First of all, I must say that it’s not an original idea as I’ve heard it being mentioned before by the likes of Alec Soth and Eric Kim. The idea is go out shooting on the streets with a mindset of a movie director. The same can apply to your editing process.
Write a script
By this I mean – think of what you want to shoot, pick a location ( your favourite city place or discover an unknown area ), put some characters in there, make up a story line in your head and it doesn’t have to be perfect, you gotta have fun right but the mention things might give you that creative constraint…
Be a director
Obviously you can’t stop just stop people and tell them what to do, well I wouldn’t anyway, I prefer candid moments most of the time. But you can look for gestures, facial expressions, something interesting that’s about to happen. You just have to stay alert and be patient.
Put yourself in your film
Who said you can’t star in your own film. I mean YOU are the creator so you make the rules and you break them as you wish. A little cameo appearance wouldn’t hurt right?
Be a director of photography
Aaah, something familiar at last, I know this one – I’m a photographer right so that would be a piece of cake! well…. no it wouldn’t. It remains one of the hardest things for me to achieve. To go from visualising the scene and actually transferring it into an image. You are in charge of light and you’re not on a film set so you can’t move the light. It means you have to move around accordingly and use it wisely. The same goes to the position of whatever you decide to include in the frame.
Conclusion
Being a film fan I loved the idea and its been on my mind for a while so I thought it’s worth exploring further. I also try to integrate it to when I edit photos and try to build a sequence of images.
If you would like to add or suggest anything, please feel free to comment!
Thank you for stopping by,
Yuri
All images ©yurirasin 2016
yuri rasin photography 
Great idea! Have you ever thought about actually trying to film a street photography film?
thanks Edward and no i haven’t yet but its something i’d like to try in the future!
In short design your pix in your head before you shoot, that’s how good togs work, the creative thinking can be done in advance, create a mental picture board in your head and find locations or events that meet your goals.
A on the fly approach will pay off now and then but a considered approach that might look spontaneous is more reliable.
Candid photography can be shot with an agenda, its not an excuse for winging it !
Cheers Yuri
Mate, this is excellent idea. Never thought about it, but now when I read your article I am anxious to try something like that. It sounds easy, but I am sure it is not and that quite a bit of planing and thought is necessary. Thanks heaps!
Happy you took smth out of it! Thanks for the comment!
P.s. if youd like to join us in twitter or video chat about photography let me know, cheers
A friend of mine and I have been keen for a long time to shoot something but we never had any kind of plan. What you are describing is it! Thank you so much!!!
Glad to be of help! Thanks for reading!
there many ideas how to extend the borders of the hardcore street photography “rules”
and we can be a directors of our shootings.
Absolutely