Leica Street Photography (1) – Shooting from the Hip
What is Street Photography?
To me the term ‘Street Photography‘ is associated with unplanned unrequested candid photos of people taken in a street environment. Many street photographers stop people and ask them if they can take their photo. This is fine but to me this is then a ‘Street Portrait‘ and could just as easily be a model standing in the street (as I often do) or a homeless person / shop worker / other. Although I work with models on a regular basis I do not think I have the confidence to jump out in front of someone and take a photo as I would be worried they may not appreciate it. This has lead to me using the technique known as ‘Zone Focusing‘. I can work closely with my subjects and yet they are often unaware I am taking a photography and as a result at no point feel threatened by me.
Here are a sample of Leica street photography images I took in London. All images are zone focused (link below) and shot from waist level without looking through the viewfinder.
Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar + Leica M8 (f8 approx)
1951 Leica Summaron 35mm f3.5 + Leica M9 (@f3.5)
Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 PII + Leica M9
1954 Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 + Leica M9 (@f1.5)
MatthewOsbornePhotography.co.uk – Leica Photographer
Related Post
Zone Focusing – https://mrleica.com/zone-focusing/
I agree, most of my shots are with a 50 lux at about 2 – 3 metres, whilst walking. I like to walk past people who are sitting at tables. It enables wonderful eye level details.
Thanks, I find for waist level shots I am normally around 1m away so my 50mm is often too close. This is the first of a series of street photography blog posts exploring different styles. More to come including Lux shots 😉