Goal:

• To practice photographing and approaching strangers in public places

Turn In:

• 7 – 10 images of strangers in public life

Guidelines:

• Street photography can be literally on the street (or sidewalk) but can more generally refer to candid, public photography.  While street photography doesn’t necessarily have to contain people as subjects, for this assignment you should concentrate on getting people in your shots.

• Street photography is an urban genre. Shoot on public streets with good foot traffic (like downtown El Paso or Juárez). Do not shoot in parks, on campus, or in residential neighborhoods.

• Talk to me if you plan to shoot this assignment in Juárez.

• I want to see at least three of your images shot with:

• A wide lens (no more than 50mm if all you have is a prime lens, but preferably wider, like 24-35mm)

• CLOSE PROXIMITY to people (I don’t mean close to the back of their heads – show me faces)

• All of your photos must have:

• People who are STRANGERS – don’t shoot anyone you know

• Interesting and eye-catching composition – use perspective, angles, lines, light, etc. BUT GET CLOSE.

• Good editorial value – feeling/emotion, human interest, oddity/novelty, juxtaposition, illustrates a relevant or current issue, interesting theme, etc. You should be able to say WHY people should look at this image.

• Be creative– but all your creativity should be INTENTIONAL and MEANINGFUL.  Feel free to use other techniques you’ve learned – making use of tricky lighting, silhouettes and shadows, composition rules, motion, etc.

• No flash photos.  Use what’s there.

• You may pose portraits IF it’s visually clear that we are looking at a portrait and not a fake candid photo. Subjects must be strangers. No more than one photo of each subject.

• Here are some resources for you to look at:

• James Maher https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/street-photography/ (also look for him on Instagram)

• Street Photography International https://streetphotographyinternational.com/ (also on Instagram)

• Instagram is a good place to explore hashtags related to street photography – see what kind of images catch your eye, and if you can figure out why. Composition? Emotions? Movement? Colors? What speaks to you?  You don’t necessarily want to copy other people’s work, but see what influences and examples you can draw from.

Grading:

• This assignment is worth 100 points.

• News/Editorial Value: Look for stories/images that could be news or could illustrate news.  Do not submit still life photos, empty landscapes, empty streetscapes, etc.  Do not submit photos of your friends, pets, house, family, roommate, etc. Your photos should tell a story and mean something.  You should be able to say WHY each photo is meaningful or important (and you can do this in the second sentence of your caption).

• Lightroom: You need to process your images through Lightroom and do the proper adjustments to highlights/shadows, sharpness, etc., as needed.  You will add captions and retitle the images as we discussed in class. Your images will export from Lightroom as .jpg files.

• Captions:  You must caption your photos according to AP style guidelines and attach captions to the photos as metadata.  Each caption should have two complete sentences: the first sentence, in present tense, explains what is happening in that photo and includes the day, date, and location. The second sentence gives more general information about the overall context or significance of the specific content of the image.  The captions should be properly punctuated and contain proper grammar and spelling. DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING. You will have points deducted for errors.

• Remember, show people only your best work!