Why I make street photographs...

28mmStreet
Mar 31, 2025
4 min read

Updated: Jun 12, 2025

March 2025

Blog #13

..because?

This is a question I’ve been contemplating for a while now. I have been doing street photography for almost a decade and I often talk about remembering your why or in this case my own why. "Why I do street photography", "why am I so drawn to it"?

However this question is a slightly different;

I make photographs because..

there is not a straightforward answer, however the answer is somewhat complex and nuanced.

Let me break down how I see what it means to me to make a photograph. My process and my reasoning for making photographs is highly subjective and might differ from yours.

A stepwise approach

(Learn, explore and repeat)

To answer, “I make photographs because..” I must take a look at what drives and motivates me.

Over the years my photography has taken many different twists and turns.

Most of the journey I’ve been on I have loved because it was driven by my need to learn something new, hard and complex.

The continued exploration, my many failed attempts and an unbreakable desire to keep going.

I must say - I failed many times or did not get the results I was hoping for which made me try harder and come back for more no matter my frustration levels at times.

The first 3-4 years was more or less about honing my technical skills i.e. handling the camera, understanding exposure triangle, understanding different focal length characteristics and much more.

Then I dived head first into the creative side of photography by learning different photography techniques and try to make better photographs rather than taking a photograph through compelling storytelling.

As you can read most of the above albeit subconsciously was about forming a solid photography foundation to build rest of my photography journey upon.

Dialing in my Street photography

Early on in my journey I started to venture into street photography. I immediately I loved the feeling of capturing and documenting the streets.

By this point I felt confident in my photography skills. Which freed up mental real estate and being able to focus more on the “fun stuff”… I started to make photographs rather than taking a photograph as I mentioned earlier.

So, what does that mean even mean?

I would think more about how to compose my photographs better, how light could be used optimally, how to implement more of the background or surrounding elements and other compositional techniques to make better photographs.

I took awhile for me to learn and understand these things and at some point it started to make sense. When I would go out with my camera I didn't have remember so hard as it started to come to me naturally.

Now I can "see" a composition before I make a photograph and also get a good idea of how I can edit it to make it look like what I imagined in my minds eye.

Storytelling separates good from great

The storytelling aspect is fairly new to me. Since I bought the Fuji X100v in 2023 I started to use the 35mm focal length once again after a very long multiple year break.

A pivotal moment was when I started to use the 28mm focal length.

OK let’s be honest – I became obsessed with it.

Not surprisingly this opened a whole new way of doing street photography for me. Something so different that it kept drawing me in.

To this day I thoroughly enjoy making those raw, intimate, authentic street photographs.

BUT it took a lot of practice and I spent a lot of time going on daily photowalks to continuously dial-in and get closer to understand how to make great photographs.

The jury is still out by the way.

One of the key questions I kept asking or demanding from myself and my street photographs every time I went out on the streets was “What’s the purpose of making that specific photograph”. or if I missed a shot I would often get frustrated or annoyed, but now I ask myself "was it really that good of a moment?".

The conclusion is often NO!

One of the key elements that separates a good photograph from a great photograph in my opinion is storytelling.

One thing is to try to understand and capture it from a practical point of view (e.g. going out) but another perspective which I started to harness was to spend more time on learning about storytelling by finding inspiration in photo books- directly from the masters.

This has been a game-changer for me because it inspires and motivates me and I get to go out and try a variation of it.

As I said before the jury is still out which essentially means I'm still learning and I have a long way ahead of me but its a journey I don't mind being on as long as it takes.

Also I consider this my real training as a street photographer. Not only to be able to capture the streets because everybody can do it. The real difference is being able to tell a story from the streets that evoke emotions and that come through storytelling.

I need to make photographs

For the past two years my strong desire to make photographs has been leading me to try out and learn new things constantly. I'm better for it as a street photographer.

Looking back I can see all the small changes and adjustments I’ve made to accommodate doing street photography.

Street photography has become a way of life for me. I can't imagine not making photographs. I don't even want to think about not making photographs.

Essentially I feel a deep need to make photographs..this is the simplest answer to "I make photographs because..".

..because?

This is a question I’ve been contemplating for a while now. I have been doing street photography for almost a decade and I often talk about remembering your why or in this case my own why. "Why I do street photography", "why am I so drawn to it"?

However this question is a slightly different;

I make photographs because..

there is not a straightforward answer, however the answer is somewhat complex and nuanced.

Let me break down how I see what it means to me to make a photograph. My process and my reasoning for making photographs is highly subjective and might differ from yours.

A stepwise approach

To answer, “I make photographs because..” I must take a look at what drives and motivates me.

Over the years my photography has taken many different twists and turns.

Most of the journey I’ve been on I have loved because it was driven by my need to learn something new, hard and complex.

The continued exploration, my many failed attempts and an unbreakable desire to keep going.

I must say - I failed many times or did not get the results I was hoping for which made me try harder and come back for more no matter my frustration levels at times.

The first 3-4 years was more or less about honing my technical skills i.e. handling the camera, understanding exposure triangle, understanding different focal length characteristics and much more.

Then I dived head first into the creative side of photography by learning different photography techniques and try to make better photographs rather than taking a photograph through compelling storytelling.

As you can read most of the above albeit subconsciously was about forming a solid photography foundation to build rest of my photography journey upon.

Dialing in my Street photography

Early on in my journey I started to venture into street photography. I immediately I loved the feeling of capturing and documenting the streets.

By this point I felt confident in my photography skills. Which freed up mental real estate and being able to focus more on the “fun stuff”… I started to make photographs rather than taking a photograph as I mentioned earlier.

So, what does that mean even mean?

I would think more about how to compose my photographs better, how light could be used optimally, how to implement more of the background or surrounding elements and other compositional techniques to make better photographs.

I took awhile for me to learn and understand these things and at some point it started to make sense. When I would go out with my camera I didn't have remember so hard as it started to come to me naturally.

Now I can "see" a composition before I make a photograph and also get a good idea of how I can edit it to make it look like what I imagined in my minds eye.

Storytelling separates good from great

The storytelling aspect is fairly new to me. Since I bought the Fuji X100v in 2023 I started to use the 35mm focal length once again after a very long multiple year break.

A pivotal moment was when I started to use the 28mm focal length.

OK let’s be honest – I became obsessed with it.

Not surprisingly this opened a whole new way of doing street photography for me. Something so different that it kept drawing me in.

To this day I thoroughly enjoy making those raw, intimate, authentic street photographs.

BUT it took a lot of practice and I spent a lot of time going on daily photowalks to continuously dial-in and get closer to understand how to make great photographs.

The jury is still out by the way.

The conclusion is often NO!

One of the key elements that separates a good photograph from a great photograph in my opinion is storytelling.

One thing is to try to understand and capture it from a practical point of view (e.g. going out) but another perspective which I started to harness was to spend more time on learning about storytelling by finding inspiration in photo books- directly from the masters.

This has been a game-changer for me because it inspires and motivates me and I get to go out and try a variation of it.

As I said before the jury is still out which essentially means I'm still learning and I have a long way ahead of me but its a journey I don't mind being on as long as it takes.

Also I consider this my real training as a street photographer. Not only to be able to capture the streets because everybody can do it. The real difference is being able to tell a story from the streets that evoke emotions and that come through storytelling.

I need to make photographs

For the past two years my strong desire to make photographs has been leading me to try out and learn new things constantly. I'm better for it as a street photographer.

Looking back I can see all the small changes and adjustments I’ve made to accommodate doing street photography.

Street photography has become a way of life for me. I can't imagine not making photographs. I don't even want to think about not making photographs.

Essentially I feel a deep need to make photographs..this is the simplest answer to "I make photographs because..".

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