Behind the Scenes of Making a Winner Photograph

A very exciting thing has happened to me last year: I have been chosen as one of the finalists for Street Photo Milano exhibit in Milan, Italy. It’s a great honor and my first international exhibit of one of my travel photographs. We are currently here, in Milan, enjoying the weekend long event, surrounded by some of the greatest minds in street photography, learning about their work and current projects. It feels surreal to see my photograph among all the wonderful images displayed here.

Since the photograph is being displayed, I thought I’d bring it back and write about how it came to life. I have always been interested in the “behind the scenes” of photography, how the person caught or created the moment that now lives in print or as a digital file. I feel that this part of photography is rarely talked about, but then again, why not? Perhaps some believe that maintaining the mystery of how a photograph was made adds to its value. For me, however, sharing the behind the scenes can be very valuable and educational experience. No one can recreate the exact same thing, but everyone can be inspired by the process.

As for my chosen photograph, it was taken when I was traveling through South Africa in May of last year. Prior to my arrival in Cape Town, I have reached out to a couple of local photographers to see if they’d be willing to take me around. I had ultimately booked a whole day of street and landscape photography with Peter from Cape Photographic Company. The first place we went to that morning was Langa township on the outskirts of the city. Peter has photographed there many times, has established relationships with people who live there and hires a local guide to take visiting photographers around the township area. It was an early Sunday morning when we went and many locals were dressed in their elegant church attire. It was also a time when men hang out in township bars known as Shebeen since early morning hours. We got the opportunity to shoot inside such one bar and that is where I ultimately shot my winning photograph.

The shebeen we entered was relatively dark, however, there were a couple of small windows through which early morning light seeped in. The long rays cast beautiful shadows and as it happened to be so, several of the men were smoking cigarettes which made for beautiful backlighting opportunities. If you’re at least a little bit familiar with light, you will quickly recognize how mystical this type of light can appear in photographs. I was absolutely delighted to witness this and took full advantage of the situation. I didn’t just take one photograph, I took many, changing my angles, isolating individual subjects, taking in groups of the men together. I underexposed a bit to make sure the smoke stood out against subjects. None of these photographs were posed; I simply observed and photographed what was in front me, knowing that light and opportunity like this one don’t come along very often.

Everything was done with permission of the subjects of course and as a reaction to what was already happening in front of me. We spent about 30-45 minutes inside, but these photographs have been some of my favorites. Sometimes you get really lucky and don’t need a lot of time with your subjects to create something special. This was definitely one of those times.

As a take away from this particular situation, I can say that a few things helped me and can also help you create a successful photograph as this one:

1. Plan ahead of time. Although I likely couldn’t have planned to go to the Sheeben on my own, I pre-planned a day of photography with a local guide and photographer who would take me to spots I would have otherwise never found myself. Pairing up with someone who knows the local area well has been of the the most invaluable lessons in my photographic journey thus far.
2. Be quick to respond to what’s happening in front of you. This is a pretty broad rule for street and travel photography in general, however, it’s always good to remember that if you see it, then you should photograph it right away, as the moment is fleeting and will likely never repeat itself. There were plenty of times when I lied to myself that I would get that shot on my return visit or “some other time.” This has never, ever happened. You can come back to the same spot as before to photograph, but your images will always, always be different from that first time.
3. Know your camera well. This has been emphasized over and over again by all the great photographers I have come to know and learn from. Last thing you want to be doing in the crucial moment is to futz around with the buttons instead of taking photographs that are happening right in front of you. I always preach simplicity over new and fancy gear. What this means is that it is so much better to shoot with a tried and true camera than to purchase brand new, an unfamiliar gear, before your big photographic endeavor. It’s better to shoot with a phone or a simple point and shoot that you know really well than to get frustrated over missed photographic opportunities because you didn’t know how to align proper settings beforehand.
4. When making a photograph, don’t be afraid to go all in. When you set out to make a picture, make a picture. Don’t just “press the button and move on,” don’t hesitate, just go all in. This is something I still struggle with frequently, as I get anxious about judgment, about failure, about making myself look like a fool. But the truth is, when I go all in with the right intentions and a full respect for my subject, I always win in the end and none of my anxieties prove true. This is one of the most important lessons in photography and one I have to be reminded of on a consistent basis.
5. Share your work and submit it. For a long while, I mostly shared my photographs with my friends and family and solely on social media. I would seek validation from the number of likes and comments I generated under my photos and from the oohhhs and ahhs of family and friends who either loved my work merely because it comes from me or are not always knowledgeable about the photographic genre. But sometimes you just really need to hear it from the person who understands what you are trying to do and knows the genre well. This is not to say that if you never win a contest or get published in a magazine that your work isn’t good or doesn’t matter. All art is in a way a very personal and subjective matter. Art should be made for the sake of art alone and not for the accolades. But on the flip side of things, sometimes you just won’t know how much your work is appreciated by others in your industry until you allow yourself to be vulnerable and share it beyond your social media accounts. So find which contests pertain to the type of work you are doing, which magazines commission your type of photography and submit your work for review. Because in the end, the rewards of being chosen are well worth the risk of being vulnerable. So put yourself out there. You never know who might be inspired by your work.