A couple of days ago, I spotted an article on Substack which asked Is Street Photography Weird?.

I found myself agreeing with most of what the author was saying.

Now street photography is something I do. Wherever I am, if I have a camera on me – sadly not as often as I would like, due to sheer practicality – I’m always on the look out for a picture.

If I’m in a car (passenger seat, of course, as I don’t drive) I’m trying to watch what is approaching. If I’m somewhere I can stop and wait, even sit on a bench, I’m people-watching. All with an eye for a picture. Just people going about their ordinary life, looking interesting or unusual, or things in amusing juxtapositions.

It is catching candid images in the hope that they’re going to work, rather than having to controlled environment of a studio or similar. That’s why I like it; I can’t be doing with the poncing about with studio setups etc.

It’s candid photography. You’re mostly catching people off their guard, usually unaware they’ve been spotted. And for me that’s the point. I don’t much care if whoever I’m photographing sees me, although if they do I’ll often drop the camera rather than risk embarrassing them. Of course, because you’re often taking “grab shots” you do tend to get a high ratio of unusable images; that’s all part of the game, and much more sustainable now with digital cameras.

In 40-odd years of snatching candid street images, I’ve been challenged only twice; and one of them was by a policeman who I reminded that I was doing nothing illegal, with which he had to agree.

So, yes, street photography is rather weird. And just to prove it here’s a random selection of images from my back list. Enjoy.