Street portraits, the best lens for street, using a Rolleiflex and YouTube again

One tiny choice can change your entire street photography: which focal length you commit to when you walk out the door. I tackle a listener’s question about 35mm, 50mm and 85mm (plus where 28mm and 90mm fit in), and I explain why I usually reach for wider lenses. We talk about getting close enough for real emotion, using zone focusing to react quickly, and the discipline of picking one lens and sticking with it long enough that you stop guessing and start seeing.

Then I let off a bit of steam. I’ve been watching the current wave of street photography on YouTube, and I’m worried about where it’s heading: safe shots, bland scenes, and creators teaching workshops while modelling work that never pushes for meaning, tension, or story. It isn’t that great work doesn’t exist online, it does, but you often have to dig to find it. I share why this “anything goes” approach risks diluting what good street photography looks like for newcomers.

We also shift into street portraits, where comfort zones and anxiety can get in the way. I break down how to direct strangers quickly and naturally using simple conversation, confident prompts, and preparation so you’re not fiddling with settings. I cover my biggest do-nots, from asking for a fake smile to ignoring background clutter or shooting in harsh midday sun. Along the way I share news about my new book “52 Assignments Night Street Photography”, a Venice lagoon workshop concept beyond the tourist core, and a camera you must try at least once: the Rolleiflex TLR.

If you enjoy thoughtful, practical street photography advice with strong opinions, subscribe, share the show with a mate, and leave a review. What focal length do you swear by, and what are you tired of seeing online?

Transcript

Welcome And Pub Housekeeping

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello, Street Snappers, and welcome to episode 14 of the Street Photography Podcast brought to you from the Street Snappers Arms, the virtual pub where we can discuss all things street photography amongst friends. And today I've got a cracking show lined up for you, again packed with street photography goodies. I'm just back from another round of workshops in London, uh, including the latest in a series of Leica-specific street photography workshops, and that one was interesting. And I've also just had a day in the wonderful town of Blackpool, where we experienced the quite amazing Punk Rebellion Festival. Right, for those of you who stayed around till the end of episode 13, and I do mean the end, during the music, I promised you a little treat, a witty finale in future episodes. So if you want to hear one of my awful jokes, stick around right until the end. Join the musical outro, and you might be rewarded.

New Night Street Photography Book

SPEAKER_00 1:30

I've got in my hand here a brand new book, and it's called 52 Assignments Night Street Photography, and it's written by me. This is actually my ninth published book and my fourth in the 52 Assignments series. Published by Ammonite Press, and it should be in all good bookshops and Amazon, of course, by the end of this month, and we're talking about August 2026. That's in the UK, and I think it'll be on sale around the world around a month or so after that. Right, let's get straight into today's show with a question. You know I love getting your questions, so please do keep them coming. If you've already sent me a question and it hasn't been used yet, don't worry, it will be. I just need to pick pick the right balance of questions for for each show. Actually, there was one I couldn't use. You know who you are, because it was too sweary. And you said I was too effing opinionated. Well, fair enough. Not sure what I can say about that, really. You wally. But anyway, do keep the questions coming. I love them. Whether by audio clip, which I I do prefer, it's a bit more personal, isn't it? Or if you don't fancy doing that, just send me an email or a message via the show website, and I will do my best to use them all.

Choosing A Street Photography Focal Length

SPEAKER_00 2:50

So today's question is from John. Off you go, John.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Hi Brian. This is John Wade. Question for your podcast. Which started well actually. I uh I like the pace and the style. My question is which is your preferred focal length? 35mm, 50 mil, or 85 mil? I could switch between all three, and I can see ad advantages and disadvantages for each, but it would be a useful discussion for me. I hope that works, and uh look forward to your next episode.

unknown 3:23

Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Well, this is definitely an FAQ, and I'm sure it's one that's on the lips of many of you. I only use four lenses for street photography, and it's a 28, a 35, a 50, and a 90. Most days I will go out with either a 28 or a 35, occasionally both. If you forced me into the corner and said you can only use one lens, it would probably be the 35, which for me has just always been the sweet spot for street photography. And you may be thinking, well, why why do you shoot wide? Well, I do it for two reasons. Firstly, because only by getting reasonably close to the action can I bring a sense of drama or emotion or intimacy into a frame, which you'll never get from shooting across the road with an 85 or a 70 to 200 or whatever it is. And secondly, because I use zone focusing, and you can't do that very effectively with anything longer than a 35, and of course I'm talking in full frame terms here. Then there's a 28, which everything I've said about the 35 applies here, but even more so. Sometimes I'll use a 50, which I do quite like sometimes, although I do feel a little bit cramped and a bit too close up using a 50. If I'm taking two lenses out with me, sometimes I'll take a 28 and a 50, which just gives me a bit more variety and a bit more range rather than taking the 28 and the 35. So the 28 and the 50 is quite a nice combination, I think, and it covers a lot of basis. Very occasionally I'll take a 90mm out with me if I'm thinking about something a bit more aesthetic, perhaps when I'm looking for a bit of a saw lighter influence, or definitely for night shooting. And if I'm shooting at night, the the 85 or 90 would definitely be my lens of choice. So I think the the best advice I can give you, John, is first of all, choose a focal length that you're happy with, or certainly one that you could grow into, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone a little. And I would suggest using nothing else for a year. Just stick with that lens, get to understand it. You'll know how that lens thinks, what it sees, how it describes the world. And before long, you'll be walking the streets with you'll be building rectangles in your mind, and you'll be responding more spontaneously to what's going on around you. Hope that helps, John.

The YouTube Street Photography Rant

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yes, you know what's coming, don't you? Regular listeners will know that I like to have a little rant occasionally, and I have my hand here on a British Army hand grenade, which has still got the pin in it, so I'm assuming it's still live. And I'm gonna lob it as an issue that really grinds my gears. So if this were a debate, my proposition would be YouTube is killing good street photography. Bear with me. I've just been watching YouTube videos again, which is never good for the blood pressure. The latest one was I was watching this yesterday, a young chap whose name I shan't mention, walking around the streets of London like his pants are on fire, taking pictures of the blandest, most boring scenes you could ever possibly imagine. Random strangers doing nothing in particular, a guy walking past a wall past some street art, and then when he runs out of ideas, he resorts to the usual silhouettes. Now, not that there's anything wrong with silhouettes per se, and I think some people do them very well, but they can be just the easy option, can't they? The the low-hanging fruit, when there's nothing else to do. Oh, I'll shoot some silhouettes, you know, it might look a bit pretty. Well, I'll I'll do a piece on silhouettes in a future episode, I think. But all this got me thinking, uh silhouettes aside, what is street photography becoming? And I've got to say that this guy seems pretty representative of what people seem to be doing at the moment, particularly on YouTube. And what's worrying is that there's a con there's a consensus that this turgid stuff is acceptable or even good. Now, this guy has quite a decent number of followers or or s or subscribers, which presumably means that a significant number of people are being fed the premise that any old stuff is good street photography as long as it's shot on a street. Added to that, they they practice what I would consider to be safe street photography, always operating well within their comfort zone, not really requiring a great deal of creative thought, and what's worse, this guy is actually running workshops. But hey, I think that's a story for another day. But my point here is that all all this kind of average street photography, which is being brought to us by people who are putting themselves out there as experts, it leads to people having no concept of what good street photography actually is. And I suspect that as YouTubers and influencers and the like get even more of a grip of on influencing people, street photography will just continue to wither away into a sea of blandness. It's dilution. That's what's happening, isn't it? It's dilution. The good stuff is getting lost in this ocean of mediocrity. Well, there's nothing I can do about it, I suppose, but I just needed to get this off my chest. Hence the rant. But having said that, there there is, of course, some very good street photography on YouTube, but you've got to look very hard for it. And I just don't like the general direction of travel. It's all becoming really mundane, moribund. I think I promised you a list of decent YouTube channels to watch. I I will put a list together. I think I mentioned this in the last episode. I haven't forgotten about it, and I'll do that in an episode in the next few weeks, hopefully. Let's lighten the mood and take another question, this time from Gail.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Hi,

Directing Street Portraits Without Awkwardness

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Brian. This is Gail. I've got a question for you about comfort zones in street photography. And like a lot of street photographers, I actually find candidate photography quite easy. As a result, that's become my comfort zone. I'll see something about a person that catches my eye, I'll take the shot and then move on. Occasionally I'll ask for permission afterwards or beforehand if the person is highly appealing and I really need to. However, I I often find it difficult to recreate what originally drew me to them. It never quite has the same feeling. Also, I can get quite anxious and take too long to get the shot. Do you have any advice on directing opposing strangers quickly and naturally without making it feel awkward? I'd like to get better at that rather than than solely repl relying on stealth most of the time, which really isn't the most engaging approach. Also, are there any common mistakes? Absolute do-nots or pet hates when it comes to posing people in the street. Thanks, Brian.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

So if I've heard this correctly, and to summarise, Gail has two questions about street portraits. Firstly, how to pose or direct your subject. And secondly, what are my pet hates or no-nos when posing street portraits? And just to be clear, before we get into this, by street portrait, we usually mean a posed shot and one therefore taken with permission. Now I know a lot of people will be it'll this will get their hackles raised because they'll say, well, street portraits are not street photography. And I guess in a in a traditional sense of observational street photography, no, they're not, and I completely accept that. I think street portraits are street photography, but it's very marginal and they are out there at the edges. But they're great fun to do. Most of us do them some stage. I know some people are very interested in them. So I think it's a perfectly valid question, and thank you, Gail, for sending it. So to deal with direction and posing first, then I think communication is the key here. You need a patter, you need to be able to talk to people, smile, make them feel relaxed. Talk about anything, the weather, what's happening in the street you're in, just anything normal, really. Small talk, that's what we call it, isn't it? Small talk. Even if you're nervous, you've got to put on a bit of a performance here. And remember you're in charge, you're calling the shots. You're the director of this little scene. So act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Know what camera settings you're you're gonna be using beforehand so you're not fumbling with with the camera and doing it all on the hoof. And you know, maybe in terms of camera settings and even your patter and your approach, practice all this before you leave home so that it just starts to feel natural. Then while you're shooting, just keep talking to them, give them feedback, constant nudges like lovely, that's great, perfect. You know, all this will make them feel good and it'll help relax them. So the next thing we need to think about here is direction. We're not dealing with professional models here, so don't leave them to try to understand what you want. And the key thing here is that you you need to start with a vision of what you do want. You know, what what is this shot all about? What do you want to do? I reckon that most of the street portraits I look at, people make the same mistakes in that they just rock up, take a few fairly close head and shoulders shots, walk away, and that's it. But where's the creativity here? Where's the vision? Don't just take the kind of shot that anybody could just snap with their iPhone. If you're gonna do it properly, do it properly, so this deserves more. And for a bit of inspiration here, look at some people who do it really well, and off the top of my head, Joel Sternfeld is a great portrait photographer. Stranger Passing is a great book of his. Also check out the world of Alex Soth or Soth, S O T H. Some of his posed portrait work is particularly good. I'll actually do a video, not a video, what am I talking about? It's early in the morning. I will do a whole podcast segment about street portraits in a future episode for you. So I will come back to this. Gail, you you now need to really direct your person and your subject, and this goes back to your vision of what you want to achieve. You know, you you you will have in mind the sort of shot that you want to walk away with. So, you know, you pro you need to be constantly feeding back to the to your subject. Stuff like chin up a bit. Uh now, just look over my left shoulder, don't look to camera, or eyes straight to camera, eyes back to me now, all this sort of thing. You know, it helps, it it demonstrates that you know what you're doing and you know what you want, which is a sign of confidence, but it should also give you confidence. And it goes without saying that at this point you've already got them into the the best light and against the best background that works for you. So all of this should be flowing quite well now. As for the no-nos to avoid, as I said, just rocking up and taking a few quick head and shoulders pictures and then walking away. That's a no-no for me. You you know, you've got to do if you're gonna do it, do it properly. I would never say smile to my subject, it just feels wrong, and you'll usually get a kind of false Tony Blair rictus grin. You should avoid long silences while you're shooting, it just creates a little bit of awkwardness and maybe tension. Avoid the very close-up shot without a very good reason for doing it, it's generally not flattering, generally not very stylish. Okay, I may take take one close up, but I would usually step back and take maybe a three-quarter, maybe a full length as well. Avoid the midday sun. There there's always the risk of panda eyes which look terrible. And if you know, if you are going out when the sun is high, always think about taking a little mini collapsible reflector in your bag. These are great for street portraits. I mentioned the background before, always think about the background and avoid clutter or distractions. This is another pet hate, another no-no, where people don't think about the background. Remember, you're in charge, you get them into the right light, you get them into the right background. Whether the background's in focus or not really depends on your vision. For me, I want to show a little bit of context in the background, but not too much detail so that it's distracting. So I think my go-to aperture for street portraits is probably F4, and that seems to work pretty well for me. So I think that's about it, Gail. Good luck, and let me know how you get on.

Celebrating A Listener Zine Win

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Now, I should mention, before I forget, at the risk of making Gail blush, last year Gail created a zine. She did a project called Hair, and it's all about people's hair. Naturally, she didn't feature me in this project. Well, I was a little bit miffed about that. Anyway, guess what? She managed to get this her zine. I think it was her first zine. She got it onto the bookshelves of the street photographer sorry, the photographer's gallery bookshop. What a great example of what we should all be trying to achieve.

Venice Lagoon Workshop Announcement

SPEAKER_00 17:18

We're gonna have a short commercial break now from our sponsors, which is me. So I'm in the process of designing a new workshop in Venice, which will take place next spring, and I'll be announcing it shortly. But I just wanted to give you a heads up because I'd be quite interested to get expressions of interest from people, not a commitment at this stage. Just let me know if this is the sort of sort of thing you might like, and this will give me an idea of how many of these I need to schedule for next year. So this is Venice, but it's it's out of the ordinary. It's not my usual Venice street photography workshop. This is more about the islands and life in the lagoon. So we will be getting out to some of the lesser known islands like Torcello, Pelestrina, Mazzorbo, we'll definitely be going to Judeca, San Pietro, and maybe Sant Erasmo, and all these smaller islands that are, you know, some of them are really sparsely inhabited. And we'll see agricultural workers, we'll see the clam fishermen, we'll see the people in waders. And we will spend some time on the main island of Venice, obviously. It would be rude not to. So this is more this is more photography rather than street photography. And it's a new workshop. I'm putting a lot of thought and effort into getting this right. I know all these areas well anyway, so you know, I won't be kind of finding my feet using you as guinea pigs. I think this will be a really exciting workshop, and I'm looking forward to doing it. It will be over four days. We need four days to do this properly, and it'll be in the spring before the hordes of tourists arrive, probably sometime in uh March or April, obviously avoiding Easter. So if you are interested, just let me know. That's all I need. Yes, I'm interested, and it'll just give me an idea to help me move forward with it. In

Camera To Try Number Two

SPEAKER_00 19:18

episode 13, I started a short series about 10 cameras you must try before you die. And I've tried to make them all accessible, so there's nothing out of reach here. I know we all have different budgets and everything. Here we have number two in that series, and this is a RoliFlex. Now, Roliflex is a TLR twin lens reflex, usually six by six, two and a quarter square. You wouldn't be disappointed with any Roliflex model, but my choice would be the 2.8F, which I have in my hand right now. Of course, there is some street photography history to the Roliflex, and you you you may know some of it. A lot of street cred is attached to this camera, and I'm thinking specifically about Vivian Meyer here. And plenty of others, of course, but Meyer is the first person who comes to mind when I think about using a Roleflex for street photography, which she did exceptionally well, as you probably know. So you get 12 exposures on a roll of film. Each negative is two and a quarter inches square or six by six centimetres, or it doesn't have to be a negative. I quite like shooting trannies on my Roleflex. Anyway, when I did my first internship, or work experience as it was called then, for a local newspaper, these were the staff cameras. It's hard to think, you know, God, it doesn't seem that long ago, but it's hard to think that for a local newspaper, these were the daily press cameras. Can you imagine that now? And even while I was there, they were replaced and superseded by Pentax Spotmatic F's. Another great camera. So the Romiflex was a real press workhouse back in those days. They were, and indeed they they are, a real joy to use. So I've got here the 2.f variant, which I think is the one to go for. You can also find there's a 2.8E for a slightly lower price. It's basically the same camera, but there are some operational differences. So with the E, the meter reading is separate from the shutter and aperture controls. So you just have to transfer the reading manually. Whereas with the F, the aperture and the shutter controls are linked to the meter, so it just makes it makes it a bit quicker to use. If you want a slightly cheaper variant, there is a 3.5 F 3.5 lens, which is often significantly less money. And if you want to spend even less again, there is the Role Cord, which again is a slightly lesser model. They don't have any built in meter, but they're just great, you know. Your pictures wouldn't be any worse for them. Then there's a RoliFlex T, similarly, some have meters, some don't, and one called the Baby Roliflex, which was all a bit smaller. But for me, it's the 2.8 F, which is a wonderful camera. There's something that's really deliberate and slow and almost calming about using this. You're taking your time, looking down into the viewfinder, looking onto a screen, projecting a square image, which is reversed because of the way the optics work, so it's something you have to get used to, but you do get used to it very quickly, actually. And this vin vintage engineering is just sublime. It is the beautiful, joyful thing to use. And there's also something special, isn't there, about shooting square? And I did this, I talked about shooting square in a previous episode. I think it was episode nine. So track back to that if you want to hear my views about shooting square. Now you'll find quite a few of these for sale, particularly on eBay, and I've spotted quite a few with Japanese dealers, and they're going for a pretty good price. And by that, you know, you should be able to pick up a 2.8 F for 800 quid or so, maybe a grand for an absolutely mint one. And if you have any reservations about buying from Japanese traders on eBay, you needn't worry. And I did a piece on this going back to oh, one episode actually, episode 13. Listen to my bit in there. So the the Roluflex is a truly wonderful camera. And if you're into photography, it's something you need to try at least once. And I think that if you try it, you would probably want to buy it.

Books Zines And Beer Gifts

SPEAKER_00 23:48

I just wanted to say thank you to the the great people who send me books and zines to look at. And I do look at them all, I do enjoy them all, and I I just really welcome them. And I'm I'm really grateful. And I've seen some great stuff over the past month or so. And what I'm gonna do with all this, I'm I'm gonna do a YouTube video about how to about zines, what they are, how to create them. I know we talked about this on a recent episode in here, and I will do a part two to that episode. There are lots of part twos coming about various other stuff, including the comfort zone thing. But anyway, sticking with zines and books, thanks again. If you do want to send me one, just ping me a message and I will tell you where to send it to. Please don't send it to the office address because I'm never there and it could spend ages just languishing on on the doormat. So I prefer to send it to me at home, but you'll need to contact me from my address. So I do appreciate them. I also appreciate other little gifts, and I've got to say a special thank you for Robin, who presented me with a very nice can of beer a couple of days ago for my beer review on the podcast. I'm sorry to say, Robin, that I'm not doing it today because it's too early in the morning, even for me, to have a beer, and I needed to record this early. So bear with me, I will get to your beer in the next episode, which I will definitely record once the sun is over the R D arm, so I can legitimately have a beer. But thank you for that. It's in my fridge, getting nice and cold, ready to go. And if anybody wants to send me a beer, that is absolutely fine too. Thank you.

Last Orders And Outro Tease

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Well, that brings us to last orders at the Street Snappers Arms in what was a bit of a shorter episode, I guess. I hope you've enjoyed this one, and I'll be back to you in a couple of weeks with more. Well, that brings us to last orders in the Street Snappers Arms. I hope you've enjoyed this one, and I'll be back to you in a couple of weeks with lots more. Uh I think we'll do a book review in the next one. We will probably come back to the comfort zones thing again with the part two to that, and lots of more stuff. I've been I apologies, I've been I have been a week late with this one, and uh I've just been so busy. You know, I've been doing workshops everywhere and enjoying myself in other ways as well. So it's been a bit frantic. Uh anyway, here's some nice music for you, and don't forget to stick around for a few seconds if you want to hear one of my awful jokes. If you don't, bye for now.

The Awful Joke Finale

SPEAKER_00 26:55

And he got to heaven's gates, and St. Peter said to him, Before you meet with God, I should tell you, we've looked over your life, and to be honest, you didn't really do anything particularly good or bad. We're not really sure what to make of it, and we're not sure what to do with you. Can you tell us anything that might help us make a decision? So this newly arrived soul thought for a moment and replied, Yeah. Once I was driving along the road and came across this little old lady who was being harassed by a group of thugs. So I went over to the what seemed to be the leader of this group of thugs, and he yeah, he was a big, muscular-looking thug with a face full of tattoos and piercings, and you know, he he looked pretty mean. Uh well, I tore the ring out of his lip and told him to get him and his gang out of here, stop bothering this lady, or they would have me to deal with. Wow, that's impressive, said St. Peter. When did this happen? Oh, about three minutes ago, came the reply.