Why I Do Street Photography

Reading time: 6 minutes

One of my early YouTube videos that I posted did pretty well, it got some nice comments and I feel like it’s a helpful, honest video. But then I had a couple of trolls comment on the video (one of them even messaged me on Instagram from a fake account too).

Usually I just brush off trolls pretty easily, luckily I don’t get many, but in this case one of them made the comment that I was copying another photographer (I was not) and it kinda got under my skin.

Firstly I don’t need to defend myself. We all inspire each other and take motivation and inspiration from the community - all creatives do and if you don’t you probably won’t get very far. Cormac McCarthy, one of my favourite authors, put it best when he said: “Books are made out of books”, meaning that we all take inspiration from each other and if we didn’t there wouldn’t be much in the way of art to appreciate.

But this troll’s comment did get me thinking about my photography and the journey I’ve been on developing my work and my YouTube channel over the past year and a half, and I ended up asking myself the difficult question of, ‘Why is it that I do street photography?’ Do I pursue it for a wider creative goal, or is it just for the pure fun and enjoyment of the process?

There are many reasons why I do street photography but it’s taken me quite a long time to work out the why behind what I do, which admittedly is still a work in progress and shifts and morphs with time. In this article I’m going to cover finding my why, what drew me to street photography, why I pursue it and why you should ask yourself why you do street photography too.

Do you need to have a reason to do street photography?

In my opinion there is nothing wrong just simply doing street photography for the pure pleasure and fun of the activity itself. It is after all a fun thing to do, you go out into the world, deeply observe, often (at least for me) get into a flow state and think about nothing else - it really doesn’t need to be deeper than that.

However I think as a person pursuing any form of creative thing there comes a point where we take it more seriously and start to think about why we are doing what we are doing and where we want to take it in the future. I think asking ourselves those difficult questions can really make us better artists and give us direction for what to pursue going forward.

My background (in brief I promise)

I was born in Wales to an Irish dad and English mother, we then moved to Majorca for my dad’s work when I was a toddler, returning to England after a year or two where I spent my formative years growing up in Sussex.

My mum and dad have both travelled a lot, my dad lived in Morocco and France and my mum used to work on cruise ships, sailing all over the world. I have three uncles, all of whom either live, or have lived, outside the UK most of their adult lives.

From all these influences I have always wanted to travel and never really felt particularly rooted anywhere. A couple of years after I graduated in graphic design at the University of Gloucestershire, I went traveling to see the world for the best part of ten years - but I wasn’t interested in photography for a good chunk of that (oh the opportunities missed!)

It wasn’t until I moved to China for a few years in the late 2010s that I realised wow, I really want to document this, so I bought a proper camera and never looked back.

Since then I’ve always felt at home most when on the road, travelling, documenting, looking for the real unguarded moments. Meeting new people sharing some time with them, their food, their culture, and their communities. 

I’d love to say that’s my grand reason for doing street photography, to be an outsider travelling about to different places in the UK and abroad recording humanity as I see it. But is that more of something I’ve just plucked out to make me feel like I have some kind of artistic purpose to what I do? I don’t know. But for now this is what makes most sense to me as to why I have fallen so madly in love with the practice of street photography.

A new place and the thrill of the chase

I love the feeling of arriving in a new place, no agenda, just walking around and seeing what I come across - the best stories are found that way in my opinion. I’ve never really had a feeling that I have roots anywhere, I document how people live, go about their lives to make sense of the world and my place in it.

I do it also for the thrill of the chase, the pursuit of capturing a real moment that has story and meaning which other people might resonate with and enjoy to look at. 

Finding real moments

I feel it’s a time on the planet where so many people curate their life online and it seems fake and artificial (especially in the West). Street photography gives me the opportunity to pursue unguarded moments as seen through my eye out in the world, to really observe the emotive moments most people usually miss. It also gives me the chance to meet other photographers and be part of that community too. 

It is very challenging as anyone who has ever dipped into street photography will know, and I feel I’ve only really just scratched the surface of street photography, but in a world where we increasingly shy away from interacting with strangers and being part of humanity and community, I want to feel connected and capture moments before they are lost forever. 

Evolving and passing on knowledge

Street photography gives so many positives to my life: it gets me outside and into the world, it clears my mind, helps my mental health, gives me a reson to travel, flexes my creativity, it’s exciting and scary sometimes, it challenges me - the list goes on and on. So now I want to share my passion, and the things I’ve learned, by making (hopefully useful) YouTube videos and writing this blog, to help you improve and get to where you want to be too.

My work, style and focus have gone through many shifts and iterations as I’ve learnt more and more about street photography and I’m sure my perspective will morph and change in the future. But for now I do street photography because it’s fun and hopefully I’ll be able to make some work that you like to look at too.

This is why I feel I do street photography today which might very well change next week, but for now this is what keeps me going out time and time again trying to be the best documenter of life I can be.

Finding your why and thank you trolls

So thank you internet trolls (who knew you could take something positive from trolls?) for making me really think about why I do street photography and share it with the world - now I feel in a better place than ever and I’m ready to hit the streets right now.

If you want to find out more about yourself, and really get a sense of the direction you want to go in with your art, in my opinion it really pays to ask yourself why you do what you do - you might just learn something new and that is so powerful.