Street Photographers Are Problematic

Strolling through short form content like Reels, Shorts and Tik Toks you’ve most definitely seen people recording individuals doing goofy things, pranking and creating drama for likes.

Carrying a camera used to be cool, seen with prestige. Now people look at photographers with suspicious eyes. Who wants a video of themselves at their worst moment floating around the web. It’s understandable. Street Photography doesn’t have nearly the reach as some of the content creators but the effects of drama for likes has trickled down to us. And we kinda deserve it. I’m guilty of taking photos of people doing weird things, looking odd or dressing funny. I post those photos online. I’m no different than the content creators I suppose. Just dumb because at least they are getting money for low hanging fruit.

It’s especially common in NYC street photography. There are so many street photographers over there capturing all the strange NYC people. Most times they aren’t even doing anything, just walking and looking a bit odd. At a certain point, it’s not a challenge and it becomes repetitive and boring. I mean whats the point of street photography anyways though. I tell myself it’s for documenting purposes, but it’s probably just a fun challenge that keeps me out of trouble and a good for the steps.

It would be nice though to lower my expectations and be happy with a unique image every couple of months. I’m trying to stop taking pictures of low hanging fruit and work on creating more unique photos (whatever those are in 2023).