An Honest Day of Street Photography 

🔴 Do you find yourself to be quite critical of your own work like I am? Hopefully this video helps if you’re feeling like street photography is really hard. It is. But that sticking with it will lead to improvement and the photos you want to make in the long run. As always thank you for watching! 🙏🏻 (Please hit like on the video, it helps with the algorithm!)

Can't really say anything about the ratings - thats fully up to taste if you ask me. What i like about this video is you being very honest and showing how it really is. Finding a good scene - missing the perfect moment/look/composition and then moving on to the next opportunity until, once every few weeks or even months, we get a really great one. Doing street photography is not for the impatient.

I always find your work interesting. This video just proves how difficult it is to capture good street images and not that every shot we take is a banger. I like this video because it focusses on the challenge you (and all of us) face every time we go out. My favourites are 2:12, 5:20, 6:50 and 9:53

That word 'closer' came up a lot, I guess we all know the famous quote. Generally agree with your rankings. People from behind really do need a broader context or action to enliven them. Love the guy with the boxing gloves. Thanks for posting.

Thank you so much for this kind of video! People need to know how your average day goes-maybe not a lot of good shots, but all of the in between work is so important to honing your craft. Thanks for helping to demystify a difficult but rewarding art. Makes it more accessible when someone approaches it with more realistic expectations.

I absolutely love a Saturday morning getting out to go take photos. I’ve been told I do good work and have an eye but I always humbly rebuttal any compliments. However, we as humans know we are capable of doing great things. The one thing that I find holding me back is, and I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, the fear of people questioning what you’re doing. I believe that is the only tough hurdle truly holding me back from being able to say yes, I can see myself improving in my street photography.

One thing I've started doing occasionally is, after transferring jpg images to my phone, I set my phone screen to black and white. I've found that viewing my images this way has opened up a great perspective and widens editing possibilities.

A very realistic take of a day on the street. Maybe not the most motivating thing for me to watch before I head out today 😂 well done for pushing through though and sharing this video. I did a workshop with Matt Stuart last weekend and it included a bit of a critique of the shots of the day. One of my shots reminded me of that shot you have of the guy with boxing gloves. Mine had a bus stop sign coming out of a guys head as you have with a tree. The learning for me was to really think about the background, as Matt says it’s the main thing that F’s up photos.

Hey Tim, I don't usually leave comments on videos but I'm just sat in a rainy car waiting to head out into Cambridge for a 2 hour walk with my camera. Found your video very real and motivating. Have a good day.

I liked this video. It is always nice to see how other street photographers think. I was wondering that do you ever crop your street photographs in post. What I many times do is click shutter even if the subject is a bit further away. I can always crop in and upscale the image.

Street photography is brutally hard to do. My advice is go to busy events and markets with huge crowds bustling around. Keep moving and walking all the time.

I am as critical at my work as you. But sometimes a photo that I think is not good and I end up posting it on social media does well and sometimes when I love a photo and post it on social media it doesn't do well. I jut keep going and shooting mainly what I love and for myself and then if a photo does well its a bonus.

Love your POVs, love seeing your journey as a photographer. Thanks for sharing an authentic picture of real life street photography! I personally connected more to your earlier , more abstract artistic work but love seeing the process and experimentation (in the process of developing my own style so I deeply relate).

Thanks for sharing this. I think this is such a great reminder that 1) it's important to critique our work and 2) there's no substitute for time spent with a camera for improving skills and techniques as well as opportunities to witness amazing moments in from of our cameras. I may "borrow" this idea for a future video of my own ;) Cheers!

Another interesting video, for me the photo of the lady with orange hair stubbing her cigarette out is great. Your comment about the image not working out in colour so change into black and white is so key. Sometimes when the colours aren't working out making it a black and white image can save it and just elevate it. Very similar when photographing a concert, music gig and the low light and all the different colours just blend to make a meh of an image, just shoot in black and white so you are dealing with just 2 colours, the results can be incredible.

Tim, there's nothing wrong with any of those photos. Thanks for sharing. I can tell you from my own experience that I think nearly all my photos are crap when I first look at them. Sometimes a crop improves them a lot. I recently went through a folder of images I made two years ago that I hadn't thought much of when I made them and found a couple of keepers I disregarded at the time. I guess they needed to age, like fine wine. 😛 I was out with the camera yesterday photographing the Saint Patrick's Day parade. I made two candid portraits and four dog photos that I really like.

I loved the honesty.

Thanks for sharing this. I think this is such a great reminder that 1) it's important to critique our work and 2) there's no substitute for time spent with a camera for improving skills and techniques as well as opportunities to witness amazing moments in from of our cameras. I may "borrow" this idea for a future video of my own ;) Cheers!

I love your street photography POVs especially the Birmingham ones keep up the great work

The idea of you writing your own rating for each photo is incredible, very cool. I hope it will be in the next videos

Been to Birmingham a few times and liked photographing the architecture (I am attracted to churches lol). I liked your first shot with lady with walking stick walking through the light cast between buildings. I think the gate of her stride worked better than the third you liked (but we all have different views). As you said its quite rare to see videos on RU-vid of the reality of street photography, so I applaud you sharing this.

Love the video and honesty of your work. Many big st photogs on ig seem to set up many of their images. And that's fine, but I think it's important to capture normal, everyday moments on the st. It will be nostalgic and part of your local history one day.

First off Tim, enjoyed the video, the effort you have put in to creating this video and the thought behind this. Personally I would try to avoid being overly negative (critical of yourself) when you provide a narrative of the photo shoot. I’m new to “Street Photography” and have tried to do what you have done and felt the same way! I think the primary cause for this has more to do with 3 things. Location, weather and frequency of practice! I think it would be fair to say that the majority of photographers who go on to achieve a measure of success, have achieved this because they likely live in a very popular / busy location, or are able to travel to those locations on a regular basis. If you have got great light, that’s a bonus. If you are able to take 1000’s of photographs in places like London, New York, India, etc., etc, you are at a distinct advantage over someone who lives in a dull town in England where the light isn’t great and those locations aren’t milling with tourists! If I was a young man and had a passion for photography, I would consider moving to a place where I could indulge in my hobby!

I think you underestimated the picture of the 2 asian gentlemen at the start of the video. Everything from the colours, the lines you pointed out, the slight and maybe unintentional dutch angle looks great. I'd give that a solid 8!

Everyone is their own harshest critic. You have exactly the right idea. Keep on shooting and don't give up. Look for good compositions but don't overthink. Some of the best pictures come from spontaneous moments. The from the hip shot of the two guys coming down the steps is great. And yeah, if you can't get colour to work go black and white. Good work 🙌🏻 Keep it up!

I struggle so much with street photography. Big ups to you for doing it. Also, I think you are harsh on your ratings. Keep up the amazing work

Street photography is hard and fun i say... awesome tips and for showing your work i like the honestly of this video..35mm is a beast but u getting there i gives the viewer eyes like being there..thanks for the time and gving me that inspiration to go out and practice..cheers tim

Birmingham is my go to location, was there yesterday,, really good area is Digbeth / The Custard factory, lots of street art, also the fish market,

I wish I had the courage to take the shot. Sooo familiar!

I am definitely just as harsh with my own photos. As far as your images go, I feel you may simply be a bit too far, rendering the main subject a little too small within the frame., and ending up with a lot of distracting non-essential background. Either go for a crop, or use a longer lens. The other point is more stylistic, meaning its like salting a dish, some prefer a little others a bit more. That is, personally I would have given the images plenty more contrast, especially by crunching down the shadows. Glad you posted the video as it shows we all go through a lot of self doubt when taking pictures.

Thanks for making this video, Tim. This is my typical day out shooting. Lots of walking around, and the majority of images are average. I feel you may have been a bit harsh on yourself, as some of the images were a lot better than you scored them, but if you have set a bar for yourself, you need to make sure you are always reaching and exceeding it. I find leaving some time between taking photos and editing them, allows the emotions to settle and I look at the images with a fresh pair of eyes. Some images I thought were great turn out to be average at best and others which with I thought were rubbish, turn out to be my favourites. My favourite image was at 6:50 - Lamp post and light Keep doing what you are doing, Tim.

Servus Tim! Thanks for these insights on your work. If you don't mind cropping hard, I would focus on the shadow of the two girls at 2:10 min. and then flip the picture. Thanks again for the video & have a great Sunday

I enjoy doing street photography. As you suggest, it is hard to do. Thank goodness I’m doing street photography with a digital camera. As a result, I’m not punished financially for pressing the shutter. I usually have a 2% rate of images I like. That means I have to accept a 98% failure rate. That is par for the course. Yesterday I went to the St Patrick’s day parade. I love parades. I went to the parade an hour early so I could get up close and personal with the people who would be in the parade. These people don’t mind being photographed. Just the opposite. These are easy shots and get me started. The real subjects for my parade walk are the people on the street. Their attention is typically focused on the parade so they are easy to photograph. Plus there are a lot of people with cameras and phones taking pictures so I don’t stand out. Parades are easily my favorite venues. I maybe have 5% that are any good. For me, that is as good as it gets. If I used film I would dramatically take less photographs. Since it costs nothing to take a digital photograph I take 100’s of them. I know that I’m working with a 2% keeper rate so I take a lot of photographs. Unfortunately, I don’t know which of the images will be in the 2%. I don’t shot and pray. I see someone and decide if I want to capture their image. I wish I was more efficient taking street images. Then I’d have a better than 2-5% rate of OK images. This is my process. I hope the 98% of my images I reject are better than the 98% I rejected when I first started. Higher quality failures. That is my ambition. Plus the 2% are getting better too. Mask On Nurse Marty (Ret)

Yo, Tim. Well done, and nice photos! It's fun to rate photos to improve the photography skills. Do you delete old photos that you now feel are not good enough? I've done it before and I regret it now because I think it takes away the joy of photography. Yeah, don't do it! Hahaha.

Your video is just relatable with my style of photography on so many levels. I snap at every moving thing, some ok some not 😂. I panicked at the lights fading, too, and my senses goes into overdrive if I am in a busy environment. Recently, I came across Sam Abell's work, and he mentioned not to chase the subject and set the background first. He sorts of work back to front with his photography. It slows me right down and forces me to think. Don't be too hard on yourself , we are all on a different photography journey. Thank you for the video and your honesty. Subbed.

My struggle on street photography: • I need to shoot something • I don't know what to shoot Btw, your bw photo where light and shadow were divided by a pole and a lady was shoot in the light side is your best

The picture of the kids on the bull works because it fills your frame. You aren't close enough to make the others work. In terms of composition, some are better than others but you still have trees etc coming out of people's heads. All that said, keep up the work. It's all meant in a helpful manner 🙏

Hey man great video. I'm absolutely over critical of myself, doubting myself all the time. I think its part and parcel of it though. Also, I reckon better to be that way to avoid complacency.

You're very hard on yourself, which makes this a little downbeat. That said, kudos to you for your honesty! I would be happy if I could my street images half as good as yours! Excellent point about other people seeing your shots for the first time when you're probably sick to death of them. I wonder how you would have reacted if your shots were taken by someone els and presented to you? Great video - thanks very much!

excellent was considering shooting today and needed that little boost, although it looks like its gonna rain and the xt30ii sadly isn't weather sealed

Kudos for candor and insights, Tim. Thumbnail says it all, quite well. Difficult to sync w/your ratings w/o knowing your criteria. Veiled woman in red and color version (shows bag better) of punching bag kid my fav. I have to admire your hit rate - wish I could do as well. My sense is that 35mm FF equiv might be too wide for your preferred field of photographic vision - many images from the POV, IMO, would be more impactful if cropped in to feature subject. Agree that honest analysis of “almost” images can help us improve. Just going out for a shoot can keep us in practice - technical proficiency and observational awareness. Does that make sense? Ever wake up from a sound sleep w/a photo idea or problem solution? Exercise such as revealed in this vid can “plant” creative seeds, IMO, that emerge and grow when we least expect. Glad you posted this one, Tim. Cheers!

We’ve all been there struggling to see the shot. All the skill in the world can’t substitute for a bit of luck now and then.

Such a real video, so relatable to be self critical and so honest, that not all pictures work. I find that reviewing them after a while also works for me, I can then look at them more objectively. Good luck!

The ratings for each photo are your own evaluations of your work - which is fine as far as it goes. It would be interesting what ratings would be given by a panel of other viewers. Some of the images which you find as just middle of the road might well receive a substantially different assessment by others (obviously in either a plus or minus direction.)

Hi Tim, I think you are being a bit hard on yourself really. I'm trying to capture street work too and often feel like I've wasted a few hours in a city centre. My feeling is the mono images of your day work better, there didn't seem to be a huge colour palette to provide some real contrast with the subjects. I think shooting to the environment can change the result! Keep posting as I always see something in your work I like 👍

Fantastic video 👏🏻📸

cool day, love the shots. I personally face a deep "purpose crisis" (or simpler: what am I doing, and why?). Therefore, please let me ask: what do you do with those shots, after all, say, with those with rating 5 and higher. You work through post edits with them, but what then? I did not check but I have a feeling you don't throw them all on Instagram. But what are you doing with them once they're finished? I'm not being sarcastic here - it truly is my biggest current personal challenge - I have no idea what to do, even with those pics I really like, which makes me shoot less and less (and question more and more)

I really enjoyed this if I were super critical some of these shots would for me worked better (again my preference) in Portrait, but I’m someone who shoots 99% on am 85mm prime

Hi Tim, what’s your rating scale like? what’s a 3 and a 6 or 8?

Hi Tim, beautiful video and photos. How do you edit your photos? Some of them really look like film; do you have a preset or are you using film simulations from Fuji? Thanks Ps: if you use a preset, do you sell it? :-)

A very enjoyable video, it shows that street photography is easy, but doing it really well is hard! When I go out for a shoot I'm pleased with one good keeper, the rest are forgettable. A number of times you mention you would have liked to be closer. I'm wrestling with prime vs zoom and with a zoom you may have got closer. Why are so many street photographers against zooms? Zooms today are small, light and easy to use with excellent optical quality..

Love your channel I really want to get into street photography, can you suggest a camera that doesn’t cost a fortune to start with please? Had to subscribe

I have been very critical of my own photography and still am to a degree. I think you are very hard on yourself. The question you pose about converting to black and white is, I feel, really poignant. I personally think the shot of the two Asian gentlemen walking down the stairs with cigarettes would look awesome in black and white with higher contrast and even a bit of grain. But then that could be just me and how I personally like photos.

Does your current approach keep you from cropping in post? Seems like several shots might be interesting with a different framing.

I find bwing hyowr critical of my images make sme strive to think and act differently.. in equipment, capture, location and post... P.S. that Shot of the guy by Poundland crop in from the left and straighten your near vertical and it improves dramatically..🙏

This sort of photography takes lots of courage & 'hide'.Full marks for trying.Get in closer & try to get faces & reaction rather than backs & sides of heads.

- great video. Excellent information. & we are watching a Video. With *audio and sound* *This video is a moving picture* & (We see *what the photographer is doing* .....) And Then once we have seen the moving video - showing the scene We see a _still image_ of that *same moving scene* I like both the video and the still photographs. Because of the smartphone & *anyone and everyone* snaps a picture: Has _still photography_ *devalued* ? Thank you

I have a question about taking photos of minors in Europe. I heard somebody said that it needs to get permission from their parents or accompanying adults to shoot the minors. What do you think?

The black and white punch bag was the best shot, with a crop to focus on the child it should have deserved a better score. Is there a repeating comment about being closer? However unfashionable they seem to be these days, perhaps a zoom lens would bring flexibility to a photowalk?

I just dont understand or appreciate B+W photography. Do you ever go home and put your television in B+W and watch like that for an evening.

Hi, would you be interested in doing a video about the ethics of photographing strangers without their consent? Many thanks.

I enjoyed watching this but I have to say I think you're a little too hard on your own work!

You're an 85mm shooter; you just don't know it yet.

An interesting video, as always. But too many, too many ads. They're annoying, distracting interruptions that make me want to stop watching. Couldn't you avoid them? Is the income they provide fundamental for your channel?