When I got back from Japan and uploaded the images I was kicking myself that I did not stay out longer to get more shots, kicking myself that I did not try to get more shots of certain scenes and locations. With time, I realise I was very lucky with the shots I got. I like so many of them.
Street photography needs people. In Cork, when I go out I may come across a cool backdrop and know that it would work well with some passersby, but those passersby don’t pass by. I waited one time for a shot in a location in Cork for about 45 minutes. In that time, one person approached, saw me lurking and crossed over the other side of the street. Eventually, a couple passed and I was able to get one shot and that one shot had to work. It was OK.
Tokyo for street photography is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Passersby pass by in a perpetual flow. Cool scenes and backgrounds are everywhere. All you need to do is set up and shoot. But that brings its own challenges. Many of these shots I took here in Shibuya late at night were not that easy to get. I knew what I wanted to frame, but the trick was to achieve it before traffic rushed by or a fresh cohort of people appeared at the intersection. I remember trying to get one shot where I was down on my knees shooting through the legs of a guy who had black trousers, black shoes with white socks, and this girl standing on the opposite side of the crossing dressed in a brilliant white jacket and black pencil skirt. It was a perfect frame. The black and white of the zebra crossing was an unpopulated no man’s land and I had this frame ready. Just when I was going to click a guy stood in front of my guy and in that little instant the shot was gone, consigned forever to my memory. So many shots like that.
Is there a better camera out there than the iPhone for candid photography? I hear a lot about the Fuji x100s. Who knows I might get that sometime. Today’s iPhone image is another from Tokyo. Who could resist not framing this individual into a shot? He looks like such an interesting character.
