Tag: Streetphotography

The Beauty of Perfect Imperfection

A blurry Christmas tree reflects the beauty of perfect imperfection
Christmas Tree | Nuremberg | 2024

The Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi celebrates the beauty of perfect imperfection, impermanence, and the natural state of things—an ideal philosophy for photography. Instead of chasing perfection, Wabi-Sabi encourages finding beauty in flaws: the cracks of a weathered wall, the softness of blurred motion, or the fleeting golden hour light.

This mindset frees us photographers to embrace authenticity, valuing the raw and unpolished over the artificial. A blurred motion shot, for instance, may evoke more emotion than a sharply focused one. A grainy texture or an uneven shadow can add depth and character to an image.

By adopting Wabi-Sabi into our photography, we not only can expand our creative vision, but also connect more deeply with the subjects we capture. It’s a reminder that life, with all its imperfections, is inherently beautiful—just waiting to be captured through the lens.

If you feel inspired, pick up your camera (or smart phone), head into the streets and find your own way of capturing the beauty of perfect imperfection.

Have a great Saturday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Soggy outside? Shoot in an exhibition!

Art n’ Motion

End of the Holidays

Street Photography Quick Tip 16 – Capture what captures attention

7

Halloween Hunting

Halloween Hunting
Halloween Hunting | Genoa | 2022

Tonight is “All Hallow’s Eve”, the eve before the religious feast All Saints (aka All Hallow’s Day), remembering the dead, saints and martyrs of christianity. Obviously that calls for an appropriate street photograph, albeit one from the archives (but previously unpublished on this blog). I captured this shot I dubbed Halloween Hunting two years ago during a Halloween event in Genoas medieval city center.

Also this year, there is another Halloween Ghost Tour on the Streets of Genoa. The Significant Other and I still need to decide whether to go. Having spent last night on the road traveling down to our Home (South), and after putting in a full day for the work that pays the bills, there might not be enough energy left to go Halloween Hunting tonight 😉

Taken with my Leica SL2-S and the TTArtisan 50mm .95 prime M-Mount lens. Image specs are 1/250 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 6400 | 50mm.

Raw processing and monochrome conversion in Lightroom Classic. 

If you like to go Halloween hunting tonight and are still looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Halloween

Marcus

Related Posts:

NYC Experience – Times Square

Aida under the Stars

Drinks before the show

Castle Ghosts

5

Collision Course

A car has hit a parking bollard in this image called collision course
Collision Course | Quimper | 2024

Street Photography is not necessarily about capturing human beings on the stage of life. It is also about seeing those little things that happen out in the streets, the little stories that make us smile about life happening in front of our lens. When I saw this 90 degrees bent bollard behind that car parked in Quimper, France, I had to laugh, I thought this was hilarious. I have captured that snapshot dubbed Collision Course with my iPhone.

So take your camera (or smartphone), hit your local streets and look for this little funny scenes that also tell the stories of the streets.

If you are looking for more tips and inspirations around street photography, take a look around my free Learning Center.

Have a great Tuesday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 16 – Capture what captures attention

Instant Inspiration (12) – Playfulness

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Looking Up at Things

The Fun is Over

7

Nightly Encounter

Nightly Encounter - Red haired girl meeting another girl in a wedding dress
Nightly Encounter | Vannes | 2024

As avid street photographer, I’m always looking for those stories of the street happening in front of my lens. Like during this nightly encounter in the streets of Vannes in Brittany, France. Look at the image and let it tell you a story of everyday live. Maybe a bit of an unusual story, happening at 11pm in the evening.

Taken with thy Olympus OM-D E-M1X and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 Pro Zoom.

If you feel like picking up your camera to go out and capture the stories of the streets yourself, check out the tips and inspirations around street photography in my free Learning Center.

Wish you a great Monday!

Marcus

Related Posts:

Gear Talk – Ring light on a budget

Buy books not gear (1)

Learning Center

Little woes of a traveling photographer

9

Hello Again

A grandfather welcoming his two grandchildren, saying Hello Again
Hello Again | Le Mont St. Michel | 2024

There was clear joy for those two girls, when they saw their grand dad coming around the corner. A candid street snapshot taken at the iconic Mont Saint Michele in Brittany, France. Hello again, maybe that’s what the delighted man said when he had the girls jumping at him. Hello again is for me to say after our vacation trip to Brittany. Stay tuned for some posts about this magnificent region in Northwestern France.

Have a great Monday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Namibia Explored – Etosha Wildlife

Israel Explored – From Galilee to the Dead Sea

Greece explored – Mycenae

Seville Explored – Setas de Sevilla

8

Late

Late - Two ladies in dresses running up the marble stairs to a church
Late | Genoa | 2024

Whether these two ladies, running up the marble stairs of Genoa’s wonderful Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato, are late for mass, is pure speculation. But it is one of these wonderful stories that make street photography so worthwhile.

Snapshot taken with my iPhone, cropping and monochrome conversion in Lightroom Classic.

Have a great Saturday

Marcus

Related Posts:

StoNur on the Road – One Night in Budapest

Israel Explored – Bethlehem

Gnadenberg Abbey

Italy explored – Bergamo

4

Luna Park with an iPhone

Genova Luna Park 2024 at night
Selling Dreams | Genoa | 2024

Yesterday, after a long workday, The Significant Other and I headed down to Genoa’s Porto Antico for an “Apericena”, Cocktails combined with Italian Tapas. I was pleasantly surprised, when the Regent of the Household suggested to visit the Summer Luna Park set up in the Harbor on the way back to our place. “So you can take some photographs while I look what the fair has to offer”. No questions asked from my side 🙂 . While having the X-T2 with me, I shot also various images with my iPhone, leveraging the feature to turn images taken with the “Live” function of the camera app turned on into long exposure photographs (you can to that in the photo app). Check out more image of the series “Luna Park with an iPhone” after the jump….

Continue reading “Luna Park with an iPhone” →
9

Nightwalkers

Couple walking side by side through Genoa's Via Pré by night, backlit by an approaching car.
Nightwalkers | Genoa | 2024

There is always something going on in Via Pré, in Genoa’s medieval Centro Storico. In daytime buzzing with live between all those little shops, but also during night. While this street photograph seems very cluttered, I still like it a lot. First of all, Via Pré is normally very cluttered, and then there is a lot going on in the moment I captured that shot around 10:30pm on a sizzling hot August night when walking home with The Significant Other after a nice dinner in the old center. A lot of little stories of the street are told here, each of those nightwalkers going about their daily lives.

Taken with the Fuji X-T2 and the Fujinon XF 1:2.8-4/18-55mm R LM OIS, image specs 1/50 sec @ f/4, ISO 3200 and 40mm focal length (60mm full frame equivalent). Monochrome conversion in Lightroom Classic.

Talking about LCR, I didn’t manage fixing that corrupted catalogue file, so I had to restore from my last June 2nd backup. I lost about two months worth of editing, but as I didn’t photograph much it was overseeable damage. And a good reminder to regularly BACK UP MY DATA. Especially as Lightroom kindly reminds me every week. Only that I typically click that reminder away. Not any more. Promised to myself.

Have a great Wednesday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Street ? Harbor!

My photographic journey 2022

To crop or not to crop

B&W or Color?

12

Phoning Home

Man sitting under a picture of Jesus phoning home
Phoning Home | Genoa | 2024

Thought I throw in a monochrome street photo from last weekend’s walk through Genoa’s Centro Storico. The guy thought I was a funny break in whatever conversation he was having, maybe he was phoning home? A snapshot talken with my iPhone, converted to monochrome in Lightroom Classic.

Talking about LRC, I’m having troubles with my catalogue (have I mentioned there are almost 200.000 images stored there?). After upgrading to version 13.4. I was asked also to upgrade the catalogue. Initially it worked fine, then somehow it became corrupt. It opens and closes fine, it shows the images in the library, but does not take any commands. I’ve been browsing through forums and help advice, tried everything suggested, so far without any success. The last backup works fine, so the catalogue must have taken a hit. Too bad my last backup was done beginning of June, my bad. Make sure you all do your weekly backups, that’s my learning from this. I’m not ready to give up yet on two months worth of editing…

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Backup!!! Your!!! Data!!!

Street Photography Quick Tip 15 – Get close for more intense street portraits

Instant Inspiration (8) -Make a portrait of a stranger

A Street Photographer’s Dialogue

11

Visual Balance

Lady with a dress walking through Genoa's Centro Storico at night
1/40 sec | F/4 | ISO 3200 | 83mm

Strolling through Genoa’s Centro Storico the other night I took this street photograph with my Fuji X-T2 and the Fujinon XF 1:2.8-4/18-55mm R LM OIS. I like this shot, for the composition, color balance, light, gesture and the story. I tried a monochrome conversion, but stuck with color. You might note, that the neon sign of the little Trattoria is inverted, as it is transparent and shows the “right” side uphill to were likely more potential customers come from when walking down Via San Bernardo towards the port area. So when doing post production in Lightroom Classic, I mirrored the image horizontally, so the sign reads the right way. But with that, I think, the photograph lost its visual balance. Check for yourself after the jump….

Continue reading “Visual Balance” →
15

Promise to myself

Old Lady in a colorful beach dress enjoying an ice cream
Ice Ice Baby | Laigueglia | 2024

One blog post per month does not meet my own expectations for myself. But this is how it has been lately. Not much more going on in my photography. Also not doing my own expectations and aspirations justice. But this is how it has been lately. But this is how life is sometimes. There are too many things going on in parallel, in the job that pays the bills as well as in personal life. So something that, for many years, has been in the spotlight of my activities, has been relegated to a place in the far corner of daily life. Sometimes I feel bad about it, sometimes I don’t, because the other things are just as fun. But when out in the streets, these days hardly with a camera around the neck, but always with the iPhone in hand, I’m always looking around. Consciously or subconscious scanning my surroundings for the stories of the street, or the faces of the street. It’s wired into me, and it’s always fun. And when I get this one shot taht makes me smile at the end of the day I’m totally happy.

So my promise to myself is to do better. In my photography. And in my writing about it.

Have a great Wednesday

Marcus

Related Posts:

Finding your photographic style

Stay Interested !

Street Photography Quick Tip 15 – Get close for more intense street portraits

My Top Gear

A blue clad Berber boy sitting on a flying carpet in Morocco
A boy and his flying carpet | Morocco | 2024

I often get asked what is my most important piece of equipment for my photography, my top gear? And that question typically relates to a camera or a camera/lens combo. Well, let me assure you, it is not a piece of hardware. Actually, it is quite simple. Everyone has it. Can you guess? Find out after the jump….

Continue reading “My Top Gear” →
8

Up ↑