in 2022. Throughout his treatment, Clyncke had three surgeries, including the shrinking and removal of his tumor.

“As of now, my last scan, everything is good,” Clyncke said.

Once Clyncke fully recovered, he decided to return his focus to wildlife photography — a passion he maintained even when he was battling cancer.

Clyncke could feel himself escape from the real world when he stepped into uncongested, peaceful outdoor locations and took pictures of the beautiful creatures that came and went.

“It was a release for sure,” he said. “It gave me an out.”

Clyncke finds peace where the wildlife lies and flies.

Along with Clyncke’s family, who he credits with keeping him going through his treatment, cancer allowed him to look at life through a new lens. The scare has made him realize a person never knows when their time is up and that everyone only has one life to live.

“You don’t realize you only have one life until you could lose the one you have,” Clyncke said.

This outlook redirected his fixation on his desire for more time to accomplish things in his life, such as taking his photography hobby and turning it into more. In addition to his day job at Premier Solutionz in Loveland, Clyncke is working hard to make a living off his passion.

Community connections

Networking is what has helped his photography side hustle grow, Clyncke said. Over the years, he has gone on to volunteer for the city of Greeley, he’s dabbled in multiple freelance opportunities and he is selling more and more of his prints to customers.

People can spot his work hanging on and off at local coffee shops in Greeley, including Aunt Helen’s. He also has his photography in the Sanderosa Art Gallery in Laporte, as well as the Loveland Chamber of Commerce.

Clyncke’s deep connections across northern Colorado habe also led to exciting opportunities such as his participation in Art in the Park in Loveland and the Arts Picnic in Greeley.

“Everybody can take pictures … obviously your pictures have to be pretty good … but it’s who knows you’re out there and being able to connect with the public,” Clyncke said. “There’s a connection that needs to be made and established.”

For more information about Clyncke and his photography, go to pace-photography.com.

Sir Roger A. Deakins is widely considered to be one of the greatest cinematographers of all time. He has won two Academy Awards and sixteen nominations for his cinematography of over 70 feature films.

In 2021 he published a coffee-table book Byways (Damiani) of his B&W photographs captured over the last 50 years while traveling and shooting movies worldwide.

Deakins (born 1949) has spent much of his career encircled by film sets. He finds working on movies as a cinematographer to be stressful. This demanding environment does not get any better with experience, involving collaboration and coordination with the director, actors, and various crew.

On the other hand, photography is genuinely independent. It provides him with a sort of release and relaxation from the stress of work – whether on the weekend off or in between shoots as director of photography. He has shot B&W photos from Bristol to Berlin to Budapest.

“My process is pretty straightforward,” Deakins tells PetaPixel. “I enjoy walking and exploring new and also familiar places. Sometimes I see an image that seems to strike me as interesting, but more often, I can spend hours just observing without shooting a single frame.

“What can I say? It [photography] really is not something I analyze. I love finding images.”

Unlike his meticulously planned screenwork, his black-and-white shots are casual street photographs. He does not have very many negatives, and with digital, he erases whatever he does not like. And firstly, he is not a prolific shooter. Even when he goes out intending to take photos, he often returns home without a single image.

Deakins studied photography at an art college in Bath (west of London, England) but does not necessarily apply the rules of photography to his filmmaking.

“I am familiar with the ‘rule of thirds’, but I have not considered it a conscious part of my approach since I attended art college in the 1960s,” he says.

“I always loved painting since I was very young, but it was not until I was at Bath Academy that I looked to photography to express my thoughts. How did it happen? I suspect my paintings were quite naturalistic, which was out of fashion in the 1960s.”

“There are probably a few painters whose work has inspired me more than photographers. There are so many great photographers and image makers that mentioning only one or two would be too simplistic.”

Color is a Distraction

Although Deakins has published Byways, a collection of his 50 years of street photography, he has no secret sauce on the subject.

“I can’t say anything is important about street photography,” says the photographer. “Whatever is important to one person may be of no consequence to another. That is what makes the photographic image interesting. We all have a different ‘eye.’

The one thing that strikes the viewer is that Deakins’ cinematography is in vivid color, but his personal photography is all in B&W.

“I used to develop my own film, and I always loved the simplicity of a B&W image,” explains Deakins.

“Color can be pleasing and vibrant and be about nothing but itself. It can complicate an image, and I am always striving for simplicity.

“I find color a distraction to the ideas within a frame, though, that said, there are some great photographers who work in color. I just can’t.”

Deakins grew up inspired by the classic black-and-white images of photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Bill Brandt.

The celebrated director of photography does shoot color photos on his digital cameras but finds that they become more powerful when he converts them to B&W.

Cinematography and photography are entirely independent, with no connection between the two for Deakins.

“They are very different ways of seeing,” he clarifies. “My still photographs are my personal sketches that either stand or fall on their own. What I do as a cinematographer is so very different.”

The B&W Photographs

Deakins remembers taking his first photograph in 1969 in Bournemouth, England. A man and a woman are eating lunch on a bench outside a ladies’ room with a sign that says, “Keep it to Yourself.”

“I used to hitchhike to various locations and spend the day with my camera,” recounts the cinematographer of the twenty-third Bond film, Skyfall. “Sometimes, I even slept on the beach to catch the early light.

“The photograph [referenced] was taken one day when I had made my way to Bournemouth and was just walking the promenade. What attracted me to the image was the juxtaposition of the elements in the frame, the older couple with their lunch, the restroom and the sign ‘Keep it to Yourself.’

Deakins tells The Guardian, “I returned to it [the scene at the seaside in 2004] throughout the day and took variations of this shot, but none were as strong. I didn’t speak to the woman here – I rarely make conversation when I’m taking photographs – but she gave me a kind of wordless nod after looking at me and wondering what on earth I was doing.

“Just as I went to take the photograph, she looked across at the poster. It was the perfect moment. I loved the juxtaposition of this elderly lady holding her umbrella at the height of the British summer, contrasting with the semi-naked young woman lying in the sunshine on a boardwalk. I liked the age gap between the two.”

In the foreword to his Byways book, Deakins questions, “Whether without a detailed explanation of how and why a picture came about, can it mean the same to the viewer as it does to the photographer?

“Knowing that the image of the eagle was taken in Romania and is of a statue that stands sentinel over a German war grave can only change the relationship between the photograph and the viewer.”

This shot was taken of Salisbury Plain (central southern England) at dusk at the end of a scouting day for locations, and the tree is shown at the end of the film 1917. The film, which netted Deakins his second Oscar for Cinematography, is created to look like the whole movie is just one uninterrupted take or shot without any cuts, thanks to the artistry of DP Deakins and director Sam Mendes.

Deakins has the patience to wait months for a photo. He lived a few miles from this cliff and jogged the path. He waited for winter when the tree would be bare.

When he found that they cut down the bracken and the tree had opened, he saw his chance and captured varying images with different skies. But the one he loved was the one with the plain bright sky right behind the tree and the light shining off the water.

Many images in his photographic oeuvre have harsh lighting, and Deakins also uses it in his cinematography, but it is finely controlled. In his latest film Empire of Light, there is a scene when harsh lighting is required to show a character’s raging paranoia.

Deakins took the shade off a table lamp and used a bare bulb. The harsh light almost bleaches out the face of the actor, but it is still well controlled. The DP stuck a piece of tape on the side of the bulb facing the camera so that it would not flare the lens, which he hates.

When Deakins shot the Coen brothers’ film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) in Mississippi, it was a lush green. But the look that was desired was an autumnal yellow. The DP spent a couple of months fine-tuning the look and desaturating the entire image. This resulted in it being the first feature film that was digitally color-corrected in its entirety and earned him his fourth Academy Award nod for a nomination.

A person was throwing a stick off the promenade, and the dog jumped after it. Deakins got into a position and waited for him to throw it again. He shot from a low angle, and just as the shutter clicked, luckily, the dog looked at his camera.

“The Joy of Flight is a very simple photograph,” says the Englishman. “It is easily read, and I think it works as a small image.” [Referring to Magnum Photos using it for their last print sale.]

Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario was shot in New Mexico. At the end of the shooting day, Deakins would take off with his trusted still camera looking for the last traces of light. Sometimes he would drive to the same location and wait for late-day thunderstorms to produce the shot he visualized like the lightning bolt.

For the lightning strike bisecting the building, Deakins let the shutter click away and luckily landed the perfect frame.

Still Cameras and Movie (Video) Cameras

Deakins’ first camera was a Praktica film SLR. The digital camera he has used the most is the Leica M8. The movie/video camera he has relied on the most in the last five years is the Arri Alexa LF (sensor slightly larger than full frame).

“An Alexa LF…I like the image it produces, and I like the way it fits me as an operator,” says the cinematographer.

Deakins, knighted in 2013 for his service to film, is not much of a gearhead who desires the latest and greatest features in his cameras.

“[Camera features] would depend on the project in hand,” he says. “I don’t need many of the additional features that are being built into newer camera systems. That is why I love the Leica M8 or M9 cameras. They are really simple manual cameras.”

Deakins has also used the Nikon F3 and the Leica M6, which PetaPixel selected as one of “the Best 35mm Film Cameras of All Time.” He owns two Leica M9 cameras, one of which is monochrome and his favorite camera.

Although the cinematographer uses some of the most expensive and advanced cameras in his professional work, he is not dismissive of the humble cell phone camera.

“You can create an image in any way you want,” he says. “The subject and the framing are more important than the means of capture.”

Deakins often uses a still camera on movie sets to record the environment.

“I simply use a still camera to record an image of a location or a set so that I can then use it as a reference,” he says. “These photos … are only spacial references [and not to examine the lighting].”

Today’s small mirrorless cameras can produce high-quality video, but Deakins does not believe this can lead to an increased interest in filmmaking/cinematography by still photographers.

“Shooting a film is so different from capturing a single still frame,” explains the master. “I don’t see why there would be any more or less crossover simply through a change in technology and camera size in particular. Ansel Adams’ still camera was pretty big!”

“I think there are many ways to find and explore filmmaking,” he says. “Perhaps photography offers a way in, but I also know renowned stills photographers who started out as filmmakers.”

In the older days of movie making with film, the director and others couldn’t view what the cinematographer was capturing, so “dailies” were created. These were the first positive prints from the negative photographed the previous day and viewed by the director, actors, and crew.

“There are advantages as well as disadvantages,” says Deakins. “The technology itself is not at fault, but how it is used is important.

“Personally, I like showing a director what I am thinking and what the image looks like rather than waiting for any comments they might have in the dailies screening room the next day.” [The reference here is to the monitors where the director can see what the cinematographer is capturing in real time.]

The Beginnings in England

Deakins never planned on becoming a cinematographer. His first passion was photography. He finished art school in Bath and then worked for a small arts center in North Devon. His job was to photograph local scenes. It was then that the National Film School opened.

“After I discovered a love for a photographic image, it seemed natural to explore whether documentary filmmaking might be another avenue of exploration,” remembers Deakins. “Only when The National Film and Television School opened up, did I see an opportunity in that direction.”

Deakins got a spot on the second attempt, which moved his life and career toward cinematography.

The DP had initially been interested in documentary photography, so he worked on the same genre of documentaries as a budding cinematographer. Some directors asked him to work on fiction films and he gladly obliged. When no more work was found in London, he landed a movie in the US. Next, he was approached by the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men), and the rest, as they say, is history.

Deakins has still not been able to forget his attraction for the British seaside, despite living for many years in Santa Monica, California. He grew up in Torquay, a seaside town on the southern edge of England. The history and nostalgia of the Victorian and Gregorian structures still linger in his mind.

Deakins never intended to exhibit his photographs which was just a personal hobby for him. During COVID and lockdown, he sat down with his wife, James, to compile a record, which led to a book. Byways, his first photo book has been successful with requests for exhibitions worldwide. So, maybe we will see a second offering from the master cinematographer.

You can see more of Roger Deakins’ photos on his website.

Byways (Damiani) has a large collection of Deakins’ B&W photos.

About the author: Phil Mistry is a photographer and teacher based in Atlanta, GA. He started one of the first digital camera classes in New York City at The International Center of Photography in the 90s. He was the director and teacher for Sony/Popular Photography magazine’s Digital Days Workshops. You can reach him here.

Image credits: All photos © Roger Deakins. Header photo: Sir Roger Deakins portrait © Misan Harriman; The Joy of Flight – Teignmouth, 2000 © Sir Roger Deakins. This image was selected by Magnum Photos as part of its recently concluded Magnum and Friends print sale.

It feels like stories about AI have dominated photography news over the last year. Part of me keeps ignoring the headlines as an irrelevance, but chirping away in the background, the other part of me keeps asking: what does it all mean? What’s AI capable of? Will it really be a revolution? And perhaps the biggest question of them all: are photographers at risk of becoming obsolete because of AI?

Only in certain circumstances and only if we let it, according to this video by Lucy Lumen. In a thoughtful and interesting discussion, Lumen outlines her thoughts on this contentious topic and ways that we can counter the rise of AI. She even goes as far as saying that it could save photography. 

Her first piece of advice for photographers is to lean into the human element of photography. AI represents the antithesis of mistakes and happy accidents, and often, this human element in the image-making process creates beautiful, memorable, or even career-changing images. 

Secondly, she suggests that now is the perfect time for photographers to reflect and think about what makes them unique and how they can add value for clients.

This is a fantastic way of looking at the issue. AI might gain a significant share in the stock photography market, but it’s doubtful that clients will be looking to buy AI-generated wedding photos or magazine editors will be buying AI-generated documentary or travel images. In these fields, authenticity is key. Photographers should look at what makes them special and articulate that to their market. 

As for her thoughts on how AI can save photography, you’ll have to watch the video and find out for yourself.