Think Like a Street Photographer Quotes

“John Szarkowski wrote of fellow photographer Garry Winogrand that his ambition ‘was not to make good pictures, but through photography to know life’.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“A positive mental attitude is the key to great photographs. If you go out expecting to see interesting pictures, you tend to be more positive, and then luckier. As the great photographer and curator John Szarkowski said: ‘Luck is the attentive photographer’s best teacher.’ My general outlook is, get up, get out and go and find things. I try to summon an excitement and amazement for life.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“As I said at the beginning of this book, it’s a privilege to be making street photography. A camera is an invitation to be more involved in what’s going on, to get closer, which is why people enjoy making pictures – it’s a reason for being somewhere, or just a reason for being.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“At the beginning of my workshops I get the participants to do exercises – literally physical exercises to wake everyone up. I ask them to do all the photo manoeuvres we should never do, such as the ‘tourist squat’ – feet apart, knees bent – and ‘the lunge’, a very anatomically correct camera-holding lurch. I also get them to exercise their right finger – up and down, up and down. It breaks the ice and encourages people to be less self-conscious and do silly things in a public place.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“Street photography is not about rules… Don’t let people tell you what to do. Do what feels right for you and your voice will come through.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“Don’t be reluctant to press the button, even if the picture is not quite there. Saying ‘yes’ and keeping yourself ‘awake’ will stop any overthinking.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“My friend, photographer Blake Andrews, once said, ‘If you don’t expect to see good photos, you won’t. If you expect to find them, they are everywhere.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“When I first met Matt, we spoke about an eternal problem: the furtive awkwardness involved in photographing in the street. He told me that if he feels guilty taking pictures, people are more likely to take offence. When, however, he meets those people with love, he contends with far less objection, and somehow more images ‘arrive”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer

“The illusion may be magical, but the means are earthly: maximize your opportunities and the universe will provide. To be tenacious, we need to love what we do, and find new ways of loving it.”
― Derren Brown, Think Like a Street Photographer