*Chor Bazaar. An example of the fishing technique in Mumbai. By Craig Boehman.*

Why Every Serious Street Photographer Needs the Fishing Technique

Most street photographers are running around like caffeinated squirrels chasing action, spraying shots, and hoping something sticks. But the pros do it differently. They choose a spot, frame the scene, and wait for the moment to come to them. That’s the fishing technique.

It’s not a new idea, but it is one of the most misunderstood and underused methods in street photography. You hear street photographers mention it, but rarely does anyone break it down or teach it in a way that actually helps. That is what this guide is for.

If you are shooting in the streets of Mumbai or walking corners in London, this technique will change how you approach timing, composition, and anticipation. It forces you to use intentionality, to focus, and actually think about what makes a shot work.

This post covers everything. The masters who nailed it, the gear that helps the mindset you need, the drills that sharpen your instincts, and how to make it part of your everyday practice or teaching. You want to level up. This is how.

My favorite art to absorb is painting. I am a painter who never was, for lack of talent, time, and a little bit of OCD that prevents me from splashing paint everywhere and figuring out how to organize such a chaotic mess. But the visual medium has always pulled at me. With a camera in hand, I’ve found a way to work within that world. I am still trying to paint. The difference is that my canvas is already out there. If painters build their compositions around the subjects they place on the canvas, I do the same with the people walking into my frame. That is what the fishing technique asks of us in street photography. We are painting the world as we see it through our lenses.

What Is the Fishing Technique in Street Photography

An example of the fishing technique. I created this image at the Tate Modern in London. I was simply waiting for the right subject(s) to walk by this lighted installation. I was using a slow shutter speed to capture motion.

The fishing technique is simple in theory but brutal in practice. You find an interesting background. You compose your frame. You lock it in. And then you wait. You wait for the right subject to enter the scene and complete the image. You do not chase. You do not react. You anticipate.

This method flips the usual instincts of street photography. Instead of hunting down moments, you let them come to you. It’s about patience, timing, and trusting the scene to deliver. You are not just taking photos. You are setting a trap for the perfect one.

The term "fishing" fits because it mirrors the act of casting your line and waiting. It is deliberate. It is quiet. It is about understanding the flow of people and movement through space. Some photographers use this without knowing what it is called. Others do it by design. But once you understand it you cannot unsee it.

The best part is that it puts full control of composition back in your hands. You are not shooting chaos. You are sculpting the frame. You decide where the light hits where the lines lead and what background texture tells the story. Then you just wait for life to show up.

Why the Fishing Technique Works So Well in Street Photography

The fishing technique works because it forces you to commit. You choose your frame. You lock it in. Now, it is on you to make that composition deliver. You are not wandering around hoping to stumble into something. You are setting a trap and waiting for the right moment to walk through it.

It sharpens your eye. You stop scanning and start studying. You begin to recognize patterns in movement and behavior. You see how people cluster. How light shifts. When a gesture is about to happen. You are not reacting to the world. You are reading it and waiting for your cue.

You also gain full control of the frame. When you stand your ground, you can actually build a shot. You work with geometry. Texture. Light. Depth. You are making the background do half the storytelling. Then you let life bring in the subject to complete it.

What makes this technique powerful is the mix of instinct and precision. It’s not passive; it’s tactical. You’re gambling on timing and using your composition as bait. And when the right moment hits, the shot doesn’t just work. It looks like it was always meant to happen.

Photographers Who Mastered the Fishing Technique

Plenty of the greats never called it fishing. But they sure as hell used it. They built their frames and waited for the story to unfold inside. This approach is all over the work of the masters if you know what to look for.

Start with Henri Cartier-Bresson. Everyone talks about the decisive moment but that moment does not come from chaos. It comes from planning. Look at his shot behind the Gare Saint-Lazare. He found his frame. He saw the reflection. Then he waited for the leap. That was fishing.

Man jumping puddle by Henri Cartier Bresson. — *Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “man jumping puddle”*

Joel Meyerowitz is another one. Especially in his early color work. He talks about setting a scene and letting life fill it. His compositions feel loose, but they are anything but random. There is a rhythm to them. He finds the right street corner or shaft of light and holds. A parked taxicab becomes prominent in the New York City traffic, a perfect color complement for a woman with a red hat.

Then there is Alex Webb. His frames are dense. Layered. Controlled. You can see him fishing in real time. He sets up with a background full of geometry and color and then lets the human element walk in and trigger the composition. That kind of visual complexity is not luck. It’s time spent in one spot, knowing the payoff will come.

Alex Webb image using the fishing technique in street photography. — *Alex Webb constructing a complex image using the fishing technique*

This is but three examples of many who use the fishing technique in street photography. The common thread with all of them is patience with intent. They weren’t wandering around waiting for something magical to happen. They were putting themselves in a position to catch it.

How to Use the Fishing Technique in Your Own Work

Fishing isn’t about waiting around and hoping. It’s about setting up a frame that can deliver a great shot before the subject even shows up. You’re building a stage. When the moment comes, you’ll be ready.

Start with your background. If it’s flat or boring, the shot is already dead. You want backgrounds with visual tension. Look for strong geometry, bold color, texture, deep shadows, or anything that gives the scene weight. Sometimes, it’s clean and minimal. Other times, it’s layered chaos. But it has to hold interest.

Now think like a painter. Painters work in layers. Landscape photographers do, too. The best frames often have background, midground, and foreground elements working together. You may not get all three in every shot, but you'd better be aware of the possibilities.

Foreground can be anything from a blur of motion to a silhouette. Midground is usually where your subject will land. Background tells the story or anchors the scene. Look for separation. Look for tension between these planes.

If layers are not lining up, shift focus to visual anchors. Use light. Look for contrast. High shadow detail or strong color blocking can do the job when depth is lacking. Leading lines are your best friend. So are repeating patterns and symmetry, if you can break them with a subject.

Don’t shoot until your frame is solid. Composition is not something you fix after the fact. You set it. You fine-tune it. You ask yourself if someone walks through this scene right now, would the photo work? If the answer is no, then adjust. Move your feet. Bend your knees. Get low. Get higher. Commit.

Once your composition is locked, dial in focus and exposure. Pre-focus if you need to. Manual or zone. Back-button. Whatever makes you faster when the shot comes.

Then you watch. Watch like it matters. Study behavior. Look for rhythm. Movement. Energy shifts. Someone will walk into your shot. And when they do, the frame should already know what to do with them. That is the point of fishing. You already solved the composition. You just need the subject to complete it.

On Staging Images

*For this image, my friend volunteered to walk through the scene I had composed, with St. Paul’s Cathedral in London as the backdrop.*

Now, here is the part most street photography purists may disagree with me about. You don’t have to wait forever for a stranger to show up. If the composition is solid but needs a human element, you can stage it. Ask a friend. Ask a stranger. Use a model. Plenty of street photographers have done this when the canvas demanded a subject. It does not make the image less true. It makes it complete. Are you going to disregard a world-class image simply because a bunch of gate-keeping, dogmatic street photographers tell you that there’s only one way to do street photography? I should hope not.

For me, street photography is about one thing—making art. That’s the whole game. I’m not a documentarian. I am not here to follow made-up rules from photo nerds on forums. I do whatever the hell I need to do to get the shot. If it looks good, it is good. That is the only metric that matters.

Learn “the rules” and break them. Make work that matters to you, not to anyone else.

Focal Length and Format: What Actually Matters When Fishing

*Another example of the fishing technique. I was at Versova Beach in Mumbai just after sundown and waiting for people to walk through the beach lights reflected off the wet sand.*

You don’t need a specific camera for the fishing technique in street photography. Use what you have. What matters is how well you understand focal length and how it behaves with whatever tool you are using. That could be a compact camera, a full frame setup, or your phone.

Focal length shapes how you interact with a scene. It controls depth, compression, how close you need to be, and how much of the environment you include in the frame.

If you are using full frame, 35mm is the classic choice for fishing. It gives you enough room to construct a composition without losing your subject. Go wider with 28mm if you want more tension and interaction. Or go tighter with 50mm or 85mm if you are framing from a distance and building depth with layers and light. For me, I’m typically using a 24mm focal length for my full frame setup and relying on the main camera on my iPhone at 24mm as well.

On a crop sensor or compact camera, translate accordingly. A 23mm lens on an APS-C sensor behaves like a 35mm. A 17mm lens gives you a wider frame. The exact number does not matter. What matters is knowing what your lens sees and how that fits your shot.

Phones follow the same logic. Most phones default to a wide lens, which often makes the frame feel too loose or disconnected. You can still work with it. Frame tighter. Use the edges. Build the shot using background elements. If your phone has additional lenses like 2x or 3x, use them. That gets you closer to a 50mm or 85mm perspective and completely changes how the scene reads.

What’s essential is how well you understand space, how you construct a frame, and whether your focal length matches what you’re trying to say. If you can get that right, you can fish with anything.

Real-World Examples from My Work

An example of the fishing technique at Chor Bazaar. — *Fishing near Chor Bazaar, in Mumbai.*

The image above was taken at one of my favorite intersections near Chor Bazaar in Mumbai. This corner is one of those rare spots where everything converges. Foot traffic, delivery carts, porters, stray dogs, street vendors, and thick shadows all move through the frame in waves. It’s chaos if you don’t know how to handle it.

But if you fish here, you get the kind of moment that builds itself inside your frame.

For this shot, I had already visualized what I wanted. Geometry, contrast, and pressure. The flyover cuts through the frame with hard, clean lines. The old hostel sign in the background. The light that day was brutal, which worked in my favor. It threw long shadows across the street and helped break the space into layers. I knew this was a route used by workers moving heavy loads. I didn’t have to chase the moment. I just had to be ready when it arrived.

This is the result. A cart packed high. Three men leaning into it (one is only visible via their feet), each with a different rhythm. One pushing. One pulling. They moved into the frame exactly as I hoped.

Look at the structure. The tension in their bodies. The shadow under the cart. The balance of the flyover and the road. Even the signage behind them feels like it belongs. None of this was luck. It was observation, composition, and patience.

This is what the fishing technique delivers when you use it with purpose. You frame the world, and then you let it walk into place.

Real-World Example: London, Through Glass

Another example of fishing in London, shooting through glass with a telephoto lens on my iPhone. — *Fishing in London.*

The image above is another example of the fishing technique in action. This one was taken in London, shooting through glass with a telephoto lens on my iPhone. The setup here was intentional from the start.

I framed up the lit sections of the escalator first. The glow from the lights created natural horizontal lines. The vertical columns in the background gave me structure. Once that was in place, I adjusted my exposure manually. I wanted the shadows deep and clean. I wanted the contrast hard enough to separate any figure that passed through the light.

This scene gave me a gift. Constant movement. Person after person passed through my frame. All I had to do was wait and shoot. I captured dozens of variations. Some worked. Some did not. But this one, with the subject silhouetted perfectly against the green panels, stood out.

This is the power of fishing. One composition. Multiple chances. You’re not just reacting. You are creating a controlled space where reality delivers options. Maybe one shot wins. Maybe three do. Either way, you leave with images that were built, not stumbled into.

Real-World Example: Rain, Color, and Coffee

Another example of the fishing technique in street photography by Craig Boehman. — *Fishing at a cafe in Mumbai.*

The image above was taken while I was waiting for a coffee order on a rainy day. I had already spotted the potential in the composition. A bold orange circle, the letter "O" from the cafe signage, was painted on the window. Through it, the street outside blurred into a soft wash of movement, umbrellas, and wet reflections.

The setup was obvious. The color was strong. The light was flat but glowing from the rain. All it needed was the right subject to pass through.

I waited. I composed with intent. I wanted someone carrying an umbrella, centered in the circle. Eventually, a couple came walking by, sharing a red umbrella. I caught a few frames, but this one, where the young man’s face lands right in the center of the "O", stood out immediately.

This is not just fishing. This is working the scene. I stayed ready, adjusted my angle slightly, locked my exposure to protect both the color and the blur, and fired when the elements lined up. I walked away with more than one usable shot, but this was clearly the strongest.

This is what happens when you see potential and stay committed. The image builds itself if you give it the time to unfold.

When You Do Not Have a Scene: Hunt While You Search

Not every outing will hand you a perfect fishing hole. There will be days when the light is flat, the scenes are dull, and nothing looks ready. That doesn’t mean you pack it in. This is where hunting comes in.

Hunting is the search. It is the classic version of street photography most people are already familiar with. You walk, you scan, and you react. You look for strange faces, strong gestures, moments that unfold in a split second. Old men with beards. Women with incredible smiles. Children sprinting through traffic. A dog crossing in front of a cop at the perfect angle. These moments matter. They should not be ignored just because they are not happening inside a composed scene.

*An example of the hunting technique in street photography. I like searching for grand gestures, motion, and overall drama when I'm searching for fishing spots.*

But here’s the crux of it. You’re not just hunting for moments, you’re hunting for future fishing spots. As you move through the city, train your eye to notice the locations that could become stages. That alley with light hitting the bricks. That staircase with deep shadows. That wall with clean geometry and nothing in front of it—yet. You make mental notes. You come back later. You build your fishing map, comprised of what I call templates, as you go.

Example of a Template

Both hunting and fishing are valuable. But fishing should remain the goal. It teaches patience, planning, and awareness. Hunting is the filler. It gives you momentum while you search. It sharpens your instincts. It keeps the camera ready.

A strong body of work uses both. One gives you control. The other gives you chaos. Balance them, and you stop making random images and start building a real vision.

Stop Chasing, Start Creating

Street photography is not about chasing chaos. It is about building structure and letting life move through it. The fishing technique is how you stop guessing and start composing. You set the frame. You solve the background. You create your own worlds.

This is not about being a purist. It is about making art. If you need to bring someone into the frame, do it. If you need to revisit the same corner ten times, do it. The goal is not to impress strangers. The goal is to make images that hold up over time.

Let the others run around hoping for magic. Good luck shouldn’t be your only strategy. You build it. Frame by frame. Shot by shot. Like an artist. That is the difference.

Now, go find that fishing hole.

What Is the Fishing Technique in Street Photography? (And Why It Works)