Having initially postponed my Lyon workshop due to the summer heatwave conditions, we could not have enjoyed better weather than that with which we were blessed in early September when the event was thankfully able to take place. Here’s a look back at the standout features of another great long weekend practising and teaching Street Photography to a diverse and motivated group of fellow enthusiasts.
WHY LYON?
France’s second largest city is, by its natural geography, along with a rich cultural and architectural history, a most photogenic place.
While our objectives were not primarily to capture picture-postcard scenes, it helps to arouse the visual senses being surrounded by such beautiful vistas.
And unlike Paris, it remains, even for many French people, a somewhat unknown place. Therefore, a great terrain to wander the streets and discover hidden treasures.
PREPARATION
Any planning for a Street Photography Workshop, involves working out where the best spots are.
While you cannot really anticipate where you’re going to find “interesting people”, you can, through experience, visualize what makes a good architectural background, for example. You can also find areas which offer unusual perspectives, bold colours and interesting light patterns.
Carrying out such homework is not simply a question of doing a google search and checking Instagram accounts. You need to spend time on the ground. You have to get a feel for how people make use of public places– are they sitting down to pass the time leisurely, or are they rushing through to get to work or catch the metro.
The three days recce I carried out in April proved invaluable, and I was able to source locations that proved as inspiring to the Workshop participants as they had originally been for me.
COLLABORATION
Once you’ve sourced a good location, the next step is working out what to do with it. Where to stand, what to wait for. What to include and what to leave out. The type of camera settings most appropriate. This is where “teaching” Street Photography really begins. The nuts and bolts of the exercise. Being in a group means we can test things using one another first, before attempting to capture passersby. This was especially beneficial on Saturday morning, working around the emblematic Green Cube building in the Confluences district.
SHOOTING STRANGERS
For most people, a primary objective in signing up for a street photography workshop is to gain confidence and understand better how to go about shooting strangers on the streets without being shouted at, or worse!
While I too suffer my own blockages, the problem is often more imagined than real.
Once again, being in a group, even if not always literally together, is generally a freeing up experience. I try, where appropriate, to “lead by example” and encourage making direct contact with the subject, even at the cost of some spontaneity. I strongly believe that posed or semi-posed photos can lead to wonderful candid moments and vice-versa. There’s no point getting hung up about what pure street photography is and what it isn’t.
DO YOU ALWAYS NEED PEOPLE IN THE FRAME?
While I’m often driven by the desire to have people in my street photographs, I do not believe it is a sine qua non of the craft. I feel strongly about impressing this view on the participants, as often the most telling photos are devoid of human presence, where light, shape and form come into their own. Indeed, often a very striking image can be spoiled by desperately waiting for someone to pass in the frame, when it is not really essential and distracts from what caught your eye in the first place.
SHARED EXPERIENCE
The success of a workshop is obviously to some degree measured by how many strong photos you capture, what you learn and the degree of motivation you then take home with you. It is also about how well the group gets on and the pleasure accrued from a collective experience. From my point of view, it was stimulating to be photographing as a group in certain specific places and helping to work out together how best to get the most out of the surrounding environment.
Fortunately, over a long weekend, it’s not all about work!
While we may have not indulged in Lyon’s internationally renowned gastronomy, we certainly didn’t pass up the opportunity to settle at an outside terrace, soak up the sun and share some welcome food and drink to recharge the batteries!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Looking back at these two and half days in the historic capital of the Gauls, there is a sense of overall satisfaction in having sufficiently prepared in advance for everyone to feel a sense of purpose and direction. At the same time, there have been wonderful moments of surprise and encountering the unexpected. It is this burst of spontaneous excitement which is really at the core of great Street Photography and of life itself, of course!
Huge thanks to Ginette, Max, Jean-Jacques, Christophe and Elsa for their enthusiasm, creativity, and excellent company.
A shout out too for my photographer friend, Cécile Creiche, who let us use her studio space as a base. Last, but not least, much gratitude goes to old friends Géraldine & Luc who gave me a comfortable place to rest at night and who played an important part in making the goal of organising a Workshop in this part of France, become such a rewarding reality.
