Street Photography in a New Medium and Medium is the New Street Photography!
What is Medium Street?
Medium Street is somewhere new for street photography. Medium Street is a place to introduce Medium Format street photography. It’s also my personal story about becoming a street photographer, and how I got to Medium.
Medium Format is actually pretty big. On the Fujifilm GFX100 II, the camera I’ve adopted, the sensor is 1.7 times the size of 35mm and about 4 times the size of an APS-C camera sensor. And it’s physically big, maybe twice as big as a small 35mm camera.
I didn’t come to Medium early and I’m the opposite of an Early Adopter. I began my journey in street photography with a college project, “The Faces of Chicago”. I headed into the city with my trusty film Nikon and asked random, interesting people if I could take their picture. It’s on this project that I photographed Little Howling Wolf playing his sax on the bridge near the Merchandise Mart. 42 years later I ran into him busking on Michigan Avenue. It felt like a full circle moment.
Life, work and family pulled me away for a while and it wasn’t until years later when I was gifted an antique Contax film camera that I was encouraged to take it to the streets once again.
I went from that film 35, to all manual digital Leica M’s, to partly automatic Leica Q’s, and finally, in 2023, found my way to Medium Street photography with a larger than life GFX100 II, 102 megapixel digital. It’s not that I was dissatisfied with my Leicas. I love them still and if you click on the “Small is beautiful too” tab, you’ll see why.
But in my life and work, including being a graphic designer, I looked for a new challenge. I wondered if there was more. I wondered what the tattoos said on the man at the edge of the photograph, what a woman was reading in the tabloid newspaper she was showing to a friend, who was in the car driving by.
And I wondered whether my fellow street photographers were right to wonder, “Why in the world would you want a medium format camera for street photography?”
But I found a new challenge and a new street photography on Medium Street. Photographs suddenly opened themselves up. The people balanced against the street were still there, of course, but now, was there a woman scowling in that car? Was that love in the faces of the couple embracing in the street, or only in one of their expressions? Medium format street photography drew me in deeper. If you come to Medium Street, you’ll see. I hope to blog about it, share with you what I discover, admit some mistakes that I’ll surely make, and maybe convince you that Medium Street is an amazing place to be.
Short Stories on Medium Street
Walk and watch. There are small plays all around you on Medium Street, if you learn to see like a street photographer.
Dark Shadows on Medium Street
What better holiday than Halloween to discuss dark photography. An evening dining al fresco. A rainy night stroll. A walk down a
Walking With Vivian
What is street photography? Depends on who you ask! It’s a metaphor, it’s a memory, it’s a frozen moment, it’s a document
Old Friends and a New Lens on Medium Street
Sweaters? Dark mornings? How did that happen!? Chicago is grudgingly surrendering its idyllic 2024 Summer. As the smell of pumpkin spice crowds
Just Breathe On Medium Street
Electric fusion of Mexican Latino rhythms, tacos, tiny magical alebrije dogs and frogs, carved from wood and whimsically painted. Families in flag
Artistic Skinship on Medium Street
Twice a year Chicago hosts the largest “Call to Arms” in the country. The Villain Arts Chicago Tattoo Festival fills a cavernous
Dog Days of Summer
Dogs, dogs, dogs. You meet many interesting people during photo walks and dogs are some of the most interesting “people” that you
A Multi-Cultural Medium
Chicago is a tapestry of cultures and every summer they celebrate in the street. Every weekend, festivals honor neighborhoods, foods, authentic dress,
The Museum Is the Medium
Street photography belongs in the museum, and not just in frames, hung on the walls. Museums are temples of art, color, geometry