Street photography is about courage, mindfulness, and the ability to see beauty in everyday moments. Unlike landscape or macro photography, the city offers not only opportunities to work with light and composition, but also to connect with people, their stories, and your own boundaries. In this article, you’ll learn how to overcome your fears, photograph people respectfully, make the most of the city’s hustle and bustle, and capture images with soul.  

Jana Kupčáková’s photography regularly appears in exhibits and art festivals around the world, including in New York and Paris. She focuses on humanistic themes, especially in her street photography. Her photographs capture everyday stories from ordinary life and the details that surround us. She is one of the main guest presenters on street photography at the Prague Photo Show.

The internet is full of various guides for producing “perfect” pictures. Zonerama Magazine isn’t the only place where you’ll read about things like the right way to compose, what lenses are good for what kinds of photos, and how to edit a photo using a histogram curve.

Metropolises are more than just streets lined with glass and steel skyscrapers—they’re also living organisms full of endless motion and commotion. Almost never-ending streams of cars flow through the streets—the urban arteries—and human figures rush by on the sidewalks. Motion is the city’s essence. And you can express it in your pictures using a fairly simple technique—blurring the picture.

Street photography is dynamic and full of surprises, once-in-a-lifetime moments, stories, and faces, as well as unexpected enchanting corners. It throws the cover off of day-to-day life and details that we normally overlook. And meanwhile you can do it practically anywhere. You just pick up a camera and head out into the street.

Invisibility—it’s not just for superheroes! Every good photographer should be able to turn at least partly invisible. That means not calling attention to themselves—trying to not be seen, to blend in with the crowd. These are major building blocks for success when you’re photographing people. Especially if you’re doing street photography, reportage, or events like weddings.

Lately, street photographs are starting to break their way into respected fashion magazines. They’re very natural photos, and play strongly on our emotions. How can you approach this genre in a way that makes it the best possible advertisement for your work?