I was thinking of a blog taking you through a typical day on the street taking social documentary photographs, or what is more commonly called street photography. My work falls into both camps at different times but generally I would say social documentary as I intend to document the city streets over a prolonged period. I don’t stage, they are not always pretty, they sometimes are pleasing to the eye, but generally they are a way of me communicating to you how and what I see in the world. Adding some narrative will give you insight to what I saw and why I was drawn to the scene and took the image, but this should not stop you as the viewer seeing your own thing in the same image.

Sunday 18th August 2024 saw us taking off to Edinburgh with the grandkids to experience what was going on around the city with the Edinburgh Fringe going on and street performers around drawing crowds. So how does this fit with a street photography blog, well my approach is I don’t have a typical approach, I’m happy when out with the camera being guided by the street and everything that goes on around them. I’m open to turning up and going with the flow, I might hear something, see a pool of light, someone interesting, whatever it is I tend to follow it and see what it presents or leads me to. So, on Sunday it was perfect and in fact a typical day on the street, well other than having 2 kids under age 6 and my partner with me. This didn't allow me to spend time at scenes but that's ok because they were part of that flow I mentioned earlier. Were there scenes and people that I feel I maybe missed a good image? Sure, but that’s also ok. Moving to a fixed 28mm lens camera 18 months ago or more I had to settle myself with the fact that I would miss images because of the limitation of focal length, and that’s ok, I tell myself it wasn’t my image! Likewise, on days like Sunday limitations can be liberating and allow you to reframe your mind the way you would an image by accepting that sometimes you can’t fit everything in the frame, what you can do is choose the important elements you want to keep in the frame.

Lightbulb moment, I appear to approach my blogs the way I do my street photography, with a very loose start point, destination, and a lot of meandering in between!

Sunday, our only plan was head to Edinburgh, park and ride to Princess Street then wander to see the entertainment and enjoy ourselves. How did this limitation help me? I had no time to over think, I walked with the kids, I saw, and I shot images without thinking anything other than I am drawn to this scene. On reflection it was a great exercise because I drew on instinct and the muscle memory kicked in with composition and camera settings, everything was shot full manual and manual focus either by zone focus or stopping momentarily to critical focus.

The conclusion is, there is no typical day on the street. They have unique movement, mood, and attitude on any given day. It’s like going into a bar and having a great night because of the mix of people and personalities that are around at any given time, you go back the next night expecting the same, but it’s all changed with a different vibe. Sunday was no different than any other day, you can plan to go to a place and with local knowledge and experience you have an idea of where might increase your odds of getting some images, if it’s not working you will know where else to try. Most of all you must be prepared to go with the flow of the street, accept what’s there and accept the limitations. Photographing on the street is tough but so rewarding.  Here are a few images to complete this set with some people who I think might be local which I am always on the lookout for.

Finally, would you like to join me on the street? Get in touch via Instagram and let me know when you’re looking to join me, there is always lots of walking and a coffee.