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Street Photography in Paris, London and Glasgow

Le Louvre in Paris in black & white. A single passer-by walks in front of the Pyramid.

Street Photography and The Decisive Moment

In “street photography” there are two particular such photographers whose work I have always admired greatly. These are Frank Meadows Sutcliffe from Whitby, whose beautiful environmental portraiture around the beginning of the last century entailed the use of plate cameras. The quality of his work is still hauntingly beautiful.

The other is the French photographer behind the term “the decisive moment”. Henri Cartier-Bresson is the acknowledged master of street photography. He became an early adopter of using 35mm film for stills and was well known for using the superb Leica rangefinder cameras. Whilst he could have been forgiven for working much more hastily with the new format, he still watched and observed with great patience. He waited for that decisive moment. All whilst communicating with, enjoying, and having great empathy with those who appeared in his images.

Photographic Influences

It is this “decisive moment’ philosophy that also strongly guides my wedding photography. Preferring to use both eyes to observe all around me rather than spending the day just using one eye through a viewfinder, I refuse to just hold the camera up to my face and blast away at 20 frames per second, whilst hoping for the best. Observation and communication are both key. There are so many very wonderful moments during a wedding and they don’t always happen directly in front of the photographer. Holding the camera to the face for most of the day risks missing so many of those precious moments.

Photography using those same principles

Whilst it’s very special to get up before dawn and see the sun rise over the beach and capture the serene beauty of the landscape and the sea, it’s still people that I do best.

So here is a very small selection of my own such photographs captured reasonably recently. I’ve just got Paris and London here (with a tiny smattering of Glasgow) but I hope you enjoy them. Hoping for a photography-dedicated Paris trip later this year. We’ll see how the year goes.

 

“If you can smell the street by looking at the photo, it’s a street photograph.”
– Bruce Gilden

Travel photography in black and white. in London.

Tourists take a selfie in front of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London. Black and white street photography.

The Apple Market in Covent Garden in London. A stall holder sits as the public walk around. Black and white street photography.

A stall holder in a Paris market selling bags. Street photography in black and white.

Two customers look at each other at a Glasgow coffee shop, near Glasgow station. Street photography in black and white.

Paris Gard du Nord looking at French trains.Street photography in black and white.

Looking down from above at buskers playing by the river Seine in Paris. Street photography in black and white.

People on the Paris Metro. Street photography in black and white.

A solitary person walks along in Covent Garden, London. Street photography in black and white.

Paris high rise apartments.

A passenger prepares to alight on the Paris Metro.

A man walks past a charcutier shop in Paris.

Passengers get on and off a train on the Paris Metro.

Le Louvre in Paris in black & white. Five tourists in front of the Pyramid.

A man takes a nap on a bench in a Paris park. Street photography in black and white.

Back to Travel and Location Photography

If you enjoyed these photographs, please take a look at these other pages:

Prague in Black & White

Street Photography in Paris

A (very!) wet afternoon in London

Landscape Photography and Travel Photography