Photography is about light and shadow but it’s also about seeing what’s there and choosing the right, or Decisive Moment to shoot. This challenge is about helping you to hone your powers of observation and patience, two key characteristics of good photographers.
New photography challenge – street corner exercise
This challenge may sound simple, but you may be cursing me after the first 10 minutes. Here’s what I want you to do:
- Find a spot on a street corner where you can sit for up to an hour – a park bench or an outdoor coffee shop or cafe would be perfect.
- Pick a location where there is lots of activity and daily life going on around you.
- Part one: Get yourself comfortable, maybe get a coffee or cold beverage, and just sit. Watch and observe everything around you for 30 minutes and DO NOT take any photos. This will be the hard part if you’re used to shooting away! Notice everything, see how the light is, how it bounces and plays off of things and people. See how people interact. Look at shadows and catch little moments. Take the opportunity to talk to people around you, the waiter, fellow cafe patrons, etc., you might want to photograph them later.
- Part two: After observing for 30 minutes it’s then time for you to start taking photos – at the same location. But be selective. Now you know where the good light is and what kind of moments may happen in front of you. Be ready and know your camera settings. If you’re usually shy about photographing strangers, use the rapport you built with people you met in 30 minutes ago in part one to gather your courage and ask them if you can photograph them.
Tips for this challenge
If you aren’t familiar with every button and dial on your camera – perhap go back and give this challenge a try: Use Your Camera Daily. You won’t be eligible for that prize on that contest but what you’ll win is experience and moving towards your 10,000 hours and being an expert with your camera.
Focus on light and looking for moments. Don’t just shoot any old thing, be selective. Make sure the light works to enhance and feature the subject, and that the moment you capture is the right timing. If a person’s head is turned away from you, wait for them to turn or have just the perfect expression.
You might also want to read this article: 6 Street Photography Tips
Wrap-up and winner of last challenge
Thank you for all of the great entries to last month’s Create Good Images at Midday challenge! There were some really great entries. Here are some of my favorite comments:
- From KV – I am posting two photos I took for the challenge. This is WAY outta my comfort zone, showing anyone, never mind posting it here! What I learned was I had to change perspectives and start thinking about and seeing light, any light, or even the absence of it.
- From bbestone – I learned that everything ‘sparkles’ and reflects so greatly during high noon and I wanted to try to use that to my advantage. What I learned is to use the time of day, even though it’s not the greatest to take photos and to make it a positive!
- From Lydia – My midday challenge entries: Recently a friend and I took a “photo-walk” through downtown Winter Park, Florida. Capturing beautiful photos was almost too easy. I’m very much a beginner photographer. I think the biggest thing I learned that day was that if I bumped up my ISO a bit higher than what I might have planned, I seem to get deeper richness and intensity to my images.
- From Joy – I have been enjoying flora pics and macro flowers, but a hike in mid day can be a challenge. I have found that many times I can be the shade needed to get the colors to stand out and not be blown out. My body created the shade needed for the white flower details in bright sun and the cactus and lichen to stand out creating a patchwork of very different textures.
And the winner is …
Selected randomly from everyone who completed the challenge, as well as shared your images and what you learned – the winner is:
- Annie G – Love this challenge. I live in Southern California, very much a desert area which is very hot and sunny right now, but I’m learning to seek out places where there are a lot of trees so I can shoot in this light. I’m enjoying the exploration along with the photography!
Congratulations Annie, I’ll be in touch on how you can claim your prize – $50 Gift card from Amazon.
This Month’s Challenge, Contest and Prize:
Details for this month’s challenge
To participate in this month’s challenge you need to follow the steps outlined above for at least one hour – shooting only after 30 minutes. Then come back here and share your experience and images. You can do this as many times as you like this month and share as often as you want as well. I look forward to hearing your stories and seeing your images.
This one is pretty simple, you could do it in an afternoon. Here are the rules to be eligible for the prize:
- Complete 30 minutes without taking photos.
- Complete 30 minutes taking photos at the same location.
- Post a comment below and tell us about what you learned by doing this challenge. Did you see things you may have missed before? What did you notice? Please note: If you just share your images you will not be entered to win the prize. Please make sure to tell us about your experience as well.
- Share at least one of your images, taken in the second 30 minutes. Upload it right into the comments section below, along with your answer from #3 above.
Deadline for entry to be eligible to win the prize is: September 20th, 10pm MST (-6 UTC)
Some more examples:
The Prize:
This month’s winner (selected randomly) will receive a set of our new Lightroom Presets (value $29).
Now get out there and go find your street corner!
Cheers,
Darlene, It looks like I’m not the only one who didn’t get this challenge done. It would be great if you could leave it for another month or so. I’m looking forward to doing it but the hot weather has prevented my getting out to a place where I can sit around outside. Thanks, Ann
Hi Everyone – I will leave this opened a few more days. I will be sending an email to you all shortly about what’s been going on in my world.
Sorry, forgot to attach photos.
Hi Darlene, The “Street Corner” challenge was harder than I expected. Firstly, finding a good location was not as easy as I expected as I live in a semi rural location and there are not many local locations that have lots of people passing. I was able to travel about 50k to a Costo Store where I observed people coming and going for at least half an hour before taking some selected subjects. The light was pretty harsh for a while until some clouds passed over giving a softer light for a little while. I attach two photos of people in and around the Costo store which I found interesting enough to post. One is a fellow who seems to be really enjoying his snack while sitting partly out of his car door. The second is a small group of ladies with their load of goods, returning to their vehicle with what appears to be satisfied smiles. I did some small adjustments in Lightroom with exposure, cropping and sharpening.
Traveled down to Dunedin one of our larger centres. Sat and observed what was happening on a very cold day. This girl was sitting and resting before continuing on to fight the elements. I used this opportunity to trial a Tamron 150-600 over a distance of about 70m at 600mm and captured both the girl and her reflection in the window
great job and shot! Have been to NZ but didn’t get south to your island.
Thank you Darlene, when you come back to NZ let me know and I can give you a list of beautiful places to see and photograph in the South Island
Very nice, Mario. What a great lens you have, and a great eye also.
Thank you,the lens is one I would like to purchase. This was an ideal opportunity to trial it to see if it is suitable.
Does a fishing pier qualify for the challenge? I was on vacation watching the fishermen for over 2 hours when I before taking pictures just wanted to check before I posted any thing. Thanks in advance!
This crazy tablet that above sentence is supposed to read I watched for over 2 hours before I started taking pictures sorry
Sure go for it
Thanks so much, this is the story behind the pictures. My husband and I were on vacation in North Carolina at a pier that we go to whenever we are visiting. I have stood on this observation deck several time in the past, mostly taking in the view of the ocean not really paying to much attention to the fishermen. It just so happens on this day we were watching the locals fish because of a shark in the area and since there has been so many shark attacks I thought it would be kinda cool to really see one. well to much surprise I did see the shark, but could not get a clear photo of it, so I remember what was written in the article about walking around the subject. I wasn’t exactly walking around the shark but over top of the locals. This is what I caught on my camera. A local fisherman threw out his line with small fish on it and a seagull caught it, not only did it catch it but got the hook stuck in its beak. The staff on the pier helped the gentleman pull in the bird and she got the hook unstuck and then released the bird. Now to answer question 3, if I would have not stopped to watch for over 2 hours and just took photos like I always do, I would have missed this moment. It was really something to watch very heart felt for not only the bird but for the man who was just upset as the bird was!
great story thanks for sharing!
Street corner in NYC, it was a very hot day, I wa standing in a doorway to get some shade. As the traffic light changed to let people cross I saw this person sitting there. All the people walking around her, I noticed that she seemed to be invisible to the people as they passing by.
I darkened the people in Photoshop that was walking to hi light her.
Did you read all the guidelines for doing the challenge Bernie? Did you sit and NOT take photos for 30 minutes first?
There was no place to sit so I was standing in a doorway watching the people and traffic move about, when the crowd crossed the street I then saw this poor woman sitting on the corner, this on 23rd street and 5th ave. I was in the doorway fo about 20 minutes, in NYC you can’t linger to long in one spot these days!
Cool.