Deeper Learning and Finding a Street Photography Community

One of the things I'm keen to learn more about, and to get better at, is street photography. Having looked around I think there may be a growing street photography community here so I'm hoping that, with a bit of effort, I can find some connections and get deeper into the subject.

For now, I'm putting up a recent project with an explanation of why I did it and what I hoped to learn from it. Maybe it will help others, mainly I hope some of you can provide some tips and feedback.

One of the things I find most difficult is having some kind of purpose for taking photos. I try to always carry my camera but it's not always easy. For these photos I decided to sit in one place (London's South Bank) for an hour or so and take the same kind of photos from the same angle. It was an interesting experience. The more I took similar photos, the more I started to see new opportunities.

Some examples...

I decided to shoot in Black and White (actually RAW, then converted to Black and White) and one of the first photos I took was the one above. Despite this photo including a face I quickly realised that I preferred the bodies without the faces. I still like this photo (I like the sense of purpose in this family) but I could start to see how interesting bodies in motion were.

So for the next one I was really looking for interesting shapes, and eventually I got that in the form of the man's hands. The shape of the belly is also interesting and seems to add to the overall look.

With the next image I really like the textures in the various fabrics the main figure is wearing and carrying, but the best bit for me was the three figures just exiting the frame on the right hand side. It made me want to find more timely arrangements of multiple figures.

So for this one above I took some time finding a good shape into the distance. I wanted to focus on the couple on the far side while making everything else feel claustrophobic.

Finally I even learned to live with a photo that was out of focus. I like the aggressive look of this one so much that I decided kept it despite the blur. To be honest I think the blur might even add something to the overall feel.

Anyway, I'd love to get some pointers and find other photographers to connect with. By the way, if you're looking for ways to stimulate creative photography projects I'd highly recommend this book.