113 ☼ Why I Love Street Photography (And You Should Try It)
GIVEAWAY: a Fuji x100V and 10 rolls of film!
Dear friends,
This week's letter is all about street photography, why I love it, why I recommend it for every photographer, even if you’re shy or if you live in a small town. Speaking of small towns, I am writing you from a village in Sicily. Can’t wait to share the images.
Last week’s interview with Wall Street Journal photo editor Dan Gaba proved popular with all its tips on how to best pitch your work to a newspaper. Thank you so so much to all of you who shared it through social media. It helps a lot!
This week there there are TWO Giveaways too participate in! A Fujifilm x100v courtesy of my friends at MPB and a stash of film from the Analog Amsterdam shop.
Big Shout out to my friends at Squarespace for helping make this issue possible.
Housekeeping
I am excited to announce that I'll be hosting an official Substack Meetup in Amsterdam on October 18th at 7pm. Mark your calendar. More news soon.
The first ever Process Photo Walk will happen on Sunday November 5th, in Amsterdam, with a special surprise I’ll talk about next week. Mark your calendar!
Street Photography, For Me
Best way to see a city, the best way to meet people, the best way to know myself. Street photography is the very pulse of the way I travel and connect to the soul of a city.
Picture this: It’s 2018 and I'm a photographer, fueled by an insatiable curiosity for people and places. With my trusty Pentax LX in tow, I embarks on a three-month odyssey through the intoxicating labyrinth of Mexico City. My camera is more than a vintage gadget; it is my golden ticket to a city unknown to me. Together, we uncover hidden still lives, capture the daily rhythms of locals, and dance to the vibrant melodies of this captivating metropolis. I feel alive.
Rewind a few months earlier. Tokyo drew me in. A city where I did not understand a single written or spoken word, but my camera helped me tell dozens of stories. Armed with my Pentax 67ii, I set out to discover Tokyo's soul through the faces of its people. Each portrait was a vibrant thread in the intricate fabric of this sprawling city, where language barriers crumbled in the face of shared moments.
Fast forward to Amsterdam, which I now call home. In this city full of postcard-worthy views, I yearn for fresh perspectives. The long history of a city so vigorously documented long held me back from seeing a single original point of view. Until, after months of drizzly darkness, the summer sun, blazing in all its glory, brought out a collection of muses.
After aimlessly wandering through the neighborhood of Oud-Zuid, I strolled into the famous Vondelpark and followed the sounds of bass, drums, and joy. I happened upon the Kwaku cultural festival in the middle of the park, Hasselblad 500cm in hand. This older generation of festival goers recognized the camera from their younger days and it allowed me to connect and photograph many. I let myself drown in the music and movement and community and once I came up for breathe I had shot five rolls of film.
Even more recently, Paris. Still carrying the Hasselblad. Six by six and black and white and the idea that an image captured now could be an image captured fifty years ago.
A month earlier and two hours south of Paris, now in Joigny. A small village has streets too, even older perhaps and certainly quieter. Still, there is more to document and capture. My impressions of a barely paved street that has changed very little over the years and is still guarded by loving monsters.
So why street photography? Because, my friends, it's my way of connecting with the world, of embracing the soul of cities and the lives within them. Street photography, wild and untamed, allows me to immerse myself fully, to tune into the symphony of sounds, the whispers of scents, and the stories etched into the faces of passersby.
So, I urge you, even if you are a studio photographer or are shy. Grab a camera, any camera, and let the streets become your stage. Dive into the streets and let them gift you a meditation, an adventure, a portal to the world waiting to be explored, one frame at a time. In the streets, I am invisible but always looking. This is a love letter.
That’s it for this week! If you enjoyed this issue I’d love for you to share it with friends.
Additional Reading
Process 035 ☼ How To Ask A Stranger For A Portrait
Process 091 ☼ Photographing Strangers (Part Two)
Process 102 ☼ Unveiling the Magic of Slow Photography in France
Process 106 ☼ Capturing Paris On A Hasselblad 500cm
Next Week: A Rural Ritual Captured On Half-Frame Film. A princess! Dancers in red! Sausages! And more news about the upcoming Process Photo Walk.
Keep shooting and take good care of yourselves and others. <3
Wesley
PS If you’d like to support my work here at Process, the best way to do so is buy my photo book NOTICE, now out in its second printing.
Gear & Tools Used
Camera: All analog images included in this issue of Process were shot on the Pentax LX, the Pentax 67ii,, and the Hasselblad 500cm with a 55mm lens. The digital ones were shot on the Fujifilm X100F.
Film: Kodak Portra 400VC, Fomapan 100, Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Pro Image 100.
Lab: As of 2021, all my analog work is developed and scanned by my friends at Carmencita Film Lab. They’re my favorite lab in the world. Use code “PROCESS” to get a free upgrade.
Portfolio Site: If you need a website, I highly recommend using Squarespace. I have been a paying customer more than 10 years (!!?) and it’s been easy to build and maintain a beautiful and professional portfolio. I even added an online shop to it!
Check out Squarespace and use the code PROCESS10 for 10% off your first order.
Process Giveaway Part 1 - A Digital Camera
My friends at MPB.com are sponsoring the German Street Photography Festival at Photopia in Hamburg (Sept 21st - 24th) and to celebrate they’re giving away an excellent condition Fujifilm x100v camera!!
This camera is the follow-up to my favorite digital camera, the X100F, which I’ve used as my street camera of choice all over the world. They’re so popular it’s hard to find one for a good price, and now you can own one for the prize of ZERO euros.
To enter this free sweepstakes head over to MPB and fill in your name HERE. (Deadline: 23:59 on 25th September 2023, that’s this coming Monday.)
This giveaway is available to all Process readers in the EU. If you’re a non-EU reader scroll down to part two of the Giveaway.
I’ve talked about MPB.com a lot before, but in case you’re new here let me summarize by saying they’re my favorite retailer for used cameras and lenses. I’ve bought all my recent gear from them. It’s always in top shape and fairly priced, which means more photographers have access to gear and second-hand is better for the environment too. They’ve also been very supportive of Process and it would help me if you’d head over there to enter the giveaway. I call that a win-win-win!
Process Giveaway Part 2 - 10 Rolls of Film
Remember my friend Tim, who bulk-rolls all of my Double X film (see Process 037)? He runs Analog Amsterdam, an online shop with the goal of keeping film affordable.
We are giving away a great set of bulk-rolled film, consisting of 2 rolls each of NOW100 (bw), Double-X (bw), Vision3 250D (color), Vision 500T (color), and Ektachrome 100D (slide color). That’s TEN rolls of 35mm film for the winner.
To enter this Process Giveaway answer the question below in the comment section:
QUESTION: Which city would you like to visit most to do street photography?
My answer is: Rome! I’ve never been but every time I’ve seen a film set in Rome my shutter finger gets itchy!
ENTER THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY before 11 a.m. EST on September 30th.
The winner will be randomly drawn. This giveaway is for Process subscribers only.
It’s funny, for many years, everywhere I traveled, I immersed myself in street photography but never considered it as such. For me like you described, it is the way I most enjoy visiting new places. Not with any specific objectives or destination in mind, but allowing myself to get lost in the exploration, snapping away at every thing that captured my attention. I think that is one of the purist forms of photography wherever I find myself.
I’d love to explore Japan - urban areas like Tokyo as well as rural cities.