Assignment 1 - Sign of The Times
In every town and city, we are surrounded by signs: street signs, posters, banners, store windows, advertising on buses, and so on. There's often a connection to be made between the words around you and the people or things close to them.
Assignment 2 - Apocalypse Now
Imagine that you are in a dystopian sci-fi world and that your town (or village or city) will not exist this time next week. Record the essence of where your live so future generations can see what life was like before disaster struck.
Assignment 3 - Rules? What Rules?
As photographers, we are bombarded with rules. As street photographers, however, we are the anarchists of the art.
Assignment 4 - Have a "No Finder" Day
All about shooting instinctively, without looking through the viewfinder.
Assignment 5 - After Dark
Some of your best street photography can be done during the hours of darkness. Think of neon lights, shop windows, reflections, etc.
Assignment 6 - Pick a Colour
Using the relationship between similar colours as a visual anchor is a useful technique to engage the viewer and keep them looking at an image for longer.
Assignment 7 - The Decisive Moment
The phrase "The Decisive Moment" refers to that very brief moment when all elements come together to make the perfect frame. It can be an exhilarating moment and many would say this is the purest form of street photography.
Assignment 8 - Going Underground
With around 150 metro systems around the world, there are plenty of opportunities to shoot an interesting street photography assignment in underground stations.
Assignment 9 - Layer Up!
Using layers can add volume and depth to your street images, enabling the viewer to find interest throughout the frame and keeping them involved with the image for longer.
Assignment 10 - No Shades of Gray
This assignment is all about producing punchy, high-contrast images made up of bright whites and intensive blacks.
Assignment 11 - Do Not Pass Go!
Take a photograph at the location of every square on the Monopoly board.
Assignment 12 - In The News
Be a photojournalist for a day and cover a local (or national) event with a street photography twist.
Assignment 13 - Just Ask!
Street photography is not just about shooting candid shots when nobody's looking. Taking portraits with people's permission (street portraiture) has been around for a long time.
Assignment 14 - Out of The Shadows
Shadows are loved by street photographers and have an important part to play in our art. Sometimes the shadow can be a picture's main feature or purpose, and sometimes it can add an important graphic or compositional element.
Assignment 15 - Lights, Camera, Action!
Lots of movie titles lend themselves to a photographic interpretation.
Assignment 16 - Abstract
Other photographic genres cater for the abstract, so why not street photography? Try intentional camera movement, puddle reflections or shooting through wet windows or screens.
Assignment 17 - It's Cool to be Square
Square format photography has become popular again, perhaps due to the phenomenal rise of Instagram. There's something very cool about the simplicity of a square image.
Assignment 18 - 1 Street, 1 Film, 1 Day
You have one day, access to only one street, and a single 24-exposure roll of film. What can you do with it?
Assignment 19 - Open Wide
Try opening your lens to its widest aperture and relish some lovely bokeh.
Assignment 20 - Gestures
Incorporating gestures is a great way to inject some interest or emotion into your people shots. They can be forceful (shaking a fist) or benign (smoking a cigarette).
Assignment 21 - Silhouette
From the earliest days, silhouettes have been featured in street photography as a strong, graphic element in a wider shot or a primary subject.
Assignment 22 - 24 Hours in the Life of...
We don't all live in naturally photogenic places. Tell the story of where you live through its 24-hour life cycle, building up a picture of daily life.
Assignment 23 - Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro is an oil painting technique which uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark to model three-dimensional forms, bringing real drama and depth to your images.
Assignment 24 - All the Right Angles
Strong lines are everywhere we look in the built environment. Lines can help you create images with a strong graphic element, often acting as leading lines to draw the viewer's eye toward the main point of interest, such as a person.
Assignment 25 - Make it go "Pop"
We live in a cluttered world, and distracting backgrounds can ruin an otherwise strong street image. For street photographers, that simply means separating the foreground interest from the background clutter.
Assignment 26 - Catch Their Eye
Generally, we aim to avoid eye contact with people on the streets. However, there are occasions when direct eye contact can help you capture a great image, as it adds an extra dimension to a shot
Assignment 27 - Up Close & Personal
Bruce Gilden, Dougie Wallace and Garry Winogrand are just some of the street photography legends who have made a name for themselves by photographing strangers at close quarters.
Assignment 28 - The Urban Jungle
This type of street photography emphasises the built environment more than the people, although including people can provide context or a sense of scale.
Assignment 29 - Into the Light
Usually referred to as contre jour (against daylight) photography, the technique goes against one of the first rules (don't shoot into the light!), but there are several benefits to be gained from breaking this rule.
Assignment 30 - In the Gallery
Get in among the artists! Shooting in art galleries - particularly contemporary ones - is an art form in itself and can be highly rewarding.
Assignment 31 - Like a Tourist
We usually have our mobile phones with us. It makes us look like "tourists" rather than photographers, and people are so familiar with them that they will behave more naturally if someone around them is taking photos with a phone.
Assignment 32 - Let's Get Critical
Critique – proper critique – is essential to our growth as photographers, but it can be hard to find. Set up a small critique circle between four to eight street photographers and aim to meet regularly to critique and discuss each other's work.
Assignment 33 - Funny Guy
Humour will always be central to street photography. However, it's difficult to work with because when you go looking for it, it's hard to find. But then it pops up out of nowhere when you're least expecting it.
Assignment 34 - Ghostly Apparitions
Enter the world of photo-supernatural and shoot some ghosts! The object of this exercise is to get to grips with shooting at slow shutter speeds, blurring the main subject but keeping the background sharply in focus.
Assignment 35 - The Unusual in The Usual
Keep your eyes open for things that are out of place or simply "odd". Look out for sequences or series of things, odd gestures or body movements, or people doing things that make them look awkward.
Assignment 36 - Juxtapose!
When people think of street photography, they often think of juxtaposition – artistic contrasts where we have two elements in an image which are opposed to each other. As well as physical traits, look out for contrasting emotions or signs.
Assignment 37 - Play the Waiting Game
Waiting is a big part of street photography. Finding an interesting background and playing the waiting game. Waiting for the right element to come into the frame to make the scene complete.
Assignment 38 - Turn Back Time
We perhaps most closely associate street photography with monochrome images shot in the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s. There is something about pictures of that era that we find fascinating, and when you mention "street photography" to most people, these are the images they think of first.
Assignment 39 - Follow Me
As photographers, we are bombarded with rules. As street photographers, however, we are the anarchists of the art.
Assignment 40 - Repeat That Please!
Using repetition in street photography is great fun and can produce striking results. When occurring in an image, it offers the viewer a sense of rhythm and will connote harmony, thus making them linger on the image for longer.
Assignment 41 - It's a Dog's Life
Dogs have featured in street photography for years and can make terrific subjects. They don't object to having their picture taken, and they often look cute.
Assignment 42 - Shoot Film for a Month
Despite the explosive advances in digital technology, film is still with us and has made a comeback in recent years. The premise is simple: get a film camera and commit to using it exclusively for a month
Assignment 43 - Be Negative!
Negative space is an important compositional tool in street photography, and we should embrace it. Negative space covers large areas of the frame, often made up of a light or dark shade or a solid colour.
Assignment 44 - A Rat's Eye Perspective
Shooting from eye-level is the default position for most people, but why not see the streets differently – through the eyes of a rat! Get down low and shoot from their level, using your LCD screen to see what you're shooting.
Assignment 45 - Show Off!
This assignment aims to bring you out of the closet as a street photographer, inspiring you to bring your work out to a wider audience. This could involve publishing a book, making a 'zine', exhibiting in a gallery, entering a competition, or making a website.
Assignment 46 - Banish Your Fears
We can all feel slightly uncomfortable photographing strangers in the street, and we all have different ways of dealing with it. Spend a weekend working on ways to feel more comfortable on the streets.
Assignment 47 - Party Time
We live in a fairly hedonistic world where people enjoy themselves at all hours of the day and night. Set out to capture the party atmosphere and sense of fun of office leaving parties, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and work nights out. There are plenty of opportunities on the streets, particularly in the summer.
Assignment 48 - Eyes Down
It is often said that we don't look up enough when we're out and about shooting. The same can be said for not looking down and, believe it or not, there's so much to be seen and photographed on the floor. Discarded clothing, bottles or cans, food, things in unusual or unexpected places – the opportunities are endless.
Assignment 49 - Mirror Mirror
Reflections have always played a part in street photography and are all around us. Look for reflective surfaces to make a great semi-abstract. You can use puddles, mirrors, floors, windows, and shiny walls - in fact, any reflective surface can be a cool shot that causes a viewer to look twice.
Assignment 50 - Set the Standard
This assignment is all about shooting with a "standard lens". This is a prime lens with an angle of view similar to the human eye. On a full-frame/35mm camera, a 50mm lens (a 'nifty fifty') is widely regarded as standard.
Assignment 51 - Whatever the Weather
This assignment is about observing and recording the changes on the same street under different weather conditions. Observe people's demeanour and behaviour in different conditions; see how they react to a big gust of wind or an unexpected downpour.
Assignment 52 - Finish on a High
Whatever town or city we're in, there is often something below our feet, and it's often something interesting. Looking down from an elevated position, you can see streets, stores, walkways, bridges, canals, houses, and traffic – all of which provide interesting subject matter.