If you want to explore daily, make sure that you really love the place that you photograph. We often times can get bogged down by notions that our city is boring or blasé and that there is no potential for us to make pictures there. This can lead us to traps of making less effort to go out there and practice our street photography and perhaps become unmotivated. I say, make your hometown paradise and be a tourist!
Make your city paradise
My favorite way to experience my hometown is as a tourist. I actually will visit the tourist center every single day to use the restroom and browse the gift shops. There’s something about actually pretending you’re a tourist and taking this notion to heart. When you wake up and you see everything anew each day, it really does help with sparking endless curiosity. I’ll read the signs around town, look at the buildings and inspect them as if I am seeing them for the first time, despite passing them daily. This allows me to dig deeper each day with and find pure beauty in everyday life. Tourists are always happy and excited to explore. This is something that we should adopt as street photographers.
The tourist technique
Also, pretending that you’re a tourist is wise because you look a little bit more inconspicuous with your camera. Nobody will really pay you any attention or confront you for what you are doing. One way that I operate the camera is by pretending that I am a tourist. I simply look at the thing behind the people and pretend that I’m photographing the background. Another way I do this is by looking up at the architecture and pretending I’m photographing buildings, but then slowly pan the camera down towards people and photograph them as I move along. There’s lots of different games you can play. Adopting the tourist technique in terms of camera operation is clever and can get you some easy candid shots.
Go out there and be a tourist in your hometown!