5 Tips For Street Photography In A Small Town

Street Photography is synonymous with big cities. New York, London, Istanbul, these are all huge metropolises with endless possibilities for photographers. However not everyone lives in these cities nor can everyone visit them whenever they feel like shooting. Most people actually live in small towns like the one I am in now. So in this blog, I want to share a few tips to help you get the most out of a small town with seemingly not many opportunities.

Change Subject (short term)

We will start with things you can do in the short term and go from easy to more difficult. The first step is to simply change the subject you shoot. If you’re used to shooting well dressed business people in big financial districts, you might not see many of them on the Mediterranean. So once you have run out of the typical shots and you got all the cliche photos, start to look elsewhere. Maybe shoot still life, portraits, sea scapes, food, bikes or anything else within that environment that you would typically not pay attention to. Not only will it give you more options but it can also improve your skills that you can take with you to a bigger city. Now some might complain, well this is not street photography and there’s nothing here for me to shoot. The way I see it, is that they will be stuck in their room complaining and we will be out enjoying photography and getting better.

Change Equipment (short term)

Another thing you can do in the short term is change the equipment you use. This could be going from a digital camera to a film one. It could be changing from a 35mm prime to an 85mm. It could even be leaving your camera behind and shooting with your phone. The core principle here is change. By changing the equipment, we add new restrictions but open up new opportunities to see the same place in a different way. Finally just like the previous point, by using different equipment, we are imposing our overall skills that we can then take with us.

Collection (short and long term)

Now let’s start looking at more comprehensive and longer term options and the first one is to work on collections. Collections are essentially albums where all the photos have something in common. It could be a colour theme, subject, the weather or something more specific like hand gestures. The key is to find something that interests you and has some meaning behind it. Don’t just take photos of bins or lamp posts… unless that’s what you’re into…. I’m not judging. If you’re not sure what to make a collection of, just spend some time going through old photos and see if there is a theme or something that catches your eye. Personally I don’t have a collection as I am never in one place long enough and already have a million things in my mind, but if I were to do one, it would probably be classic cars in cities. So if you’re getting bored, maybe start a long term collection and that way you always have something you’re looking out for.

Project (long term)

If you want something deeper or more involved than just a simple collection, you can have a look at creating a longer term project. This is more suitable for those who live in a small town as projects can take weeks, months or even years depending on the complexity. So what constitutes a project? Let’s say you live here in Noli, and you love to see all the fishermen in the morning. Well maybe you can make a small book documenting them. It can involve portraits of them, photos of the environment, details of their boats, their equipment and even a couple lines about them. Another idea could be documenting a specific part of town as the seasons change. From the busy and hot summer to the cool and quiet winter. For those who are not local, they might never know what their favourite seaside looks like in January. A project can even be a collection of collections. For example you can have 5 collections covering specific elements of the town. Essentially a project is a long term body of work that will require you to chip away at it. It will not be easy but at the end you will have something you can give to someone and they will spend some time sitting down, unpacking it and going through it. Another example are my digital photo zines which I make and sell… they are projects.

Get Specific (long term)

If projects and collections are not your thing and you prefer single images, then an option can be to get very specific with the shot that you want to get. This will require a lot of patience, time and perseverance, but can definitely turn a mundane location into a great challenge. So what do I mean by this? Well let’s say there is a specific street corner where under the correct light you can get great silhouettes. However rather than just settling for the first person that walks past, you can say “ok, I want a guy with a hat and a cane”. So you can keep going back to this spot a few times a week, wait for a while and see if you can get such a subject. Maybe you have a scene which has 2 frames and you want to get a person in one frame and a bird in another. You will need a lot of time and patience to try and get something like that. Now sure you might never get exactly what you want, but you will certainly get something more interesting than just someone walking through. So in your small town, find 5 to 10 such scenes, revisit them often and work them over a long time till you get a more unique result.