streetogrOFFY

Small city street photgraphy exists too

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:10:00 +0000

London, Paris, New York, LA, Hong Kong have all become mecca's for street photography, and the list doesn't end there. Many people think you need to live in or a at least shoot in one of these big cities in order to particpate in street photography.

This couldn't be farther from the truth, street photography lives wherever there is human life exists. At its core street photography is the documentation of the beautiful moments that occur in everyday human life. So why would it only be centered in the major cities of the world, life exists outside of those centres.

Even though street photography can take place in smaller centres, it can be a little more frustrating at times and slightly different techniques need to be employed to be successful.

streetogrOFFY mainly occurs in the small 16,000 person village that I live in. I sometimes make trips into much bigger cities to work but the bulk of my training, practice, and images come from this small centre.

Street photography in the bigger cities is something to be treasured. There is so much going on and so many people around, that not only is it easy to blend in as a street photographer, but there are so many different stories being told all at once.

As you move to a smaller location, the population decreases drastically and so too do the amount of stories you see. They are spread out much more, and without the hustle and bustle of the big city, the residents are usually much more aware of their surroundings, specifically someone trying to take their picture.

This is where discreetness is king. I used to used a DSLR when I started out and managed to get some great images but I needed something more. It was too large and often would affect my ability to be the "unseen" photographer and document what I see.

I now work with gear much smaller, quieter and more discreet in order to get closer to the action and get the shots I want.

Street Photography for Beginners - The Social Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:23:00 +0000

We are all on our way to becoming the next masters of street photography, continually developing and practicing our foundations of street photography. But there is one more skill that is often overlooked. It is very common place for a street photographers to be out shooting and not say a single word the entire time they are out.

Our society has slowly moved to a place where people no longer smile or greet each other as they walk by on the street, everyone is preoccupied with their own situation. Now this shift in society behaviour can work towards a street photographer's benefit because it is much easier to take your photos unnoticed.

But if you are walking around quiet and sullenly taking your photos, it almost has a stalking appearance and that could put many people on guard while you are around. By smiling lots and saying hello to people as you walk around you become a lot less threatening. This will allow your subjects to relax while you are around with your camera, allowing you to get better photos.

One exercise I like to work on each day is everytime I am out taking photos I like to take the time to stop and talk to at least one stranger. By spending some time striking up conversations with strangers you will not only develop your social skills, but your confidence will improve dramatically.

This added confidence will allow you to continually be able to get closer to your subject so you can get the framing and composition you want. And you never know, while you are having your conversation you may just get the oppurtunity to take an excellent candid street portrait :)

Street Photography for Beginners - Take the Gloves Off

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:33:00 +0000

The Golden Rule has finally been put to bed and now it is time to take the gloves off. You have worked hard at practicing all the foundational skills that make up a great street photograph.

Now is the time to get out there and put all that practice to good use. Just remember your foundation while you are out there!

Now that the old Golden Rule is over, it is time to add a new Golden Rule for your street photography: HAVE FUN

Nothing could be more important than you having fun with you street photography. This will keep you focused and pushing yourself to continually improve your street photography skills.

Don't spend too much time examining the photos of the street masters, but rather spend your time making your own photographs. Learn what type of images you like, and develop your own style. At the end of the day, the only person that needs to like your photographs is you.

As you move along your journey towards becoming a better street photographer, by all means study the masters, but always remember you are your own artist.

This marks the end of our journey towards becoming a better street photographer. I hope you enjoyed the journey and continue to have fun pursuing and develop your skills as a street photographer.

My next post will cover one additional optional skill you can work on if you feel like it.

Street Photography for Beginners - The Foundation

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 12:45:00 +0000

We are all masters of our cameras and composition so it is time to start having a little more fun. Don't get too excited though, because our Golden Rule still applies. Refrain from shooting street photographs for just a little bit longer, we are almost there.

Spending time learning to use our cameras and learning compositional techniques are the foundation of photography, now we need to put those skills to use to start building the foundation of the photograph.

Street photographs aren't on blank canvas, the subject is always surrounded by urban surroundings. So in order to continue along our journey towards becoming a better street photographer, we need to spend a little time working on shooting urban scapes.

To start just walk around taking photos of different urban scapes that seem appealing to you. This will help you determine what textures you like and what makes a strong supporting background.

Once you have taken your urban scape photos spend some time examining them. Critique yourself on your composition and think of ways you could have improved the photo. In addition, spend some time thinking of where people could be placed in the photo to add the finishing touches.

When I first started out I focused on this one set of staircases that I found just had such a gritty and raw look to it.

I went back everyday shooting the same staircase from different angles and point of views. Each time I reviewed I would imagine where I would ideally like to place my subjects in the photo to strengthen it.

Finally, I decided on two different variations of subject placement that I thought might look good. It was for the Golden rule to end, and add subjects into my photographs.

Subject Placement 1

Subject Placement 2

These aren't the best street photographs that I have ever produced but they help illustrate how to properly practice skill three.

By continually practicing this skill my images have gotten much stronger. The subjects in the photographs are now surrounded by a much stronger foundation, making for much better images.

In the next we will examine the final skill in our journey to become better street photographers

Street Photography for Beginners - Compose Like a Master

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:36:00 +0000

We are all now masters of our cameras, and it has truly now become a tool that enhances our ability to make art. It is time to begin working on our second required skill for improving our street photography. Remember while doing this to continue following the golden rule, Don't Shoot Street Photography.

If you spend some time looking at the masters of street photography images, like Henri Cartier Bresson's, they all have one thing in common; their photographs are compositional masterpieces.

Composition is often the most overlooked skill in street photography, where photographers focus more on capturing the "decisive moment", but without strong composition a photograph will an excellent captured moment will still not pop out of the page.

Street photography requires the photographer to have the ability to make a strong composition in a fraction of a second; it almost must be second nature to the street photographer.

In order to gain this "sixth sense" of photography and have composition become second nature you must study composition and practice. This will be a life long task that will always require you to be learning, practicing, and refining your compositional skills.

This is a very big task to take on, so in order to not become overwhelmed break the elements of composition down into single elements. This way you can focus on each one individually. Go out each time and only focus on one element of composition. For example, spend an entire day working on lines. Focus on looking for lines everywhere, you will be surprised how abundant they are.

As you practice each element of composition more and more they will begin to come a lot more naturally as you look at a potential photograph, slowly becoming second nature.

In our next post we will continue moving along our journey towards becoming better at street photography by looking at our next skill.

Street Photography for Beginners - Become a Master

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:45:00 +0000

In my last post I shared my golden rule on becoming a better street photographer; Don't Shoot Street Photography. I know this seems a little backwards but trust me on this, ignore your urges to attempt to capture street photographs and focus on the required skills. You will have plenty of time in the future to do as much street photography as you like but for now lets focus on the basics.

The first skill required for becoming a better street photographer is a simple one: LEARN AND MASTER YOUR CAMERA

Now although this seems like a very simple task, most photographers don't spend nearly enough time on this skill, if any time at all.

Your first task in mastering this skill is simple; read your camera's manual. I am not talking about skimming through it, but seriously sitting down and learning you camera.

This is important because you need to know you camera's capabilities. Also, by doing this you will be able to set you camera up in a manner that works best with how you work.

Set your camera up in with a certain configuration and then go test it out. Change any specific that don't make sense with how you work until you can function and make changes on the fly with no problems.

Once your camera is all set-up, it is time to master your camera. To do this you want to learn exactly how your camera functions at its different settings.

Go out and pick a stationary target to take pictures of and perform 3 tasks.

1. Alter your ISO settings - by shooting the same subject at all the different ISO settings on your camera you will be able to see what your camera's low light capabilities are. It will allow you to see what level of grain and noise comes with each setting, and what your maximum threshold is.

2. Alter your Aperture settings - open your aperture as wide as it goes and then proceed to shoot a picture at increasing full exposure stops. This will well you learn the depth of field capabilities of your lens and sharpness.

Once you have done this exercise once, do it again but this time shoot your camera into frontlit sunlight. This will allow you to see how your lens performs in direct sun and what type of flares you will get

3. Alter you shutter speed - set your camera to shutter priority and begin at 1/125s and decrease your shutter speeds by full stops of exposure. By doing this task you will learn your hand holding capabilities.

These tasks might seem trivial and meaningless but they are such an important foundation to build. When you are out shooting street photography you need to be able to seamlessly transition between ISO, aperture, and shutter speeds to get the look you like. If you haven't spent the time learning what all these settings look like, you won't know what changes to make when you are moving on the fly

In the next post we will continue examining the skills required for improving your street photography.

Street Photography for Beginners: The Golden Rule

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:51:00 +0000

Street photography is becoming a lot more of a mainstream form of photography these days. As such, many more photographers are attempting to try their hand at it. Often though, as with many forms of photography, your images just don't have the pop that other street photographers have. Beginner street photographers can find this frustrating because they just don't understand why their images aren't working, it is just photographs of random people on the street right?

Well actually street photography can be a difficult discipline to master. There are a lot of elements that make up a great street photograph, and the street photographer only has a fraction of a second to combine all these elements to create their piece of art.

This realization can be very frustrating and cause many photographers to abandon their quest of becoming a street photographer. Don't give up if this is the case, you just need to work on your craft more to improve your street photographs.

Now I am far from being an expert on street photography, as I am fairly new to it myself so I can only speak from my experiences of how I learnt to improve my street photography skills.

I believe in taking a much different approach to improving your street photography than most.

My Golden rule if you are starting out in street photography is:
DON'T SHOOT STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

I am not saying don't shoot street photography ever, but at the beginning your focus should be placed elsewhere in order to improve your street photography skills.

At the beginning you should be practicing specific skills that will pay dividends later, so for the time being, ignore your urges and follow the golden rule; Don't Shoot Street Photography!

In my next post, we will look at the first skill required if you want to master street photography.

streetogrOFFY - "Shadow Riding"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:23:00 +0000

There can be a big difference between shooting street photography in a big metropolis like Toronto versus the small village I live in. The major difference is just that lack of people here, which forces you to look much harder for great photo oppurtunities.

One of the ways I have adapted to this is late afternoon shooting when here in Port Credit. This has two benefits. First, the seems to many more people around in the later afternoon which greatly increases my chance of finding a shot I like. But the most important reason is the shadows. In late afternoon the sun is getting lower in the sky and large shadows are starting to play along the ground.

As a photographer you can take advantage of this to really improve you pictures. Yesterdays photo and today's photo are pefect examples of where I have let the shadows become much more than just a back ground element in my photo.

streetogrOFFY - "Shadow Giants"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:28:00 +0000

I was out walking about in the late afternoon when I came across this shot. I always tend to walk along this sidewalk if I am out in the late afternoon because I love the shadows that the railing produces. When I came by this time it was just so much stronger the two people and their shadows as well.

Street Photography Undefined

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:53:00 +0000

We have something inside of us that is always pushing to label, categorize, and define things. Once we have done that we can organize them in tiny little buckets. Photography is no different where we have so many different genres, including Street Photography.

Every genre has been not only been labelled but has a nice definition to go with it, except Street Photography. It is such a broad genre, the definitions become just as broad. I presented one definition of street photography that I found to be inspiring and useful when I was starting out, you can see it at A Definition of Street Photography. Today I would like to present another definition on Street Photography, one that has become my favourite take on the genre

Nick Turpin is one of the leading street photographers today. I came across a piece he wrote called "Undefining Street Photography" where he discusses the definition among other things. It is by far my favourite definition of Street Photography, so I asked Nick permission to quote his piece here. If you are interested in seeing more of Nick's writing please visit SevenSevenNine.

Undefining Street Photography
by Nick Turpin
Source: http://www.sevensevennine.com/

In the interviews and seminars that I do two questions continually arise...
1- Can you define Street Photography for us?
2- Does Street Photography have a future?

In the past I have tried to explain the place of Street Photography within the documentary tradition, I have talked about Street Photography as an approach, an attitude rather than a place where the pictures are made, I've talked about the minimal equipment required to shoot on the streets and the lack of interaction between the photographer and subject.
To the second question I have talked about society and culture continually changing and therefore the subject matter of Street Photography continually being renewed and refreshed and relevant.

Finally I have arrived at the realisation that I have been coming at these questions from completely the wrong angle, I have been playing the interviewers game, I have been going along with the notion that 'Street Photography' is a ring fenced region of some greater province known as 'Photography' the boundaries of which need to be demarcated with rules about its practice.

Now it is absolutely clear to me that these questions themselves were flawed and the things I had talked about were indeed characteristics of Street Photography but they did not define it.

Now I understand that 'Street Photography' is just 'Photography' in its simplest form, it is the medium itself, it is actually all the other forms of photography that need defining, landscape, fashion, portrait, reportage, art, advertising....these are all complicating additions to the medium of Photography, they are the areas that need to be defined, ring fenced and partitioned out of the medium of 'Street Photography'.

When a child picks up a camera and pushes the button that simple spontaneous image is a Street Photograph, it is, first of all, a raw reaction to the scene in front of it, a person, a car, a color. That primitive urge to react, to make a picture is at the heart of Street Photography beyond any other area of picture making, it comes before any other agenda.

So we are all Street Photographers before we narrow our sights and impose conditions and rules on ourselves to become Portrait photographers, Fashion Photographers, Landscape Photographers, Art Photographers (whatever that really means) etc.

Street Photography is Photography and so the second question is easily answered, the future of Street Photography is intrinsically tied to the future of the medium itself, while there is Photography there will be Street Photography because it is the Prime Mover, the evolutionary inheritance of all Photography.

It is not a coincidence that the first ever photograph was a street scene, a simple candid view, the most basic form, it might be considered a landscape but it will always be firstly a Street Photograph, any other definitions will be subsequent and overlaid.

As Street Photographers we need no longer explain ourselves, we need no longer wrangle over a form of words. It is for the rest of Photography to define itself, to explain what new and meritorious characteristics it has brought to Street Photography that make it different and worthy of note.

streetogrOFF - "Coffee Break"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:25:00 +0000

I am not much of a portrait street photographer anymore, I find my tastes and style of shooting has evolved into something else. I guess for me I find street portraits, even when candid, to be usually forgettable. Sure they almost always portray a powerful emotion but this rarely reaches inside me and moves me.

Now with that said once in awhile I still do find "characters" that I find interesting and seem to have quite the story to them. Today's shot is one example of that.

streetogrOFFY - "Waiting for One More"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:43:00 +0000

streetogrOFFY - "Faces of a Street Artist"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

streetogrOFFY - "A Grafitti's Kiss"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

streetogrOFFY - "The Pursecycle"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:53:00 +0000

Photography is supposed to be fun and sometimes you just have to make sure you are having fun doing it. For this shot I decided to have a little fun by playing around a little with my subjects and juxtaposing two things together to form one shot.

PRESS:
This shot was selected by Eric Kim as one of the 18 Great Examples of Humour in Street Photography for a contest he ran on his blog the week of Aug 1, 2011

A Definition of Street Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 10:58:00 +0000

I am voracious learner, and when I want to learn something new I dive right into studying it. Street photography was a little different though. It seemed unlike all other forms of photography as there didn't seem to lots of books floating around describing it; it felt almost underground.

This lack of initial information didn't stop me, I was determined to understand what street photography was, and first I wanted a definition. To find this I turned to already established street photographers to understand their definition of street photography.

The first photographer I came across was a street photographer out of LA named Eric Kim. His website Eric Kim Street Photography became an outstanding resource for me while I was starting out.

The first definition of street photography I came across was his. Although, it was the first one I read, I found it to be extremely poetic and inspiring.

"Beauty in the Mundane"

The genre of photography that I take part of can best be described as “street photography”. Street Photography emphasizes the “beauty in the mundane” by showcasing little snippets of every-day life. However as life is often unexpected and “Kodak moments” often fly before a person’s eyes, the street photographer must be skilled, brave, and disciplined enough to capture certain “decisive moments” that can only be caught once in a lifetime.

Real life is unscripted, and the street photographer doesn’t have the convenience of setting up all the variables in his image. Therefore whenever you look at an image from a street photographer, know that the image you are looking at is one-of-a-kind. Look for the story.

Life is the stage and the people in it are the actors. Now enjoy the play.

~Source: Eric Kim - Eric Kim Street Photography

Reading his definition was like a light went off, I was inspired. Capurturing beautiful stories in everyday life that are once in a lifetime oppurtunites was like a calling to me; it was what I was missing in my photography from before. I realized after reading this piece that street photography was the genre that housed the true soul of a great image and I wanted to be part of creating that.

streetogrOFFY - Compositionally Speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 06:25:00 +0000

I touched on this a little bit yesterday. For me street photography has begun to evolve. I now longer enjoy taking the close up portrait shots that only express an emotion. I have taken on the personal challenge of adding more complexity into the images by building much stronger composed images.

Composition is often to most forget pieces in street photography as it really is hard to master when you need to react so quickly Really the only way to do so is making a conscious effort to focus on it and practice it. I believe a strong composition is what makes the foudation and structure of great photos so strong, it is what creates lasting impression photographs. In these style photographs the people are just pieces that enhance the overall composition and story rather than being the main focus.

Today I am sharing three seperate photos where I have begun my journey into examining stronger composition and better placement of subject to support this. I hope you enjoy and can't wait to hear comments. Feel free to also offer new names for any you don't like :)

No Hands | 28mm

This was my first foray into this new style. It is a fairly simple composition with the nice long path leading you into the frame. I liked the biker with no hands but debate whether it could have used another subject deeper in the frame for more balance.

Bracing Herself | 28mm

I came across this scene while out walking one afternoon. I was having a difficult time finding any shots. It turns out when you don't shoot portraits of every stranger you see you photo count goes down considerably, which is nice for rating, sorting, and processing :). Here I was drawn to the pregnant women in the distance. THe first large pole draws your eye and the steps lead you to the woman. What really caught my attention is her body contorting to almost look like she is leaning onto the poles. This photo has a lot of different leading lines taking you in the direction of the women, and when you get there I find myself wondering is she okay, is she waiting for someone, etc.

I am not extremely happy with the title of this so feel free to offer up any suggestions :)

Long Walk | 28mm

This is probably the photo I am most proud of from this personal challenge. I just loved the composition of this background. By placing the subject where I did you eye is initially drawn to her. As it wanders I find the horizontal white lines add depth and help transition your eye to light sidewalk that draws you right to the building in the back. It gets you asking, did she walk that whole distance alone, where is she going, why is she packed, etc. Again with this image I go back and forth if I would like a person going the other way to add balance and more tension but I do like it the way it is.

Feel free to offer up name suggestions if you don't like this one too. :)

I am very excited for the posts coming next week. They are I feel some of my strongest and best street photographs to date.

streetogrOFFY - "Patiently Waiting"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:25:00 +0000

This picture comes from latest Toronto Street Photography trip. It is one of the majore benefits of having to trek into the city for appointments every other week, I know I will get some street photography time in the city.

Shooting street photography in Toronto is a lot more fun than shooting here in my tiny little hometown. There is just so much more going on in the city, I always end up getting much better photos. This last trip was no exception, in which I got some of my best shots to date.

The first time I came to shoot street photography in Toronto I was almost overwhelmed with the amount of people. I was still shooting from the hip, and basically shot pictures of every person I passed or found interesting. I had a good time but didn't get many great keepers. I have seen the error in my ways and now look for more than portrait shots. In addition, I shoot with the viewfinder attempting to construct the images to depict a better story.

This picture I took in the alley behind the hospital. What drew me to it was all the different people waiting. First, the main figure tapping his foot with arms on his side. Then you see the van and wonder is it waiting for the man or the man waiting for it. Finally, in the distance is a couple delivery trucks waiting for their turns in the delivery bay.

I know as I practice this technique more I will be able to construct much better images but I am already enjoying my shots more.

What are your thoughts?

About streetogrOFFY

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:57:00 +0000

I am a Toronto Street Photographer. Well I guess I shouldn't classify me as just a Toronto Street Photographer but more like a Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Street Photographer. With that said I love toronto street photography. I try and get into the city at least once a week to shoot.

I am fairly new to the street photography genre but have found a stronger passion for it than any other genre of photography. Photography has only been in my life for 1.5 years since I got sick. it has changed my outlook on the world which I believe comes across in my photography. A fun fact is it also changed me physically, I now have two DNA's one for all the cells and organs of my body and another DNA for all my blood and immune cells. I mean how many ppl can you say you know with two DNA :)

When I go out shooting I don't purely focus on street, to tell the truth I don't focus on anything. I like to take an ecceltic approach. instead of focusing on just one genre of photography i like to focus on subject matter that interests me. Sometimes I come home with street shots, other times urban or landscapres, or even still life flowers (talk about hardcore eh). In the end I always come home fulfilled, content and happy which is most important to me with my in photography.

streetogrOFFY - "Reflections"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:31:00 +0000

As I continue to shoot more and more street shots I find myself less inclined to shoot portrait style. I am beginning to find them both boring to shoot and look at. When I first started out, that is all I shot. I am not saying there is anything wrong with them, they just don't speak to me anymore.

I find myself starting to try and tell more of a story now and building stronger composed images. I think as time goes along these will make for images that speak a lot stronger to me.

In this shot I just loved the strut he had and all the reflected images in the glass. I find it makes the image feel symmetrical.

streetogrOFFY - "Mini Me"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:58:00 +0000

I was out on one of my many photowalks around Port Credit when I captured this shot. I really liked how the image was composed with the balance of people and just as I was shooting it the image got better this the child and man turning around to look. It could have been a bit sharper of a shot but I still really like it.

As always I have sometimes have difficulties with naming my work, and this is no difference. So please offer any suggestions for a title, the best one I will pick and rename the post. :)

streetogrOFFY: My becoming a Street Photographer

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:45:00 +0000

I didn't always want to be a street photographer. In fact, when I took up photography a year ago I was more interested in parlaying the photography thing into a paying gig; I know the dream of most photographers.

My interest in street photography came over a year after I started photography and it happened more by chance or accident than anything else. I was beginning to get extremely bored shooting the typical nature, wildlife, and flower shots and was looking for something more. I realized then that photography was most likely not going to be a profession for me but stay where is should, a passion.

I began wanting more from my images, I wanted them to feel different than the others I shot and have a connection to them. I switched my interest to shooting urban photography and at the same time begain experimenting much more in black and white photography. I was instantly drawn into these new images; they had a rawness and grittiness that I hadn't seen before. They had a soul, and I liked it.

As I continued down this path I again became restless with my images. Although, I loved the raw, grittiness of the images I was getting, everytime I reviewed my images something felt missing; a better subject. I realized that the raw, grittiness of the city made for a very strong base in a picture and provided excellent compositional help but it still needed a main subject to draw the viewer in, it didn't quite have the soul of an image yet.

My transition into street photography was something of an accident. I was out walking aimlessly around looking to be inspired, when I was walking through a tunnel and took this photo.

I actually didn't think to much of the photo when taking it. In truth I was trying to work on practicing photographing in difficult lighting situations. I didn't really realize the magnitude of this picture on me until I got home and reviewed it. As soon as I saw it, I fell in love with it.

Granted this is not my best composed image but it had the thing I had been lacking in my photography. The photo had a story to tell the viewer; it had a soul.

This single image turned my focus into street photography and created the seed for streetogrOFFY to begin to grow.

From this point on I began pouring over street photography blogs, street photography flickr groups, and websites of well known street photographers. I was a sponge and I wanted to soak up as much information as I possibly could. Some of the information I found harsh, and didn't agree with; but I read it anyways. I was new to this discpline and wanted all opinions and sides. I knew I could make my own judgements on the different subjects as I became more experienced in street photography.

So here I stand today; streetogrOFFY has grown from that seed of an idea a forumn to document my growth as a street photographer from the beginning going forward.

streetogrOFFY - "Look Away"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:57:00 +0000

Toronto Street Photography
f/8 1/1600s ISO400
Canon EOS 5d, 35mm
May 20,2011

This photo came from my first time doing street photography in Toronto. Up until this point I had always just done my photography in the small village that I live in. It was just an wonderful experience working in the "big" city.

At first the amount of people around was almost overwhelming and I was shooting pictures like a machine gun. After a bit I overcame this initial information overload and started seeing again.

I just loved the capure in this photo of both the people looking in opposite directions

streetogrOFFY Manifesto

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:32:00 +0000

Well this new blog has formed but is still in its infancy. There are a bunch of images, but nothing explaining the blog along the top. So I am sure all of you are wondering what is streetogrOFFY?

Well really it is my own play on the word, streettography or street photography, but it is also something much more than that.

Street photography is such a wonderful genre of photography. It is pure, perfect, and untouched. It is a moment frozen in time that will never be repeated again. I think that is what makes it so powerful, it is raw.

There are no rules in street photography, it is art and therefore up to the artist to create. Some people will like their art, while others could find it displeasing and offensive.  That is the beauty of art. it is supposed to spark an emotion connection or response within the viewer.

streetogrOFFY is a learning process. I will continue to grow as both a photographer and person. As that growth occurs, so too will growth in my art. This is the documentation of that journey.

streetogrOFFY is discreet. It does not disturb or influence the subject, but rather documents that moment of beauty.

But above all else:

streetogrOFFY is me. It is my documentation of the raw untouched beauty I see all around me.

I didn't always see this beauty, in fact most of us walk down the street with blinders on unattuned to this beauty around us.  I was once like this, it took a major illness (leukemia) to open my eyes to the world around me.

My eyes are open now, camera is ready, and streetogrOFFY is born.

streetogrOFF - "An Afternoon Chat in the Park"

noreply@blogger.com (Aaron) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:36:00 +0000

Street Photography
f5.6 1/1600s ISO100
Canon EOS 5d
50mm
Port Credit, Ontario
May 5,2011

Street Photography
f/5.6 1/1250s ISO100
Canon EOS 5d
50mm
Port Credit Ontario
May 4,2011