Full name.
Roy Rozanski
City and country where you live.
Born and raised in Israel lives in a small town north to Tel Aviv
How you started with street photography?
Photography as a general is relatively a new passion of mine. I’ve only been photographing for a couple of years following the documentaries about Francesca Woodman and Helmut Newton. I started shooting landscape and sunsets by the sea in particularly.
After a while I realized that during my long waits for the perfect landscape shot I tried to combine the human factor in my shots. That’s when I switched to street photography. I gave up my tripod, ND and polarizer filters and only kept my camera with a wide lens.
Why street photography?
Street photography always seemed to me as a complete mystery since in contrast to other photography styles I could not understand how the shots were taken and how the photographers succeeded in combining different elements into one shot that is not rehearsed.
I was mesmerized by how basic and complicated street photography is at the same time. I became addicted to the moment of capture which I later on realized it was referred to as “The Decisive Moment”.
Ultimately street photography chose me more than I chose it and no matter how I look at it now this was bound to happen sooner or later. Street photography is the most challenging among all the styles of photography and to be able to cope with it in the streets is rewarding in itself. The fact that you have captured a single moment in life which cannot be duplicated or repeated and doing so in your own unique way is what fascinates me the most about street photography.
What and/or who inspires you?
My inspiration comes mostly from the Magnum cooperative and its amazing photographers. I am fascinated with authentic film photographers such as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier‐Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Bruce Davidson and his ability to photograph communities usually hostile to outsiders, Bruce Gilden and his candid close‐up photographs, Sally Mann, Helen Levitt and many more. At the beginning I had compiled a big list of photographers that I found across the internet and took the time to observe their body of work into depth. It allowed me to get a true sense of what street photography really is and what should I aim for as opposed to just shooting people in the street, a mistake done by so many. It also allowed me to form my own personal style when I compared their style of photography to my emerging one.
My two primary inspirations are Elliott Erwitt and his humorous captures and Martin Parr and his focus on beach life photography. I can’t stress enough how much those two photographers influence my work and I try my best to incorporate their style into my own photography.
Regarding Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr, do you have any particular books/series of them that have inspired you the most?
Any photobook that is composed of shots taken by Elliott Erwitt is just great. His photos are just filled with humor and hilarious moments. I especially like his “Dogdogs” book which is full of dogs captured in a funny almost human way.
And last but not least, “The Last Resort” by Martin Parr and his wonderful photography by the sea (and other places). He manages to capture everybody’s vacation moments in a magical way no matter where you are on the globe.
It seems then you let other photographers shape your photography. How much do you let this actually happen? Do you for example block yourself when taking a picture because you think about how Erwitt or Parr would do it?
Not at all. When I started my voyage in street photography I studied their body of work but even then I realize that you can’t copy or duplicate their shots. You can’t recreate the same situation even if you try because we are dealing with unpredictable situations occurring randomly on the streets. The names of these two photographers reappear in my photographic life after spending quite some time on the streets and other people started to compare me with them I didn’t intend to shoot like them I was perfectly happy with the fact that I manage to produce decent shots. In the end I humbly accepted the comparison.
How often do you go out to capture moments?
Street photography is a passion of mine yet I am not a professional photographer and I have a nine to five office job which prevents me from shooting during work days. On a regular basis I photowalk during the weekends which in Israel is between Friday to Saturday (the Jewish Shabbat) both days have a unique and different street vibes and shooting locations and I try to shoot in all-weather situations.
Another thing is that I am not a local resident in Tel Aviv so I have a somewhat of tourist mentality when I go to shoot there. Tel Aviv is my main “hunting ground”. It possesses a highly versatile street life packed full of different vibes, sounds and smells.
Some exceptions are big parades like gay pride parade held in Tel Aviv, protests or big annual events where I feel compelled to participate no matter the cost it has on my daily job and I sometimes go to the extreme to be there.
I understand why you feel like a tourist, but clearly you are a local taking shots every weekend in the same places. Any advice for someone planning to visit Tel Aviv? Which are your recommended places to shoot in?
Fortunately for all photographers Tel Aviv is a small town in comparison to big vibrant metropolis like New York so you can almost cover it all in one sweeping photowalk. I don’t have any advices specific to Tel Aviv in addition to the advices regarding street photography in general. As always when traveling to foreign countries you need to check out the local vibe before taking pictures. In Tel Aviv people are very warm hearted towards tourists so I don’t think you will encounter any kind of hardship while visiting Tel Aviv and of course smiling is always good. This is also my reason for portraying myself as a “tourist”.
The major places that you should check out are the beaches and promenade that stretches along the west side of the city. The big markets – Carmel in Tel Aviv, the fleas market in Jaffa and both port areas in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. All those places are jam packed with photographic potential for great shots. Don’t read tourist guides as they are not intended for street photographers. Your best shot could be when you turn left just out of your hotel.
What do you look for when you go out on the streets?
I mainly try to capture humorous moments since life is filled with funny situation without people even realizing it. Big leading guide is shooting as close as possible. I don’t care much for compositional rules, leading lines and the rule of thirds. I am only interested in capturing a story or emotion in my shots.
Since Tel Aviv is a small city I share the “hunting grounds” along with other wonderful Israeli street photographers and I am fortunate to be able to observe their way of photographing. In that matter I can decide which method I choose to embrace and which will not work for me. Observing other street photographers at work can help you a lot to form your own methods to approach your photographic subjects.
I don’t constrain myself to one way of shooting. It all depends on the mood of the streets, the weather and light situation. Sometimes I get to shoot around light traps, other time I look for geometric shape that will assists me to form the shot. I sometimes prefer to shoot while walking a plotted route and other times I prefer to stand in one place and let others cross me by. Nothing set on stone my only true limitation is day light hours since shooting at night brings up its own set of challenges.
Is interesting that you don’t concentrate in composition yet your photos are well-composed, surely it became muscle memory and so you can play more with other aspects. You try to capture a story, do you think you are succeeding?
I have to be honest; even now sometimes things can happen very fast for me to react properly and the first thing that goes out the window is composition. This is one issue that I am working hard to improve. I can point out that committing to one camera type and one lens type for long time helps you achieve more composed capture since you are more familiar with your gear.
I don’t know if I am succeeding in capturing a story since it is up for the viewer to decide so. I can only try to relay a story that I see in front of me (which is not always the story that others see). Another big thing that I try to capture is the emotions and I found out that the hardest one to capture is sadness. The easy one is happiness so you can start with that.
How do you feel about shooting with other photographers compared to when you shoot alone? Some photographers absolutely need to be alone while shooting.
Sociable wise it is just great that you can meet with them and exchange stories and tips. But in street photography two is already consider a crowd, you might as well walk with big Cymbals and bang them on the streets. When two photographers shoot the same object you draw too much attention from everybody around you and in effect miss the authenticity of the situation in front of you. If you are a true street photographer you will realize that you have to do it by yourself.
Do you interact with your subjects?
Generally, I don’t interact with my subjects. I am a bit of a shy person who lacks the street smart and aggressiveness that Bruce Gilden has. I try to maintain neutrality in the street life in order to capture the moment with the least artificial interferences. I long found out that a smile will get you a long way so I try to smile a lot to people in the street so they can be at ease and leave their guards down. I always try to capture the situation as close as possible following the famous Robert Capa’s saying. It comes with its own perils since people react differently when you get close to their private space while most don’t even understand my photographic interest of them.
Sometimes I act like I am shooting beside them and not focusing on them. You need to develop your own set of tools that will help you to get closer to your subjects. Also you need to form some sort of an exit plan to get you out of a sticky situation. I try to smile and back slowly away.
Sometimes I failed in doing so and my flounder exit plan becomes other photographers’ capturing moment. I already carry my share of “battle scars” from shooting people too close on the street.
On the other hand, after spending so much time on the street you get to form some sort of relationships with individuals and you incorporate them into your photowalk. I don’t always have to shoot them but I make a point to meet them and exchange a few words.
No pain no gain, or so they say. A smile can get you far and make you obtain great results. Now I’m curious, when you get close do you take several shots and work the scene or snap and leave?
It all depends on the reaction that I sense from the subject. If the subject is smiling at you and strike a conversation with you then I usually will make several shots. On most situations I make one snap and this forces me to be technically prepared at all time so I can minimize my exposure time with the subject. You don’t want to let them think things over so they might change their mind against being photographed or you might find yourself in all kind of troubles as a result of that. So be sharp take one good shot and move on.
How do you challenge yourself to improve on photography?
Basically I try to be the best photographer that ever existed and that is my perpetual drive. I try to follow as much as I can on other street photographers’ work presented mostly on the internet and use their wonderful photos to drive me to do the same.
I set no particular challenges before going out to shoot; the uncertainty of what you will capture is what makes street photography so interesting to me.
My photography improved when I stopped being obsessed with uploading my photos to different social medias and just concentrated on shooting photos intended for me as the sole audience.
One thing that I am always trying to improve is me getting even closer to the action and in that aspect I am always pressing relentlessly on.
Along the way I have changed my shooting technique (I even swapped camera type and brand) in order to get the result I am looking for, shooting less through the viewfinder and more through the guts for example.
It is an individual process, which every photographer needs to find for itself. A process that is an ever changing one that keeps on evolving. Nowadays the challenges I am facing are more mental ones I try to visualize the situation ahead of it really happening. I try not to repeat myself and shooting the same things over and over again. I change my photowalk routes.
In general you need to change your routine in order to spice things up, change your luck, and open yourself to new opportunities to photograph on the streets.
I see the role of a street photographer as more like a fisherman going out to sea with his fishing rod. He knows the sea quite well, he is aware that there are plenty of fish to go around in it but still there are days that he returns empty handed and there are days that he have no more space to store his catch of the day. So the challenges are embedded in the type of photography itself.
Great, I loved that. Do you have other people helping you in your photography for example in your editing?
I got to where I am now all by myself no one helped me or offered his help. Having said so, I try to help others with what I can. Most street photographers want to make it on their own since at the bottom line it is you against the streets and you need to work things out.
How would you describe your own style?
My style is divided in two parts. The post‐processing part which I think deserves to be treated with the utmost respect, more so in the digital world, is very identified with me and people recognize it almost immediately. I stay true to the capabilities and limitations that film photographers encountered in the dark room.
The photographing style is somewhat a work in progress. I shoot now almost completely differently in contrast to how I shoot a year before and I focus on other things now. I can’t really define my style and I leave it for others to try to define it.
What is photography for you?
Photography is my way to express my creativity and to present it to the world.
I always was a highly creative person but different crossroads in my life prevented me from further developing my creativity into other forms of art such as playing music, painting or writing. The fact that photography (the digital type) became so instant in producing result helped me to quicken the process of becoming more experienced in mastering the art of photography. What was taking years for people to master in the past, I can now gap it in a few months of intensive work.
What is your personal definition of street photography?
Street photography defined by capturing human condition within public domains. This is how it is defined long before me and I am not here to challenge it by all means.
Of course street photography is my personal journey and you can sense the photographer’s soul in my photos. Like all other street photographers I try to capture the street life through my own eyes and my subjective mind. It is the most personal intimate type of shooting that exposes the photographer just as much it exposes the subject. A small part of me is inside every shot.
I found out as I consolidate my photographic style that I try to shoot with compassion. I never take cheap shot that capturing people in embarrassing situation without any context.
At the end of the day I need to feel good with my photographs in the way that they are not embarrassing the people I shoot or the one who shot them. When you cherish the art of photography as I do you want to elevate it to higher levels and not drag it down to the gutters.
Some people (probably not street photographers) would argue with what you’re saying and state that street photography is just disrespectful. How are you respecting people in the streets by taking their pictures without asking for permission? Someone could ask. What your answer could be to this?
Generally I don’t argue with people who are not photographers but for the sake of argument you all have to realize that your external appearance is public domain you are all being photographed all the time by so many different types of medias. Privacy is a thing of the past in our modern times. Asking for permission will ruin the authenticity of the shot and I am not in this for smiling posed portraits. But you as a photographer should also show restraint and maturity and not capture a person in a demeaning situation. When doing so you give respect towards everything you photograph and thus retaining the respect of the art form that is street photography.
Through photography, what have you learned about yourself in the last year?
As I started photographing I stumble upon a very important book “Camera Lucida” by Roland Barthes which deals with the philosophical side of photography. The book raises the point (one out of many) that in every photo you shoot you also capture your own soul which is imprinted in the shot itself and are viewed by the viewer.
The fact that I expose myself through my photography made me realize that I have a strong connection to the sea and seashore and that is why I shoot a lot of my photos in the beach area.
With the help of photography I now realize that all my life has been involved with the sea, I always lived by the sea I don’t like to be in places far from it. My landscape photography which I did before getting into street photography was mainly sunsets which in Israel can only be by the sea.
I changed to street photography but didn’t abandon the sea, instead I brought street photography to it.
Beautiful. Beach street photography (if you could call it that) is very interesting and could be intimidating for some photographers. We clearly see you’re in the water many times, you walk around barefoot? What’s your routine like in the beach?
When I roam the beach I try to blend in as much as possible. I walk barefoot, I wear shorts and baseball hat, I carry a towel and if necessary even a beach ball since I long noticed that if you stand out from other people on the beach you literally be like a fish out of the water. If you don’t blend, you’re more likely to get rejected when trying to take someone’s picture.
It’s like being undercover you have to blend in with the local natives’ culture. I learned it from my personal experience when at first I didn’t dressed accordingly. Just imagine a single man dressed with a T-shirt, jeans and wearing closed shoes walking in the sand among rows of young sunbathing girls who only wear tiny G-string and rising unintentional attention on himself. I had to change the entire way I dress in order to get decent shots. A big thing you need to consider is that people who sunbathed for several hours are much more impatient.
What are your future goals with photography?
I have no particular plans for the future. In my region I’ve learned not to make any plans as they are always subject to changes.
I aim to keep growing as an individual and unique photographer and becoming more precise in my photography. I hope to be bolder in capturing the moment and more experienced in identifying the situation to shoot. Every photographer wants to present its work in a gallery or exhibition and I am not different than the others so I am hoping to get the chance to present my body of work outside of the internet.
Maybe participating in some local contests could get you there. Do you participate in competitions? What are your thoughts about competitions?
I don’t want to participate in any local contests. There is too much politics and bad blood relating to this (I will not get into further details). I do sense that I am now more mature and possess more quality shots to participate in competitions abroad.
In general I don’t regard competitions very high. It is more a competition between photographers’ ego and I left my ego at home. I do consider opening my own exhibition in the future, I think I have something to show for.
If you could have a conversation with ANY photographer for an hour, which photographer would you choose and why?
It is a difficult choice between Elliott Erwitt and Martin Parr and it probably will be Elliott Erwitt but only by a point.
I still wonder how Elliott Erwitt came by to capturing his uniques one in a lifetime moments. You need to possess some clairvoyance abilities in order to capture his shots and that is what I would try to learn from him in our conversation.
I would simply ask him how he sensed the situation before it happened and where he positioned himself in order to capture it. How he succeeded in making his shots humorous will be a big part of the conversation.
If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself to take some shortcuts here and there based on your experience?
My big advice is that there are no shortcuts. You are on a voyage and you need to experience every step of the way good or bad so be patient and don’t expect to get immediate good results. The setbacks and downfalls as well as your excellent moments are all part of it and in the end will make you a better photographer, providing you learn from them.
Another advice is stopping being obsessed with uploading photos to the social media and counting “Likes”.
Good art is not a popularity contest so try to shoot only for yourself and don’t mind what others think. Eventually people will notice you and even interview you. Keep patience you are here for the long haul.
What gear do you use? Philosophy: Digital or analog?
When shooting street you can do it with any type of camera. I started with a basic Canon 550D with 17‐40L lens attached to it. From the starting point I used wide angle lens that forced me to shoot at close range. As I went on, I found that changing the camera setting on the street is quite cumbersome and not quick enough causing me to miss shots by focusing more on the technical side and less on observing the action around me.
This type of camera also represented me as a professional photographer. This perception caused people either to pose unnaturally in front of me or making them aggressive towards me.
The pursuit to get even closer is one of the reasons I switched to small mirrorless camera. I switched to Fujifilm X‐T1 with XF18mm lens. This camera is much quicker to react in situation, much easy to change the setting on it and doesn’t look like a professional camera but rather more like a tourist’s point and shoot camera. Thus freeing me to focus more on the surrounding and it’s also less threatening towards people, it weighs less and makes me more mobile and agile.
I think that mirrorless cameras are the way to go when you decide to shoot street photography. It really enables you to focus on what matters and that is capturing the moment.
I started my photography life in the digital world and so far I have no plans to go analog. I joke among others photographers that if I will go analog they should gather an intervention regarding me since I have gone too far with my photography as it is only a hobby after all and not my occupation. I see myself as a digital photographer and planned to stay like that for now.
B&W or color? Why?
When I started with street photography my entire examples to follow came from the great photographers of the previous century all of them shot with film most of them in B&W. There is something clean and aesthetic in B&W photos and make you focus more on the details and the situation you capture, as a result most of my early photos were strictly B&W.
Gradually I became more inclined towards keeping the colors on. I found out that my decision between the two choices (B&W or color) is directly connected to the changing seasons of the year. During the hot Israeli summer the light is very harsh thus dulling the colors all around so I am more inclined to post-process the shots in B&W and it also feels the right way to go in my view in order to pass the idea of the shot to the viewers.
During the Israeli winter (when it is not cloudy and rainy) the light is much softer and you really don’t want to lose the beautiful colors, I even try to emphasize them so they will pop out.
In the end it is a decision that I take on shot to shot basis. If colors have a role in the shot I leave them in, if the colors disturb the eye and causes “noise” which prevent the viewer from detecting the details or the story I am trying to rely then I transform it into B&W.
What about post processing/developing?
I am a big advocate for spending time and effort on the post‐processing phase. In the digital age a photographer should know his ways with post‐processing softwares and techniques. When I dealt with landscape photography I spent equal time on post‐processing as I did with my long exposure shots.
Having said that, the post‐processing been done in street photography requires much less tweaking at. There are lines that you must not cross like color‐selective process or heal & cloning parts out of the frame so they suit you more.
I planned out two post‐processing schemes (one for B&W and one for colors) and I implement one of them on most of my photos if not on all of them. This is what gives my photos their unique visual style that associated with me and distinguishes me from the others.
And that is my advice to the other photographers; spend time in developing your photos don’t let the camera or software do an automatic post‐processing, instead be more active in the process. develop a scheme for B&W and for colors which will feel right for your shots, update them and changed them but in the end of the day you’ll have a photo which expresses what you shot on the street as well as how you emphasis it with post‐processing phase.
In the matter of cropping, I try to avoid cropping as much as I can. I read that Henri Cartier‐Bresson was one who believes in leaving everything inside the frame and not cropping things out so who am I to do an intensive crop to the frame. If I do crop I always keep it with the original ratio cropping and not changing the ratio size of the frame.
The selected picture (first picture on top).
The shot shows the beach life and the sea front which I have strong connection to it and I spend a lot of my time shooting in the vicinity of Tel Aviv beaches. I am bound to the sea from childhood and fascinated with everything about it.
This particular woman I spot from afar entering the sea carrying an umbrella and right there and then I decided to pursue her to the end.
I knew I would beat myself for not taking a shot of this developing situation. I closed distance on her trying not to attract too much attention which was very difficult as I ran into the sea fully clothed never even bother to take my sneakers off. I catched up to her and walked waist deep (seabed is not leveled there) along her with my not waterproofed camera, smartphone clutched firmly in my mouth and my bag float beside me like a buoy. I took two or three shots throughout the all event and that is the frame that I like the most.
I think it combines everything that I try to implement in my photos: sea, humor, colors and some escape from the mundane life.
It is a good shot that only cost me a pairs of ruined sneakers and a slightly damaged smartphone. No harm came to the camera this time.
Street Photographers on tumblr you truly admire.
Admiration is such a big word which rarely ends in good terms. There are some good photographers which I will use this opportunity to bring your attention to them
http://dhodhophoto.tumblr.com/ I like the clean B&W shots with emphasis on symmetry, geometry shapes and composition.
http://lioranaiman.tumblr.com/ an Israeli street photographer which I met personally. I like her style of photography and her intelligent captures.
http://fujifojo.tumblr.com/ a photographer that I got to know and communicate through Tumblr. I like his work with street portraits.
http://streetberlin.net/ a street photographer based in Berlin. His work with flash photography is quite interesting.
http://castreetshots.tumblr.com/ a photographer based in California. I like the west coast vibe and sea shore shooting.
There are so many more great photographers out there so I am sorry for not pointing them all out it is just a drop in the ocean.
What are some other projects you are currently working on?
I don’t work on any other projects other than the one I am working now and that is my street photography. I don’t think that I am at the level to start different street projects yet. Maybe in the future.
Where can we find you?
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/roy286/
Tumblr: http://roy-rozanski-photography.tumblr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roy.photoshoot
Email: roy.rozanski@gmail.com
Any advice from your personal experience?
Be patient and take your time to evolve as a photographer. Don’t get caught with the popularity race being held at different social medias and groups.
Get inspiration from all kind of sources be it various photographers, book you read, song you like, things that are interested to you which bear no direct contact to photography (in my case is my interest with history). All those things will eventually work their way through your photography.
Don’t emulate others. Make your own style of shooting.
Always smile. It will help you get closer to your subject by reducing the resistance towards your camera which is closing on them.
Be inquisitive person and follow things through. Sometimes I had to follow the accruing situation across a block or two until I got the shot I wanted. It can take some time so be patient and alert for any development in the situation.
Don’t neglect the developing phase and spend time and effort on sorting your photos and post processing them with your best abilities.
Wear sunscreen :)