Downtown Seattle Street Photography
What’s Street Photography?
In short, it’s most of what I shoot.
Especially when I’m home, but sometimes when I’m traveling too. Traditionally, candid street photography is simply the art of capturing people in a city environment without them necessarily knowing about it.
Some folks will tell you that certain images are not real street photography because they don’t meet x, y, or z guidelines. I’m have a couple of videos on just this subject if you’re interested in learning more!
To me, the meaning of street photography can be very simple, however. Unposed, un-planned photos of people going about their day. When it comes to downtown Seattle street photography, this rule works just fine.
Downtown Seattle Street Photography
The biggest and one of my all-time favorite locations for downtown Seattle street photography in OR outside the main city center is the Pike Place market.
If you’ve never heard of the Pike Place Market, it’s a world-renowned (or at least well-known-in-the-U.S.) fish market, that has evolved into a massive tourist attraction complete with gift shops, curiosities, handmade goods, restaurants, and still to this day- fresh fish for sale.
It makes for an awesome downtown Seattle street photography location, and I can’t recommend stopping enough if you find yourself in the area.
Seattle from the space needle
Seattle is a bit of a grey place much of the time as you likely know. I was definitely subject to an overcast couple of days while I was visiting.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily hurt my feelings as a street photographer. I enjoy shooting in even light, even if it’s grey light. The way I see it, there are plenty of other variables when trying to get candid street shots that take up enough of my focus (pun intended). It’s always nice when at least the lighting stays consistent.
Nothing against golden hour or blue hour, but you should learn to work with whatever lighting you have at hand, and moody even light will serve your street photography well!
Street Photography in the Dark
This is far from a lesson on exposing your images properly, that’s something you should take a look at prior to heading out in low light conditions at all. I do however have a few thoughts on photographing darker, moodier locations like what you’ll find shooting downtown Seattle street photography and in the Pike Place market if you head downstairs!
Best Practices/Tips
If you’re familiar with shooting in the dark without a flash, you’ll know that a lower shutter speed is necessary. I’m here to tell you not to be afraid of shooting lower numbers like 1/30, 1/80 etc.
It’s not always the best idea, as street photographs are often captured in the spur of the moment, with moving subjects, and very few second chances. But if you take a minute to adjust your thinking, and consider motion blur and grain as tools rather than enemies, you can experiment with some interesting effects.
One thing I love to do when I’m editing in Lightroom is play with the clarity slider a bit. A lot of photographers use it to increase definition in their images, but if you lower it a bit, it can give your shots a really soft and dreamy quality, especially darker ones with interesting light sources like this.
When employed tastefully, they can give your images a really interesting dynamic quality, like this shot I snagged recently. It’s definitely a look that may not be for everyone, but the abstract side of street photography can be a lot of fun to play with! In this image, I think the motion blur really emphasizes the movement of the characters in the frame. These shots work beautifully in the dark as well as in the daytime.
You can also usually underexpose your shots and try to fix the images later depending on factors like your camera’s sensor, lens maximum aperture, and your experience, but don’t be afraid to try out other techniques like this once in a while!
A Bit About What I Missed in Seattle
I wasn’t solely visiting Washington for downtown Seattle street photography. With this in mind, I didn’t have anywhere near enough time behind the lens to feel like I saw it all. It’s worth noting because there truly is a lot to shoot in Seattle, whether you’re after street photography, architecture, or other kinds of shots!
As an aside, I wrote more about our whole trip up the West Coast recently, if you’re interested in some of the other places we visited. It was a pretty big journey, spanning 4 cities over 9 days!
Notes for Next Time
While I don’t think we’ll be calling Seattle home, I definitely have unfinished business in the city. It’s on my bucket list to go back to for a few reasons.
For one thing, the buildings and character downtown are beautiful, and I didn’t get as much time to explore the streets as I would have liked! It’s a similar story with the piers and Seattle’s waterfront, not to mention all of the incredible nature and outdoor scenery to be found in Washington outside of the city.
There will always be far too much in ANY city to feel like I’ve covered it in just a few short days, but Seattle is pretty huge, so if you’re hoping to see a lot of the city, I’d recommend extending your trip a day or two.
Have any questions or comments about my experience with downtown Seattle street photography? Let me know!
You can email me at nick@gunairy.com, or get in touch on Instagram. Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to do something new today!
- Nick