Today’s blog post is a bit different. No guides to taking photos, no adventures, but a review of my street photography journey, what changed and what didn’t, and the current directions. The reason I'm writing this is it’s been a year since I decided to treat my hobby seriously, which is rare for a person with little patience and determination. And it’s a personal one – photography makes me see the poetry in everything, and I guess I’m less cynical and less want to die early with all my repressed sadness and anger, atrocities and oppression going on in the world, as it’s become a tiny reason for me to live, along with the unseen wonders and unknown adventures.
How everything started
Before we get to how everything started, let’s go to the context – I’ve always been a curious and artistic child, always reading or drawing, obsessed with children’s books which talk about culture and travel and have beautiful maps, and love architecture and museums. Later I would read National Geographic and dream of becoming one of their journalists, and in university years I was always on Tumblr reblogging all the beautiful photos, whether they were the moody expressive ones, or the documentary type. While I still hadn’t discovered street photography, I guess that had already become the cornerstone of my current hobby.
It wasn’t until summer of 2016 that I got into street photography. Knowing that I had always been a person who was kind of anti-mainstream stuff and lived in her own world, my mother wanted me to understand how other people think and their hobbies and whatnot, so she suggested I sign up for an Instagram account, and I did. I followed a bunch of news platforms and art / photography accounts, then the app suggested I follow some street photography accounts, and this is how I got interested in the genre – the images were beautiful in a gritty way, and they left me in awe with their perfect coincidence and timing, the composition, and the humor. At the same time, the birdcage effect was kind of tricking me into the hobby – I felt like I ‘had to’ post something now that I had an account, and then I started taking snapshots with my smartphone. This is probably the most positive case of the birdcage effect and this is how everything started. Here I can’t thank my mother enough, without her support and constructive feedback, I wouldn’t have gotten into the hobby that changed me for the better.
Early endeavours
Like most of the beginners, I made a lot of mistakes and had incorrect ideas about street photography – I only shot in landscape format, thought every image has to include humans, too focused on getting one single great image, there were too much teal / green in the shadows and orange in the lighter parts in color grading (I blame that on the trend, at that period of time everything was like teal and orange, if you know you know), and some images are of low saturation and washed out tones… the list goes on, but those were my works that led me to improvement.
I was also really into banal shots of architecture and unassuming corners of the cities, so I also started a project on instagram called ‘low_res.minimal’ (now known as ‘Spectrum’). At that moment I was thinking why the minimal shots couldn’t be gritty and had to be always clean, so I deliberately added a lot of grain to the photos and made their tones washed out pastel colors. I also zoomed in a lot with my phone to take the photos, and they sometimes were taken while commuting on the highway. I posted my works on both Instagram and VSCO, and I was fortunate enough to get recognition from the latter, and they interviewed me in 2017 (back then I had a different name), which I was really grateful for.
It sounded like I did a lot, but I didn’t – my life was at one of the lowest points after I graduated in 2015, being unable to find a job and troubled by debilitating eczema, meaning that I couldn’t always take photos. But anyway my love for photography grew, and between 2017 and 2019 I visited the USA for family matters several times, and tried to see if the place suited me. Plot twist: I decided not to live there in 2019, but I took photos even when my health worsened during the trips. Luckily I found a great doctor that healed me, and my photo was picked as one of the Editor’s Pick in LensCulture Street Photography Awards.
Void and transitions
But life happened again. My religious OCD was back with a vengeance. Long story short my mind told me everything I did was sinful and I dare not do anything I love, including photography and drawing. My life was reduced to constant crying and religious ruminations, and sometimes self-harm. But fortunately after years of seeing bad psychiatrist and psychologists, I was finally in good hands, and it turned out I also had Bipolar 2 Disorder.
In summer 2020 and spring of 2021 I finally picked up my camera again even if I was still in darkness. I would take photos of neon signs, architecture, and people from great distances, which are things I love, though the subjects were not diverse and I was still trying to take the best single shot. But the color grading had improved. Instead of making everything teal and orange, I focused on enhancing the vibrance of the original color of the object and let things work their own way. Later I also ditched the Spectrum project, as I felt like it was going nowhere, and I didn’t want to do things in a repetitive way. I started to upload my works on Unsplash (account now defunct), and I’m grateful they featured some of my works.
Current directions and future
Fast forward to 2023, I had already worked in the same job for two years and my mental health improved. And I decided it was time to hone my craft seriously. I resumed taking photos again, and started exploring different corners of the city I live in to diversify my themes and subjects – from strong contrasts of light and shadows, architecture, to interesting man-made objects and colorful playgrounds. Now I zoom in more to capture details of a scene, and experiment with distance and framing. I’m no longer obsessed with taking one best single shot, instead I observe and see if I could take multiple shots from a place, whether close or far away, to tell a story with details and the whole scene. I’ve also learnt that not every photo has to include humans. During a recent photowalk, I found myself asking myself questions like how each shot will contribute to tell what happened in a place, what elements would make a scene or shot interesting, how the viewers would see the photos etc. These thought processes came naturally, and I’m glad it comes that way, as that means I internalize what I’ve learnt. The color grading becomes more natural and the focus is to bring the best or the essence of a place. As for the minimalist architecture shots, they come back in a better form – the close up images would be complementary shots to show a place, and evoke subtle emotions. The upcoming plans will be about continuing to capture images without overworking myself, improve the way of handling aperture and shutter settings, and color grade more with curves and levels instead of relying on presets.
And that’s all about my journey of street photography. I hope you enjoy reading this and feel motivated to treat your hobby seriously, whether it’s photography or not. Your skill and your personal growth could be intertwined as you gain more perspective on life and are exposed to different stimulations. I always thought my photos never showed my real self, as I’m a troubled, cynical and really dark person, but when I'm writing this, I realize that they may actually channel my ever-present curiosity and a glimmer of hope towards this world, and even if that glimmer was tiny, it made me stayed here a bit longer.