My Way Into Street Photography
Shooting scenes on the street? How can that be any fun?
That’s what I believed in for a long time. Coming from a nature photography background, street photography sounded too noisy and messy to me. Loads of cars, ever-changing surrounding and especially all the people made me believe that there’s nothing enjoyable about shooting out on the street. Besides, thinking about following my photographs routines with all those people made me feel uncomfortable! What would happen if someone walks up to me, asking what I was doing there with my camera in that weird position? (Nothing, as it turns out…)
You can indeed find a bit of freedom on the city – even as a landscape photographer.
Anyway, street photography always felt a bit too exotic and strange to me – until the summer 2022. After having moved away from hometown Brunswick in 2021, I found myself in a creative rut for the first time. I noticed that the thrill of photographing landscapes had somehow left me. Maybe it was the missing familiarity of the woods back home, or the lack of inspiration from my new surroundings, I was not so sure.
But what I did know was, that I really missed that feeling of excitement when packing my camera bag, making my way to the shooting location and wondering about what the day ahead will bring. That’s why I did what I always do when I feel stuck: I tried out something different. Instead of looking for photography opportunities in nature, I took my camera and made my way to downtown Berlin.
In retrospective, I am so happy that I tried out street photography that summer. Because, opposing to my previous belief, shooting scenes on the street is loads of fun. Buildings, reflections, people, patterns, you name it – shooting the streets of Berlin presented itself as a sea of endless opportunities to me.
What I also did not expect was that the photography experience felt so similar compared to shooting in nature. I once more lost myself in observing my surroundings, looking for patterns and outstanding colors – all the noise and people, I easily blocked them out. In fact, I found many parallels to landscape photography. For once, composition and light is key: With the right angle and light, one can transform any ordinary scene into a unique photo.
In the future, I will definitely head out more often to the streets. Especially since I am moving to Berlin this very week!
One of my favorite shots from Berlin so far. I very much enjoyed working with those reflections near the Bundestag!
