Street photography – Jeff Damron Photography

I’ve never thought of myself as a street photographer. I’ve never really understood a lot of what seems to pass as “street” photography these days, which often appears to me to be snaps of people walking randomly, frequently away from the camera. I’ve stumbled upon a bit more interesting photographs on Youtube lately in which background architecture and lighting seem to be the most importants aspects, with people walking there mostly for perspective. I often don’t get those either, but some strike me as a really interesting. And those picture have gotten me thinking about my my own. Although I don’t typically go out on the “streets” for photography, I certainly seem to go there when I’m traveling. And with this in mind, I’ve combed through the last ten years of my photographs and found a hundred or so that I think fall within this more expansive definition of street photography. Here are some from a vacation to Italy taken in June.

Street photography is very popular these days, although I haven’t done much of it because it is just plain hard, though being in places crowded with interesting people helps. I haven’t seen my Canon EOS M camera recommended for such photography by anyone due to relatively slow auto-focus. But that is what I used for most of these. The rest were taken on an aging (but beloved) Ricoh GRD III. And, as has always been the custom, I’ve added some grain and contrast and converted to black and white for a gritty look. I really enjoyed taking these and need to do this type of photography more often.

We’ll start with the smokin’ women. Cigarette smokin’ women I mean.