How I Turn My Street Photography Into Art #2

Welcome to my series where I talk about the stories behind my fine art photography pieces.

The ‘How I Turn My Street Photography Into Art’ Series

Welcome to my series where I tell the story behind some of my fine art photography pieces. I hope to convey to photographers that street photography is a great source for creating art. If you’re like me and love the visual arts but lack any talent to paint or draw, photography has become my artistic surrogate that allows me to create whenever I desire. That’s because my companion passion is street photography and I’ve literally thousands of images to choose from to create fine art photography pieces, and with and with any luck, I’ll be producing works of art for years to come.

For the second entry in my How I Turn My Street Photography Into Art, I’ll talk about the story behind “Emergence”.

The Story Behind Emergence

For much of 2015, I was still dabbling in street photography around my neighborhood. I hadn’t yet sold the image that would launch my photography career in October. This particular shot was taken in Malad West, Mumbai. I’d just entered the lane to my home at the time and saw this man opening up his shop. According to the EXIF data, I’d taken the picture at 9:00 AM and that seems about right because the sun was already up and shining and many businesses in the area were still shuttered.

Back in those days, I was still developing not only as a photographer but as an editor. I absolutely loved low-key black and white work and much of my street shots were processed this way. I didn’t consider myself an artist or even a photographer at the time. All I knew was that I enjoyed street photography in India as much as any hobby I’d ever had and there was something addictive about shooting an image and turning it into something else entirely.

”Emergence” isn’t only about this man emerging from his shop. It’s my personal journey from becoming a budding photographer to a full-blown artist. The latter was only fully self-actualized in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic during the lockdown. Once again, the title for me has another meaning and poses a couple of questions: when will I emerge from this pandemic, and what will I become?