Street photography is an amazing photography genre because it often encompasses most other genres of photography. Documenting people and the places they occupy is usually only meaningful when viewed in the context of their surroundings and interactions with others or when you see the remnants of where they have been. It is a genre evolved by some of the world's most renowned photographic pioneers, including the notable names Cartier-Bresson, Webb, Arbus, Moriyama, Erwin, Haas, Leiter, Meyerowitz and Winogrand, to name a few.   

The best street photographs remanences about lives being lived and the pleasure of getting lost in a strange town or city.  The gift of daily looking, through and into other lives adds an eyewitness account of our rehearsed, posed and finessed world. As an art form, street photography is very generous and democratic.  Anyone with a camera, even their cell phone can use it to share their perceptions of people, places and things, describe their personality or explore their world.

One of the things I love about street photography is how it flows through me.  I cannot tell you where or how my inspiration for a given photograph works.  Typically, I wander around Sacramento or another city for hours, covering miles with no real thought except for a few photo projects I am working on. Then suddenly I see a subject and in a split second I am in the zone, created out of unconscious impulse, Bang! I squeeze off a picture!  It is as instantaneous as that.  Occasionally, if I am lucky that zone will remain for a few minutes while a squeeze off a series of photographs before it dissipates.  I continue my walk waiting for the next impulse.

I don’t know where the inspiration comes from.  However, it is a very strong almost undeniable impulse to take the picture.  My photography is very instinctual, there is no time to contemplate composition, lighting etc. or the moment is gone forever. Once I take the picture I never look at or “chimp” the picture.  Often, I wait over 24 hours to download and look at a day’s photographs. I have found waiting changes my emotional state which effects how I react to my photographs.

Occasionally, I hesitate missing an opportunity for a frame.  When this happens, I feel like I let my artistic-self down.  The game is catching as Henri Cartier-Bresson coined, “the decisive moment.” Usually, I feel more critical of missing an opportunity then if I take a picture and it is not usable due to some technical issue.

The process of how street photography flow through me is very exciting.  I strongly recommend Rick Rubin’s book: The Creative Act: A way of being.  It changed how I approach my photography and to some extent my life. I live to be an artist first. Every time I pick up my camera, I go out and play, with no expectation. I am not taking pictures for likes or acceptance, but simply to play and to allow my inspiration to work through me unrestricted.  I accept that every frame I shoot is an experiment, where I gain valuable knowledge that will affect my future efforts .

My artistic endeavors with photography melds with my core beliefs that all human beings have inherent value and dignity. My camera is my chosen tool to help others consider the human condition from a different perception from their own. We are all wonderfully unique. I have keen desire to reveal and understand the complexities of individuals by finding unscripted moments I can capture.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt