VIDEO: Street Photography From The Back of a Car
We spent a little over two months in the Dominican Republic last year and if there’s one thing that amazes me every time I go, is the traffic. It’s crazy. Traffic rules don’t mean sh*t and it’s a struggle to keep your car from being scratched or dented. It’s no wonder that the Dominican Republic is on the top of the list of countries with the most accidents. There are also traffic jams at any time of the day.
I’m going to post a lot more videos like this on the TWAOU² YouTube Channel.
But believe it or not, there's one advantage when a city is clogged with traffic: It takes a million years to get somewhere and that makes it perfect to shoot photographs from the back of a car. During my time in the Dominican Republic, I really enjoyed shooting street photography from inside the car. It’s different and it definitely improves your skills.
Related Read • Street Photography with a Digital Medium Format Camera
You need to think faster because even though traffic is slow, scenes pass by in seconds and there’s only a short time to react. There’s no turning back. After a while, you really start to anticipate when a good shot is coming up. You need to be ready before you even see the shot. Street photography is really exciting that way.
Focusing is also difficult. One way is to use servo focusing but I was getting more comfortable with focusing manually—setting focus for a fixed distance and going with it. Shooting street photography from the back of a car is all about improvising and adapting. I’m definitely going to do it more on our next trip because it looks just a tad different from the photos taken when walking.
Related read • Shooting Street Photography in The Dominican Republic
You see different things when you’re sitting in a car. Things you just can’t see when walking around. Unless you’re seriously suicidal and decide to stand in the middle of the road. And because traveling means sitting in a taxi or public transport, you should definitely think about it on your next trip. It will improve your street photography and camera skills.
Maybe this was kind of a weird post but, well… ;-)