Practice, not portfolio
A deck of self-assigned challenges for street and candid photography. Pick one, go shoot, come back for the next. Nothing gets posted here — the pictures stay in your pocket; the practice is the point. Take one for yourself or send one to a friend.
One assignment hangs in the alcove, changed every Monday. Everyone visiting sees the same one — shoot it together, apart.
Twenty-five standing assignments, read top to bottom like a handscroll. Difficulty runs from an easy afternoon (一) to a test of nerve (三). Progress is stamped on this device only.
Four photographers this deck steals from. When a challenge feels impossible, look at how they did it — the links go to their work where it officially lives.
New York · b. 1938
Made color street photography legitimate when everyone said it couldn’t be art. Stood on Fifth Avenue for years. His lesson: the street is a stage — pick your spot, wait, and the picture assembles itself around you.
Study: joelmeyerowitz.com
Tokyo · b. 1938
Are, bure, boke — rough, blurred, out of focus. Shoots like a stray dog moves through the city: fast, low, on instinct, without preciousness. His lesson: grain and blur are texture, not failure.
Study: moriyamadaido.com
Chicago · 1926–2009
A nanny who shot 150,000 frames nobody saw until after her death. Rolleiflex at the waist, eyes on the street. Her lesson: be invisible in plain sight — waiting rooms, reflections, quiet juxtapositions.
Study: vivianmaier.com
Hamburg · samuel streetlife
Works the street openly and calmly, camera visible, no sneaking. Finds one good scene and stays with it. His lesson: thirty frames from one spot beat three hundred from nowhere.
Each challenge suggests a camera. The tool shapes the picture — that’s why it’s part of the assignment.