As I have already mentioned in previous posts, shooting in your hometown can get a little boring so that’s why there are some tricks I use to make sure I don’t get bored of it. Sofia is a rather big city but the interesting spots for street photography can be a little hard to find but it definitely has its charm.
First of all, I very rarely go out to shoot on two consecutive days. I only do it if there’s a drastic change in the weather and it’s different than what we’ve had for the past weeks. In that case I just can’t help myself and I go out and shoot more often.
Something I always try to do is go out and shoot in the “interesting” times of the day. That means I tend to go and shoot at dusk or dawn mainly, so the sun is low, and the light is nice and warm. That also means that the shadows are long and interesting so it’s perfect for my style. Another reason to pick this part of the day is that it’s usually right before or after rush hour so the streets are not overcrowded but also not completely dead. It’s like the human traffic is balanced.
What I do before I go, and shoot is I make sure I have a general idea of the route I want to take. What I mean by that is I decide what neighborhood or what part of the center I want to go in. Then, once I’m out, I usually just go down random streets where I think there might be interesting light and I just try to get lost.
Then, the last thing I decide beforehand, is whether I want a close and personal shot with blurry background, which would mean I take my 85mm F1,8 or a wider shot in which case I go for the 23mm F1,4, which are the only two lenses, that I have for my Fuji.
When I go out shooting analog, I decide between my Nikon FG-20 with a 85mm F1,8 and my Russian Leica knockoff (known as Zorkii) with a 50mm F3,5. The main difference for me is that when I have the Zorkii with me, I tend to take more shoots without looking at the viewfinder, at hip level. My Nikon film shots are rather similar to my digital ones.
Once I’m done, I very rarely wait to edit my photos. I know a lot of photographers prefer to wait, which I do with my film shots, but I want to still have the clear idea of what I had in mind with the specific shot that I took.
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