Tag Archives: Street

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 18 … Fuji X100s …Allows You to See You

September 6, 2015 streetshooter 2 Comments

Andre’ gets me into a groove. I mean I suppose any camera can do that but with Andre’, it’s like I feel the connection more to that groove. That doesn’t mean I get better photos it just means that when I miss, I am more aware of it. Like the 2 shots on this post. It’s not like they are earth shattering or anything BUT!…. they do shoe exactly what I was going thru and how I was feeling at the moment of exposure. I wonder how important it is for a camera to help make photos that reveal you in the photo and not so much trying to please everyone else.

Maybe they all do that but I am more aware of the here and now and my presence in it with the Fuji X100s. I think the camera that taught me that the best was my Leica Black Lac M-4. The camera had no brain at all. It worked just on an emotional level. I set it and it released. Period. So I became very tuned into the mechanics of photography. No light meter, manual everything and no AF. The X100s does not work like this at all but what it does do for me is give me the emotional experience of my Leica’s.

So these 2 photos were made with Andre’ and me and we were in the here and now together, without intrusion from each other and made these and they reflect that experience. Maybe they aren’t the best photos I will ever make but I was there, I made them and that’s what matters. The point is… it’s nice to be aware of where you are in your journey and even if your now knocking it out, at least your making foot notes for your good work….

Be blessed on your journey….

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Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 16

September 1, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

It’s September 1st here in Philadelphia. I hear tell it’s also September 1st in other places of the world but I don’t believe it. Humbug I tell ya. Actually it’s a Pen EP-5 day with the 25mm 1.8 lens that thinks it’s a 50mm. So I worked Independence Historic Park for a while and I gotta say, it’s empty. I mean the other day it’s packed and then someone turned the Visitor Flowing Device down and today not even 50 people. I’m kinda sad to see the place like this. I guess it’s a sure shot of the forthcoming winter season.

I think most people kinda slow down and stay warm in the winter. Well, I like to step up the pace in the Fall and Winter. I mean I like to get out there and work. Of course it’s easy to say that as it’s in the low 90’s today and the rest of the week.

I am considering taking 2 cameras out to work but that means a camera bag of some sorts. Yuch, I hate being bogged down with bags.

Well, it’s almost tomorrow and I’m off to lala land. Have a blessed day and good light to all….

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 12 “On The Turning Away”

August 13, 2015 streetshooter 20 Comments

It is that every now and then I feel detached from my work, well, maybe from life itself. See, if I get detached from life, I always had my work to keep me in touch with things. Kinda like a life line. The scary thing for me is not being detached from life but when I start to detach from my work. It’s my thread to existence. It’s what I do in reality and it’s for life. So if I let myself detach, poof!

So in these times of the image wasteland I struggle to even find meaning in what I’m doing. I guess I push myself to the street and endeavor to persevere my journey. I walk around in a general feeling of apathy and I lose interest quickly. …and during all this self generated pity and lackadaisical attitude, I still go work. I still push myself to seek my next image. Am I a hero, fuck no I’m just an aware shooter that knows in time, things may pass.

When I was young I knew things would pass but now as a seasoned human, I don’t take the passing for granted anymore. I want it to pass but now know only I can make it do so. That or a great camera store… nah, I got all I need.

So maybe it’s nothing that will pass by itself this image wasteland I am traveling thru. Maybe it’s the Turning Away that is happening. The problem is to recognize where the Turning Away is happening.

Maybe it’s me doing the turning away from my work and efforts and just maybe I am complacent with my region I choose to work, or maybe it’s the vision of the lens, or maybe emotionally I am drained and weak and not up to the task, or maybe a million other things I may be Turning Away from.

What if it wasn’t totally me at all? I mean life is not just a 2 way street, it’s also a shared street. So what if I am punishing myself because I feel I am at fault completely but, maybe, just maybe life is playing a role in this dance thru the image wasteland with me. What if life is smarter then me, imagine that, and trying to mentor me to take things to the next level and because it’s the next level, I have no conscious awareness of it because I ain’t there yet so maybe that’s why I feel lost cause I am actually lost cause I am entering a new region unaware to me.

Well. I’m gonna take Walker the Olympus Pen-5 out again with the trusty 25mm 1.8. This is not my preferred focal length but in these times of uncertainty, I need to unload as many preconceptions as I can. ufff not easy.

I’ll be back in a day or so and I would appreciate some comments to share… thanks all…..

shooter and his mind…out……………………………………………………………………………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 11

August 8, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

I’m in the … it’s friggin hot outside what the hell you doing walking the streets with a camera mode shooter? Well, I guess I am a creature of habit. I mean where else would I be and what else should I be doing? Dunno, I don’t know either. Tanya does, oh yeah. She thinks I should be mowing the lawn, or fixing the hole on the wall, or doing the dishes, whatever. In a way she’s got the right idea. I mean making photos or any art form requires imagination and the struggle to create. Doing the dishes is a perfect example.

So, standing in the kitchen at the sink, washing dishes is supposed to be therapeutic. I don’t get it but I get really clean dishes. I guess it’s the mindless way of being that allows the imagination to spring forward and begin free thought. It’s at these moments that I get really focused on what I have in my collection and in my mind. I go over what’s been ticking in my brain and try to understand the meaning of it all. I never get an answer because I don’t like asking questions of myself and I don’t like having to come up with answers, especially because in time, they will change anyway.

Maybe it’s not just washing the dishes but allowing a time to reflect. At these times, I always think about very heavy important things about my photography like why do I keep buying camera bags and straps? It will take many dish washing sessions to get a true answer to that. The point I’m making in a round-a-bout shooter way is, that it’s all in the mind.

Reflecting, what an interesting concept. I remember Ding McNulty, telling me how to sort my work and make a map out of it. So I would go home and lay print out on the floor but couldn’t grasp the concept.My daughter was around 4 at the time and she comes over and she stands there looking. Alright, get this shit straight. I’m at the Museum and Ding is helping me. I come home and Bethany, the 4 year old curator is standing over my work.

Don’t laff, the story is not over. One of the things we did with our kisa was to teach them anything we could afford to. We had the kids version of Scrabble. Bethany is standing there with the Scrabble board in her hand because she wants me to play and I do always and so did my wife. She was most attentive as I was doing photography.

I look at the board and I look at the floor and all the sudden, I see the road map for my work. This entire process happened in a few minutes and it’s been with me forever.

The format. Take your prints and lay the out horizontally and make sure they are working together. You have to do that part. Then pay attention for an image the fits in the group but has other things going on. This image is a transition image. Place it in the group and fit it where it works best. Then as you look at your images try to see what goes in the horizontal row and then… find some that work with that transitional image and work a line vertically from that image. Keep grouping images like this and visualize a Scrabble Board After a while, you should see your body of work and what interest you.

There is always a catch right? Well, so far I have not been able to figure out how to do this on PC screen. There really is no better way to organize and because of that I have even lost my way for the past 3 or 4 weeks. It’s hard for me to see where I was, where I am and where I need to go. I can’t blame my loss of work energy to just this can I? Hell yeah I can and I am.

I’ll be back and it will be sooner or later. I’d like to thank all those that wrote me being concerned for my absence. I appreciate everything from everyone.

Thanks, be blessed on your journey………shooter out………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 7 … Fuji X100s

June 22, 2015 streetshooter 11 Comments

Sometimes I fe-el like a Mo-ther-less Child. Well, I am and it may seem like there’s no relevance to photography but damn sure nuff is. Mother Light gives birth to all we do and say as shooters. She provides us with the reason to continue. She makes it possible to stimulate our souls and pick up our cameras. She allows us to create images that in one way or another satisfy us and sometimes we can satisfy others.

So Andre and I went for a walk. Ohhh, sorry. Just in case youin’s forgot, Andre’ is my Fuji X100s. He’s got some kinda magical power over me. DO NOT TELL HIM IF YOU MEET HIM! See, many many shooters today hang a camera around their neck and walk around and shoot semi-blindly. I say that because most do not look at the screen and or finder. There is nothing against that. I do it sometimes too. Yeah, yeah, I have my moments as a hip shooter or in the hand and don’t look at the camera shooter and even a hanging from the neck against the chest shooter. It ain’t always pretty I tell ya but I have my moments.

Than brings me to the point. See, Andre’ has a kinda snobbish attitude. He’s got a screen I tellya. He’s got this finder that is an OVF and also a magic lever that when you pull it, the finder turns into an EVF. Oh yeah, you better believe it buster. I say that because woman, all woman that have ever been borne and that will ever be born know about this camera cause it’s embedded in their female DNA.

So we are walking, well actually I’m walking and Andre’ is on a neck strap around my neck. I got one of them Peak Leash things and it’s nice. I prolly have over 30 or more straps to use but I’m breaking this on in. Instinct is at play and it’s easy to just look at the scene and release the shutter. Well, Andre’ will get pissed off and let me know it ain’t a proper way to work with him. If I do that semi-blind shooting thing, well soon I get camera poop on my chest. Now normal people would say the Blue Bird of Happiness pooped on me but I ain’t so crazy, I know it’s my camera giving me a load of camera shit for now working in the right manner. See, that’s attitude.

Andre’ insist that I use the finder and sometimes the screen but usually the finder and it’s the OVF more than the EVF just because I used Leica M’s for 45 years and now feel the need to use this camera that way even tho’ I have all Roger’s Leicas but don’t want to use them cause I like Andre’ better and he’s what I always wanted all my M cameras to be. Whooosh, breathe shooter………………………….ok… I will.

See, Ande’s point is that if you feel a photo in your heart and you see it in your heart and mind, you need to see it with the camera. I think I understand but not fully. He’s mentoring me and as I learn stuff, I’ll post it. From what I get, it’s like… if your shooting semi-blind then your allowing happenstance to be part of the creative process. I don’t thing there’s anything wrong with that. I’m not a good gambler and listen, I know youse all millions of readers and faithful followers, I actually have some ego. It’s not an issue cause Da Wifey makes sure I know I’m a shithead and that’s because she loves me and wants my ego to stay in check.

So, I like to assume responsibility for my work. I would if I hipshot also but there’s a real satisfaction to SEE something and then MAKE a photo and have it satisfy you and maybe others too. You can think how you saw the photo coming together and recall everything about it that you didn’t take the time to forget.

So for me it’s about intent. The intent to be as aware of what I am doing at the moment as possible. I want to be a participant in my life, not just an observer. I love observing dn I’m good at it but to be a participant in your own photos is a gift only Mother Light and grant you.

I cherish this gift and will so for as long as there is light. When my time of dying comes and there is no light but the beauty and restful darkness, I’ll take Andre’ the Fuji X100s cause he’s great at high ISO.

Have a blessed journey and find inner peace, just hide it from your hubby or wife……………………………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 6 … Olympus Pen EP-5

June 19, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

I’m kinda stuck in yesterday because the above photo was made then and I just got around to posting it today and now the shooter time warp space continuum is all out of kilter. It’s not pretty I tellya, no…… not at all. See, now I’m under the gunn because the pressure is building to get this blog post out but it already has the flavor of yesterday and I have to keep it updated or I’ll fall behind and I have no idea what will happen if that occurs. I dare not want to find out either. I’m writing this damn post because I gotta meet the deadline and darn it, I will. My typewriter is getting oiled and I’m feeding paper to it at a fast rate. The hard part is waiting the Graphics and Images Dept to get me the photos. Who pays them anyway, they are always behind, sheeesh.

(stands, walks out the door, down the hall to the reporting and content department.)

So I have these thoughts and feelings, mostly feelings about metaphysical things. It’s not at all about depression, I mean I let the VA handle that shit. I don’t wanna address or bother with it. So I let my shrink do the depression stuff, I am just in thought about the CONNECTION that I have with the world and the thread that binds us together. I feel that it is the ZEN of life that binds me to it. I kinda do things my own way and it may not be right for anyone else but when I exit the planet, I’m going without fear or longing for the loss of things I never accomplished or worse yet, the things I never attempted to do. I plan on laying on that marble slab and when THE LORD comes in to check me out I will say…LORD I am ready to go. I was blessed by you to live a life worth living by me. I accomplished most of the things I set out to do, knowing that YOU were my source of inspiration and guiding force and that is a blessing never felt worthy of. I am ready LORD to go wherever you send me without reservation but… ya know, if you could maybe spare me some more time, I think I’d use it wisely. Just sayin’.

So if in fact that is how I feel about life, why would I wait until death to realize it? Of course silly, I wouldn’t. So there is the roadmap with the emotions and thoughts that drives me thru the world. What’s this have to do with photography? Well, maybe nothing for you but it is the foundation of which I live so that makes it relevant to life as I live it and that means, it’s really about photography and how I live that.

Winogrand has a book called, “Figments From The Real World”. That book is mandatory for anyone that desires to be a photographer.

FORGET STREET PHOTOGRAPHY! Winogrand was not a street shooter, he was a LIFE SHOOTER. He plugged his eyes into life and the way it was effecting him at the moment. May genre’s could be said to contribute to Life Shooting. It also is a know fact that Life Shooting gave birth to Street Shooting. Street is not an attitude as many claim that it is. Having a Street Attitude is about having a tilt or slant on the subject matter. I don’t mean the camera either. What ATTITUDE does is, hides and covers up emotions and feelings.

Street is about life and death. Having your emotions and thoughts in your hand with your camera makes you a street shooter. You have to be in touch with yourself and that’s the only way to be in touch with life and the world. It’s not easy because your basically balls azz naked out there. The ladies of course are more refined and they wear lingerie at the minimum. It is easier for woman to be great shooters because they have no place to put their heart other then right out in the open.

They do this with their work also because they can. Men have to work harder and desire a different kind of approval of their work. It’s all ok, there is nor right or wrong way that means anything. What matters is that you recognize and practice your way.

So finding and capturing your photos that are really YOU out there is not often easy. If you can keep tuned into yourself and your eyes awake, images will form and you need to be ready.

There’s just so much noise in our heads from Flickr, forums and the like that it’s difficult to get to a clean space with our selves. Maybe this friggin mess we cal life and reality is the meat of what we are looking for. I mean it’s easy to just fall in line and do as others do. Get the same cameras, computers, workshops, books, classes, chats, all the stuff pre-approved that will make us like everyone else. We get accepted easier, we hold up in conversations, we look like the others, we think like the others and ya know I bet that’s a damn fine comfy place to be. I bet it really is.

Look, we all have our own way of going to the toilet, getting a shower, choosing clothes, selecting food, eating it etc. We all are individuals in life. No 2 of us are the same. Even with multiple personality issues, they are not the same and the live with us in the same body.

So why on earth would anyone want to be judged by others that aren’t aware of themselves anyway? Even if they are aware, who cares about using their standards on our work? I don’t. I dont give a flying fuck.

There are a few fears out there. The big one is not working the street and getting close to people to mke photos. That’s the easy stuff cause it’s more physical then anything.

The one that kills is making photos and seeking judgement from others. Seeking approval, oh my The Horror!

BTW, the Olympus Pen EP-5 is a baad azz camera.

Seeya’s after the weekend…………………………..be blessed on your journey………………..

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 5 … Dreamcatcher

June 18, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

There are reasons for each of us to make photos. Now I now that there are more then one reason and when we work we may have a few in our mind. This is normal behaviour and I am proud to say I suffer this photographic discovery illness. I learned along time ago that if you wear your heart on your sleeve, you have to be able to live with the bumps and bruises that will happen to it. For certain shooters, the heart on the sleeve is the only place to have it so that one stays in touch with your inner self and be conscious of how life is effecting you in the here and now.

Maybe I sound like some kind of metaphysical spiritual Zen practicing fool. Yeah, probably am but life has showed me that it will outlive me and I will not survive my death. So I choose to search for the reason to live and a reason to die. For me, besides loved ones, it’s making photos. The difficult thing is to accept your place in the universe. I had a friend Bill back in 1971. He was a photographer and he said to me one day, “Don, I don’t know anyone that takes photography as serious as you.” I thought that was such a nice thing to say because it meant that he saw me and my heart and my love of what I was doing was obvious. I was proud to be considered a serious shooter. We would go to NYC for the day or Philly Center City and Bill would call me, “Your the Man on the Street Donald Springer.”

I was only home from Nam for like 6 months and I was a bundle of C4 waiting to explode. Bill mentored me in many aspects of photography that I wasn’t aware of. He introduced me to Krause, Winogrand, Ding McNulty and many more people that I didn’t know I loved and respected. He took me to Minor White and all these experiences made me feel like I wanted to not only diffuse the C4 but unload it from the baggage I would carry for my life. We were friends for like 18 or so months and then one day Bill told me that he was moving to California with his sister Terry. I was completely heart broken. I didn’t know how my photography would survive. I was really depressed. One day I got a card in the mail with a picture of the rear of a Volkswagen Beetle going over a hill and the sunrise in front of it. That was the last time I heard from Bill.

I realized some time later that what I feared losing was inside me and I must be strong to make my photos and get them out there and never let anything take away the value the image has for me. I also learned that we as humans let alone shooters share an experience of photography and part of the responsibility is to support others regardless of whether we like or dislike their work.

So, I am in a kinda dead/alive period. I don’t mean depressed cause I ain’t and I know the difference cause my Dr at the VA is a good shrink and I feel comfy with him. But photographically, I am looking for a connection to something I can’t reach. I hope youse like music, I do.

I feel like Native American Flute or Gregorian Chant. Thats what my feelings sound like. So now I have to find those sounds in my photos. Sometimes I do and sometimes I might get close but no cigar. Fine, I stopped smoking 3 years ago so I doin need any cigar anyways.

I think photos make a reality that I would prefer to live in. I mean it’s just satisfying to me because my photos bring me pleasure that’s hard to get any other way. I see things that maybe exist or not or even on different planes.

The minister above with his Holly Family book in a spirit way, well kinda freaked me out but I made it anyways because I’m a shooter and a shooter with a camera in hand, on the street, ain’t noting better in life.

So I guess right before I die, I’ll make sure I have many photos of me that will live on and my ancestors will know that looking at them, they are my preferred way of life, in more than one way.

Bear with me as I weed thru these emotions and thoughts. It’s hard for me to take life light and even harder for me to not LOVE and LIVE photography with all that I am or ever will be.

shooter out …………………………………………………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Stories From the Streets

May 26, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

Well, it’s like 90+ degrees and I’m in shorts, tee shirt, sneakers and a Nam hat. I’m tellin’ ya’s this cause it’s my responsibility to do so. After all, no one else will take the time to tell you the adventures of streetshooter.

I was walking on I think 16yh Street going North but maybe South cause I don’t care cause I’m hearing Andre’ the Fuji X100s tell me that there’s a photo right up ahead that we have to make. I know, I prolly sound nutz talking to my camera. Well, what would you do if your camera started talking to you? See….

I’m walking and I see this homeless guy baking on the sidewalk frying pan. I know him and I’m not working at the moment so he’s not on my radar this minute. Then this Black Mercedes pulls up and parks right in front of the guy. I stopped and look to make sure the man in the Mercedes isn’t going to mess with the homeless man. I’m across the street. My brain came back from vacation this morning in the mad rush from the Jersey Shore. So I’m actually all present and accounted for. Eureka! Andre’ the Fuji X100s says to me, yo stupid, that’s the photo but get it thru the window. So all the sudden this wealthy man is starring at this man that can’t afford to eat.

I ran across the street seeing the photo in my wide awake mind and raise the camera and as I do I open from f/8 to f/4 because I dont want to loose all the shadows. I need to see the Rollex, the air conditioning vents, the beautiful leather interior and the man’s head with enough detail so that it creates the Juxtaposition on many levels. I raise the camera and then, traffic is on my ass and I mean n my ass. There’s this Red car with a guy in it that has no patience. I turn to look at him with the eyes I go to the VA Therapy for so I don’t have to use those eyes. He sits back in the car in the middle of the street. I look and then the guy in the Mercedes looks at the homeless man and I felt he had a revelation that we are all just one step away. CLICK.

I felt satisfied making the Photo of the men on the street. I’m walking again. Listen, if you ain’t walking out there, what the hell ya doing? Me, sheeeit, I’m a walking fool. Andre’ is in my hand at the ready. I set usually 1/250 f/8 auto iso. Philly has basically got the graffiti artist under control. There’s a woman that was a friend and her name is Jane Golden. She is known on the streets as Crazy Jane. She got that name cause she found the graffiti artist and dragged them to her studio and taught them to paint and gave them walls on buildings to paint murals on. The if another artist was gonna tag the mural, well, it wasn’t a pretty picture.

Why did I mention this? Ok, seethe transportation peoples saw how nice the murals looked and they made murals for the sides of buses and trains and whatever. I’m walking and this Big Bus comes up the street and I see the painting of Eastern State Penitentiary on it. I like how it looks and then Andre’ starts his shake in my hand things, to get my attention. I look and as I do I raise Andre’ to frame cause there’s this man looking right at me as I take aim and he look painted. I thought, oh my…. click!

I been asked by some readers to write more story like things to accompany the photos. I will do so and this is a start. I will ease into that and see where it goes….

Seeyas out there if not, seeya here………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Street … The Inverse Square Law

May 20, 2015 streetshooter 10 Comments

I been out there and shooting a lot of photos, well a lot for me at any rate. I think if I make 25 frames on a walk-a-bout, that’s a lot. I hear tell from others that 25 is a smoke break. To each his/her own, right. The thing for me is to really be aware or to be in the here and now and aware of being there. Armed with the tools of the trade, Eye, Heart and Mind and the Intent might get realized.

Well, I been in and out of City Hall making photos for over 45 years. I used to go on top of Uncle Willie’s hat but that was a long time ago. More recently I got first hand tours of closed off offices from Edmund Bacon. He loved City Hall and instilled that love into me. In fact he planted the ideas and concepts of Architecture and City Planning in me as we walked on our tours of the city in search of photos I could make that reflected his thoughts for our unpublished book.

I had Walker the Nikon Coolpix A with me and we were snapping photos as we found them and then we decided to walk thru the passageway under neath the building. Now I walked thru here more times then I can remember and I’m not counting. The light under here has captured scores of shooters and many photos have been made here.

George Krause, Ray Metzker and many others have made photos that I have been captivated by. Any way,I have decided to apply the inverse square law and live by it again. That means shooting less and getting more satisfaction from the work. It’s not that I shoot alot, I mean almost everyday but not alot of frames. I’m looking for that one shot that turns me on.

The one above in one of thos photos.

seeya tomorrow……………………………………………………..shooter out…………………………………………………..

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Messages From The Streets of Philadelphia

May 12, 2015 streetshooter 10 Comments

Messages may come at you in a number of ways and even in different forms. Like when I’m sitting on the couch sipping some ice cold lemonade, my wife looks at me and I get the message very fast and well. She kinda raises a brow, loses the smile that made me want to spend time with her and gets this cold air coming from her like an air conditioner. This message is, the dishes are dirty and you have to get them clean.

Like the woman in this photo, (points up). She had a message for me and I understood it really well. Well, see, Olivier doesn’t like me cursing on the blog but this woman was sending me a four letter word that starts with F and ends in K and has a uc in the middle. I was minding my business and then I walked to this window and saw this woman standing there and I could see the back of her head. I thought to my self, self, for this to work she needs to be sending you t F uc K yOU to my eyes and she needs to be in the center of that arm. Well, I looked at her and sent her a psychopathic shooter message with my street mind. She turned and looked me dead in the eyes and ya know, Ithink even youse alls can tell the message she’s sending to me.

This is the 8th street Elevated Stop. I see these lights for years and I know there’s a photo but I never make it cause I don’t see it. I had Walker the Oly Pen EP-5 and the Lumix 14mm that thinks it’s a 28mm, mounted. I looked at the lights and all the sudden I realized that I was falling prey to everything I teach about photography. I was seeing these light in a literal frame of mind for years and I couldn’t see a photo but knew it was there. Then I got a message from ET and it said make the photo stupid. So I new that I was to make a photo and make it so that the photo ived on it’s own without the actual reality to fall back on. I saw this guy walking and he had his arm up and well, that seemed normal for Philly.

I defocused Walker and he got nervous and I said, breathe Walker and he did. Then from out of nowhere, ET started to walk into the frame and… click I think ET was trying to take the El and go home. Imagine that.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if we are in the here and now and making photos, just remember that others like ET are in the here and now also. The messages you send are equal to the messages you receive. These messages are your connection to humanity and trust me, as bad as it may seem at times, it’s the only game in town so get into it and take your camera because while there are many in the here and now around you, you are part of a limited number of poets in out society, your a street shooter, is there anything better?

till tomorrow………………………………………..shooter out……………………………………………………

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer