Street scenes and disappointment from Shinjuku
Street scenes from Shinjuku. That was my goal for this article. After finishing my photos, I looked at them on my computer screen and felt a little depressed. In a way, it felt like a day of little return for my efforts. Why?
One thing true about Tokyo is winter fashion can be bland. Really? Yeah, I think so. It’s like most people dress using the same color palette. Black, blue and brown are very common. Sometimes, you’ll see white.
To see someone stand out on the street is fairly rare. I see seas of blandness. But, please don’t talk about my personal fashion. I know I’m one of the most unfashionable people there are! My excuse is that I take the photos, not a subject of them.
The next problem. Do I walk too much? That might be a strange question. I was on the move for nearly four hours when I took these photos. If I couldn’t find something interesting, I’d go. In short, I’m unsure what I’m doing.
This leads me to an important question. What is street photography? Is it streets? People? Interesting looking people? Is it something else? Architecture and buildings? Could it be a combination of many things? It’s confusing.
A photographer friend of mine once said he liked my Instagram feed but could never identify a photo made by me. He explained that I wasn’t consistent. I jumped between photographic genres. My editing styles changed according to the weather. Now I understood what he was getting at.
I wish I could find some answers. I’d appreciate it if you could give me some pointers. Outside help might be good.
Anyway, on the way home, I started thinking and I had a few ideas after reading some articles on my phone. If I want to shoot people, I need to find the type of people I want to photograph. They aren’t going to appear in front of me in some random place. I need to go to the places where they hang out. If I want fashionable people, Harajuku would be best. Anyway, it is something for me to think about more.
I enjoyed my time in Shinjuku. Once again, I used the X-T3 and Fujifilm 35mm F2. They performed well together. A camera upgrade to the X-T5 would be great. With its IBIS I could shoot with slower shutter speeds. That would give me more flexibility.
What do you think of these street scenes from Shinjuku? Most of the photos are from near the station, but I also went to Nishi-Shinjuku and Kabukicho. As always, I made a point of dropping by Omoide-Yokocho (Memory Alley).
These photos weren’t disastrous, but I definitely feel disappointed. Hopefully, I learned something from the experience. I’ll move on.
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