Juan Jose Reyes has been running one of our favorite street photography festivals for several years now, the Miami Street Photography Festival. When a pandemic threw a wrench in the works for the 2020, Juan was quick to shift the festival from an in-person event to an online one – no small feat. Listen in to hear about how he managed to make a success of the festival despite the challenges, upcoming festival plans in Milan for 2021, workshops going on now, and find out more about Juan’s personal street photography work. Juan’s Links Miami Street Photography FestivalMSPF WorkshopsJuan on Instagram A Selection of Juan’s Photos

Fredericksburg Street Photography is an enthusiastic collective that started up just about a year ago – right before the pandemic really hit hard in the U.S. About 20 members meet up regularly at artsy coffee shops and local watering holes to discuss photography and learn from each other. They describe themselves as a group that is “more hipster than pixel peeking” that enjoys “getting out and shooting free style photography as [they] search for subjects and settings that best reflect the city and community of Fredericksburg.”Links Fredericksburg Street Photography WebsiteTed Nelson’s InstagramShawn Faherty’s InstagramIan Soper’s Instagram A Selection of Fredericksburg Street Photography PhotosShawn FahertyShawn FahertyShawn FahertyTed NelsonTed NelsonTed Nelson

This is just a quick reminder registration for the Publishing a Photo Book Workshop taught by Harvey Stein will close this coming Sunday (January 24) at midnight. The 7-week course begins Tuesday, January 26 at 1:00 PM Eastern time. It’s designed to help photographers who either have a completed project to publish but don’t know how to find and approach potential publishers or are thinking about arranging their images into a book form. Click Here to learn more.Our Guest Valérie JardinOur guest today is Valerie Jardin who needs no introduction. She is one of the preeminent women street photographers of today. Originally from France she now lives with her family in Minneapolis, Minnesota.She leads workshops worldwide, writes books, produces a weekly podcast, and is an official X Photographer for Fujifilm USA.And she’s the host of the very popular podcast Hit The Streets.Although the pandemic has slowed down her workshop schedule she doesn’t let that or the bitter cold in Minnesota keep her down. She’s proof the none of us should complain that we can’t pursue our photography because nobody is out, everyone is wearing a mask or that it’s too cold.For example, Valerie began a project called On Ice where she has been photographing the community of people who enjoy life on the frozen lakes of Minnesota.A selection of Valérie’s photosLinks from the showValérie’s WebsiteValérie’s InstagramValérie’s WorkshopsValérie’s new book: Street Photography AssignmentsHit The Streets Podcast

I’m writing this on January 15 which means we have just published the January 2021 issue of Street Photography Magazine. We are super excited because the January issue kicks off our year of women street photographers with a special issue that features work by all women. And throughout the year each issue will feature a super talented woman street photographer. Publishing a Photo Book Workshop Also this month we are holding our very first remote workshop, Publishing a Photo Book with Harvey Stein. If you’re planning to publish or even thinking about it I encourage you to check it out. Harvey is a very inspirational teacher. Harvey is a longtime New York street photographer who teaches at the International Center of Photography in New York, also called ICP. He has also published nine monographs over the year with the 10th scheduled for next spring. This lively, 7-week interactive workshop will be held each Tuesday on Zoom beginning January 26th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM Eastern time. And you don’t have to be a street photographer to get something out of it. Some of the takeaways form this course are: Generate book ideas Sequence images Identify potential publishers What and how to present to publishers Evaluation of your project And much more. If you’re planning to publish or even thinking about it I encourage you to check it out. Harvey is a very inspirational teacher. Click Here to learn more about the workshop. Interview with Michael Ruggiero Our guest this week is Michael Ruggiero. He’s passionate life-long photographer, former photo journalist professional chef. Michael has been heavily influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lee Friedlander, Mary Ellen Mark and Garry Winogrand. In fact while living and photographing in Paris in the early 1980s he had an opportunity to meet both Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz. He even shares the story of how he met Cartier-Bresson in the interview. He has had solo exhibitions in Fort Collins, Colorado – Philadelphia New York and Boston. As a black and white film photographer, Mmch of his work comes from a number of long-term projects including Over the Road about American long-haul truckers. In fact we will be publishing part of that work in the March issue of Street Photography Magazine.A selection of Michael’s imagesLinks from the showMichael’s websiteMichael’s Instagram

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021. Twenty twenty is finally in the books and perhaps we can all have a sigh of relief.Anyway I am very happy to announce that we have declared that 2021 will be the Year of Women Street Photographers. So each month during the year we are choosing a woman to be the featured photographer of the month. And our first issue of the year, which will be published on January 15th, will feature street photography created by all women. Keith DannemillerOur guest this week is Keith Dannemiller, an American photojournalist who has been living and working in Mexico City for the past 30 plus years.Keith is no stranger to Street Photography Magazine. He was the featured photographer in September 2016 and has contributed content to the magazine and podcast over the years. So it was good to catch up with him to see what he’s up to during the pandemic.Keith is currently independent, but over the past 31 years he was associated with two US photo agencies: Black Star and Saba. In Latin America, he has covered a wide variety of situations, ranging from Nicaraguan Recontras to street children in México City to life on the US-México border and the evolution of a refugee camp in the Mexican state of Chiapas into a thriving community today.As a photojournalist he covered the First Intifata in the occupied territories of Palestine the late 1980s. In our interview Keith told me the story behind this assignment and how he came to cover an event on the other side of the world and how it became a book project 30 years later. That’s right, he’s currently working on two books at the same time.My favorite project of Keith’s is about LaBestia, which means The Beast. It’s the nickname for a freight train that travels from the southern Mexican border through the length of the country to the US border over 1600 miles away. Hundreds of migrants, men, women and children, escaping economic hardship and gang violence in Central America risk their lives riding atop the freight cars. He uses his camera and heart to tell a powerful story of desperation and hope for a better life. La Bestia ©Keith Dannemiller 2014He lives with his wife in the Colonia Nápoles of Mexico City and often conducts street photo tours of this unique metropolis.You will learn this and more when you listen to my conversation with Keith Dannemiller.Keith’s LinksKeith’s WebsiteKeith’s InstagramKeith’s FacebookEyes on Main Street Festival

Thanks to the Internet we now live in little silos of individual realities. The shared experiences we had before this phenomenon no longer exist. Then along comes the coronavirus pandemic that has thrust into a new shared experience not felt since the 911 attacks and the Kennedy assassination. It is a common reality we cannot escape. No this isn’t another story about the pandemic but it is one example of how one very creative person has reacted to the changes the pandemic has forced upon his family, business and personal life. This week I had an opportunity to sit down with Shlomi Amiga from Toronto Canada. He’s a commercial photographer, avid street photographer, husband and father of two young boys. Once the lockdowns began Shlomi saw his wedding photography work, which was a key slice of his income, vanish over night. He had been thinking about phasing out the wedding side of his business, but now the decision was made for him. The pandemic had accelerated the change he was already contemplating. The extra time has given him the mental space to develop the studio-side of his business and find new avenues to be creative. For example Shlomi has applied his creativity to video by creating a new YouTube channel called Nerding out on Photography. In his first segment about street photography To keep his creative juices flowing he began sharing his knowledge with other photographers worldwide through a new medium, video. He’s created a YouTube channel Nerving out on Photography that shares his vision and thinking about street photography composition. He uses a few examples of his own work to help the viewer create a mental picture of interesting visual elements to recognize in the street. He did a brilliant job of making an abstract concept real and memorable. This is no small feat. I’ve embedded the video below this article for you to see for yourself. Change is inevitable, and the pandemic has accelerated it many times. Sometimes sudden change works out to be a good thing. It requires us to make difficult decisions and take action that we would normally avoid. And maybe the constraints the we’ve had to endure over the past nine months will result in some new creative ventures that we wouldn’t otherwise have considered. Shlomi’s LinksGeeking out on Photography YouTube ChannelShlomi’s WebsiteShlomi’s Street Photography Instagram

Our guest this week is Ashley Tillery, a street photographer from Arlington, Virginia.Raised in a military family Ashley moved around a lot as a child which exposed her to many different cultures and places. But it wasn’t until after college while working as a folklorist in rural Alabama that she found the inspiration to begin photographing communities of color. And she has been doing it ever since.Fast forward to today, armed with only an iPhone she continues to follow her passion documenting the people she meets in the DC metro area. Currently she shoots in the Gallery Place / Chinatown area of downtown DC. Here she focuses on making compelling and personal street portraits of perfect strangers.It’s through her work that Ashley was invited to join the DC Street Photography Collective, which is high praise indeed.Don’t get me wrong, Ashley does more than make portraits. She captures candid moments on the street too. All within her mission to document the lives of people of color.Ashley is smart, friendly and funny which enables her to connect with her subjects in a very personal way. She gets close, not just physically but emotionally which is evident in her work. It’s obvious that she gains the trust of her subjects who respond in kind. The result is a visual narrative of a community most of us only see from a distance.After you listen to my conversation with Ashley be sure to spend some quality time with her work.A Selection of Ashley’s PhotosLinks From the ShowAshley’s WebsiteAshley’s InstagramAshley’s FacebookDC Street Photography CollectiveDC Street Photography Collective InstagramRobert Trejo Jr.Eyes on Main Street

Lifelong New York street photographer and educator, Harvey Stein, has published 9 books throughout his career and I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with him about several of them over the years.When he finished his latest book, Then and and There, Mardi Gras 1979 we got together on a Zoom call to discuss the book and what he’s working on currently.This book is quite different from Harvey’s past monographs. Its created from a collection of polaroid photos he made over 40 years ago at the Mardi Gras with a Polaroid SX70 “instant” camera. Something used by millions of consumers at the time to photograph family holidays and vacations. In fact my mother had one and it’s still around here someplace.There is only one printing of the book, once it’s gone there will be no more. You can obtain a signed copy directly from Harvey by sending him an email at hsteinfoto@aol.com. During our conversation I learned much more that the backstory behind the photos. Because it’s also about how Harvey made a real book, one that will be in peoples’ personal collections and in libraries for generations. All from a box of photos that he had tucked away in a drawer and almost forgotten.It’s a story about how putting yourself out there and taking risks to show your own work can lead to unexpected opportunities.It’s a story about overcoming the restrictions of the pandemic by using your photographic vision to tell stories about the people and places near you that were overlooked in the past.And it encourages you to follow your interest and imagination to create projects that will hone your own skills and enrich the lives of your subjects.Harvey is always a gas to speak with, and I always learn something new each time we speak. I come away from those conversations looking at my own work a little differently.I hope you will too when you have a listen to our conversation.About HarveyHarvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, author and curator based in New York City. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and has taught in several undergraduate and graduate photography programs. Stein frequently lecturers on photography both in the United States and abroad. He was the Director of Photography at Umbrella Arts Gallery, located in the East Village of Manhattan from 2009 to 2019 until it lost its lease and closed.  He has curated 66 exhibits since 2007. His photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe-89 one-person and over 165 group shows to date.  His images are in more than 57 permanent collections including the George Eastman Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago,  the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Bibliotheque Nationale.  He has had nine books of his photographs published, including Coney Island 40 Years (2011) and his two recent books, Mexico Between Life and Death (2018) and Then and There: Mardi Gras 1979 (2020). His work is represented by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York City. See Harvey’s work on his website www.harveysteinphoto.com and @stein.harvey on Instagram.Photos from the bookLinks from the showHarvey’s WebsitePhotographing People with Intention Zoom Course 10/6/20 – 11/10/20Harvey’s InstagramHarvey’s FacebookOther Interviews with Harvey on Street Photography MagazineStreet Photography Magazine Featured Photographer July 2014New York Street Live “Briefly Seen” by Harvey SteinMexico Between Life and Death – Interview with Harvey SteinPodcast Interview November 2015

One of the great frustrations in the digital age is that e easy it is to make your photography available to the world, yet so difficult to get people’s attention and to take the time to look. Street and documentary photographer Chris Suspect, the Street Photography Magazine featured photographer in August 2020 issue, has figured it out. He regularly enters his work in competitions, attends festivals (at least he did when you could do that sort of thing) and just getting to know people personally. And most recently is self publishing a series of photo books, which have been very successful. After speaking with Chris I realized that he is the living embodiment of the old adage “Don’t wait for the phone to ring.” In this free sample of the interview from our most recent issue of SPM, Chris Suspect, shares the details about how he creates and promotes his self-published books. Plus he tells us the story behind his latest book, Old Customs. Links from the show Chris’ website Chris’ book Old Customs Chris’ Instagram Photos from Old Customs

When you ask Kevin Fletcher of Portland, Oregon what he does he’ll tell you that he’s an image maker. Like all good elevator speeches there’s so much more to it. Professionally he is an independent Directory of Photography who does commercial work around the world, most recently for Netflix. And he’s working towards doing more narrative work like short films. As a visual artist he is also a damn fine street photographer who applies the rigorous skills of filmmaking to his still photograph. Earlier this year he completed a personal project titled 82nd Avenue of the Roses about an urban street in Portland. That project won the Lensculture 2020 Street Photography Series award against some tough competition. We include some of the images in this article so you can see for yourself. During our discussion Kevin tells us about his motivation for creating the project and how is cinematography experience influences his street photography. In the process he gives us insight as to how filmmakers think throughcomposing and lighting scenes and how those skills apply to photographing in the moment on the street. One thought that really stuck out to me from our conversation is that Kevin says not to make editing decisions while shooting. Basically do only one thing at a time. When you are making images, don’t think about which you will keep or discard later, just keep shooting and focus only on making photographs. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Links from the show Kevin’s Website Lens Culture 2020 Street Photography Awards Stephen McLaren Drive Lincoln Project The Third Man movie Endeavour television series Selections from Kevin’s 82nd Avenue of Roses Project