What we’re about
Hello, welcome to this community!
My name is Flavio Bosi. I am a Street and Documentary Photographer and Street Photography teacher. I am one of the two course leaders from Shoot the Street travel and street photography courses. We also run a YouTube channel based on street photography that can be a fantastic resource for you. You may ask: what does street photography have to do with documentary? The skills developed in street photography are fundamental for elevating your documentary project to the next level. It develops your reflexes and eye for composition, to learn to work in different environments and simplify busy images, to look for that candid moment that can tell so much more about your subject. My aim with this group is to create and engaging, active and entertaining way to learn about documentary photography, to practice it and to meet like minded people, to enjoy their company and conversation and make new friends.
Who would participate in the Meetups? If you want to spend a few hours learning and enjoying the experience, this is the right place! If you want to hang out with fellow photographers, this is the place! If you want to shoot some documentary photography and get better at it, this is the…ok, you got the gist of it!
I will be leading mini workshops for beginner and intermediate level photographers, but advanced photographers are definitely welcome! The workshops will normally be 2 hours long and will cover a single topic regarding techniques, camera settings, how to shoot in a documentary style, what to shoot and why, how to put together a project and all the questions you need answered. At the end of the session we might gather around a pint and have some banter and socialise.
The Meetups will have different formats:
Mini workshop
Styles, specific techniques, framing and composition, what to shoot, how to make an image compelling, etc.
Expert workshops
Occasionally there will be a guest expert in a specific style or a renown or recognised photographer to lead the workshop.
Author themed sessions
We will pick one of the greats (or not so renown but still great) and analyse their work, then go out and try to imitate them to learn!
Critique sessions
This is a really delicate one, but if there is something that taught me the most in the shortest time is having my work critiqued! So there will be critique sessions in which you bring up to ten of your best (or not!) pictures and hear what me and other advanced/expert photographers have to say about it. It may hurt at times but constructive critique will take you to the next level.
After each Meetup it would be great if the participants shared some of their work on the Shoot the Street Facebook group so we can see the results of their efforts, help with constructive critique and see other people’s work to learn from them, their successes and mistakes!
The main theme of this group is Documentary Photography.
By the very nature of it, documentary photography is based on projects, not on single photos. They are groups of images that tell a story together. A project can last half a day or 10 years, it doesn’t matter . It’s how to put it together that counts. We will explore the principles but it will be up to you to work on a project on your own!
If you read the whole thing, congratulations! Now come to one of the Meetups and join the community!
You can find some of my work on my own website, www.47-degree.com, and my Instagram handle @flaviobosi.
Don’t forget to visit www.shootthestreet.co.uk to see our UK and worldwide courses and learn more from our blog! Our Instagram handle is @shootthestreetuk.
Also, check the Shoot the Street YouTube channel out, with our series Unscripted on the Sofa: street photography talk with Mark and Flavio!
