I was commissioned by a national chain of estate agents to photograph the essence of two towns. The idea was to capture what a given town looks and feels like, for potential clients viewing online, to help them assess if the place would suit them and so be worth an actual visit.
Commercial Street Photography
The brief was not specific but broad and general. I was left to my own devices, although I fully understood that my images were to encapsulate the general space; its architecture, details and – importantly, I felt – the people who occupy it.
It's all about population characteristics. Imagine your images adorning a travel brochure: how can your photographs encourage visitors?
In many ways, this type of commercial shoot is about as easy as commercial photography gets, although at the same time it is immensely hard work. You are constantly looking for the next shot, concentrating on composition, the play of light and the humans occupying the scene (or those who are about to).
Image: Unsplash.
Equipment
I used a full-frame Canon combined with either a 24-105mm/f4, 80-200mm/f2.8, 50mm/f1.4 or 35mm/f1.4 lens. All handheld at as close to ISO 160 (which offers the cleanest image capture for a full-frame Canon DSLR) as the ambient light and aperture would permit.
I choose not to use a tripod as they are time-consuming to set up and attract too much attention. After all, they are hardly stealthy and you are aiming to travel light and unnoticed while being super-fast and adaptable to changes in your scene.
Realise too that you are only going to shoot on days with good light, which rules out the need for longer exposures and so the need for a tripod.
Over and beyond this kit one should, of course, have enough batteries and memory cards to last the day.
When shooting in the street, it is worth noting that I approach pretty much all of my subjects with my photo request, and most people have no objections. I don't ask them to sign a model release, but simply explain my intentions and the intended use of the images.
The tricks of good street photography
When shooting towns, all that really matters is how big they are. Street photography is a bit of a numbers game: the bigger the town, the more people wander the streets and so the greater the opportunity to photograph them.
Almost all photography is about the light. Shoot on a day when there is sunshine and avoid the few hours around midday when the direction of that light is at its least flattering. The best practice is to look for where the light falls nicely, wait for people to walk into it, and shoot away!
Don't be shy, most people like you if you’re courteous. If someone is worth photographing, ask them if they would be part of your image. In my experience, almost everyone, when approached politely, is up for it.
Don't get bogged down with gear. As the day passes, your camera bag will only get heavier! If I was out on a non-commissioned shoot, I'd simply pair a short zoom with a single body, while not forgetting those spare batteries and memory cards.
Most established estate agents will already have a relationship with a property photographer, who photographs the properties on their books (assuming the agents don’t do it themselves). These photographers typically only shoot buildings and may be uncomfortable working outside of their usual daily remit. It is quite a different skill to capture the randomness of street life.
Image courtesy: Robert Irving.
My suggestion for landing this type of work would be to doorstep the agencies with a clear pitch as to what you are offering and how you feel it would benefit them. Tell them how people considering a new region remotely can only do so with strong online images that depict the ‘vibe’ of the area.
You can dramatically strengthen your case if you turn up with images that you have already taken, preferably of their ‘patch’, although a portfolio covering any other towns would still help, as it at least shows what you can do.
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