Documenting Life: Street Photography

I've always had an eye for photography. In high-school, I bought a Canon DSLR camera, thinking that someday I would use it to start my own photography business. Eventually, reality hit that the chances of that happening were very slim, and I sold my DSLR and went back to shooting with a nicer point and shoot.

Enter college: I began my college career as an undecided major, but a year in, fell in love with journalism. I had taken a feature writing class as an elective and discovered that I was fascinated with journalistic writing and storytelling. It was at this point that I decided to make that my major and in May, I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media Studies, Journalism emphasis.

Last summer, my husband bought me the Nikon DSLR I had been drooling over for months. As a journalist, part of what I studied was photography, but with all of the classes and other commitments I had in college, I didn't get to experiment with it like I truly wanted to. Now that I have graduated, I have begun expanding my lens collection. I'm also really trying to be intentional about taking time to walk around and shoot, and trying new things with my photography. It's kind of crazy to me how as a high-school student, I gave up on photography as being part of my life on more than a basic level, yet now, I am a journalist, with a continually growing passion for documenting life through pictures, and an equally growing arsenal of photographic equipment!

One of my favorite types of photography to experiment with lately is more of a photojournalistic/documentary/street photography style. These three categories have a lot of overlap, so I don't really know which single one to say is my focus...but I enjoy all three immensely! For me, these types of photography represent real life. There is no posing, modeling, primping – no creation of an alternate reality. Whether it's a person, a river scene, buildings, or people, it is real life captured – in raw and beautiful details that typically go unnoticed. I still have MUCH to learn, but it has been a fun challenge to experiment with, and I'm fairly happy with the outcome. Enjoy!

Side note: All of these photos were shot with a Holga lens I have been experimenting with: hence the softer look and vignetted edges.