I’ve never been out of the country entirely by myself before - I feel fortunate to have been on some great family holidays, also with friends, groups and boyfriends. But never solo.
I turn 30 this year, so now, for me feels like the right time to be doing this, breaking away from the every day, having a small journey by myself and coming back home with fresh eyes and new experiences. They say a change is as good as a break. It was nice to shake things up a bit.
Street photography, for me, is a great partnership to this travel experience. It’s a way to connect to your new environment. Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a hopeless sense of direction and in fact, its a small miracle that I made it back to my rented apartment each day. The only way I really know where I am is by remembering the details - I'm not sure if this is a photographers quirk, but I'll remember seemingly insignificant features like a broom leant against a wall, a peely poster or an odd bit of brick work.
Really, the only way could navigate back to my apartment was because there was a display box with children’s shoes in right next door. If they had changed that display, I would have really struggled.
When I told friends I was going to Rome - all of them without fail cooed about how beautiful the architecture is. Agreed, it was. However, I really had very little interest in photographing it. The people on the other hand, they were my subject. They are who I wanted to connect with and for me, who really made the streets of Rome what they are today.
Street photography, for me, is the chase for the inexplicable magic in every day life. Sometimes, if I'm lucky there will be an alignment of subject and environment that becomes interesting and the trick is for me to do it justice by snapping the stutter at the right point. Henri Cartier Bresson coined the term 'The Decisive Moment' back in 1952 - "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event." - HCB Having pushed myself to take to the streets again (this is the reason I got into photography by the way), I can only see that it will continue to influence my wedding and family photography. When we discuss natural, documentary, reportage photography, this is really where it comes from with me. It comes from the everyday, turned into something special and personal, captured in a split second.
Thanks, Amy-Rose x
