I dropped my car off for a smog check this morning and wandered into Santana Row while I was waiting. There were about fifty supercars making lots of noise. They are pretty, but it only confirmed for me that cars are not my thing.

There are so many different ways to approach street photography.

Some people say don’t be sneaky. Move slowly, deliberately, and take the picture, but be respectful.

Some people say be sneaky. Shoot from the hip, pretend you’re taking a picture of something else, or shoot from a doorway.

Some people say you don’t have to ask, just take.

Some people say it’s okay to get in your subject’s face and fire a flash.

Some people say you should strike up a conversation with the person first and then ask if they can take their photo.

Some people use a small depth of field and take close up street portraits that have a blurred background.

Some people use a large depth of field and take pictures of people with lots of foreground or background to show them in the context of the street.

500px— layout: post title: “500px” date: 2014-04-15 author: Mark Beresford —

I found a new photography website called 500px, which shows the work of some very accomplished photographers. Maksim Mashnenko has the most beautiful lighting and post-processing in the portraits on his page.

Cerys and I drove down to Monterey yesterday to take a look at the college there. While we weren’t that impressed with the college, we enjoyed our day out together and didn’t get back home until late. I managed to get in a few snapshots, but we spent most of the time walking around, watching a family of raccoons, and hanging out in coffee shops looking at some online photo journals together (Cerys likes photography too). We finished the day with dinner in a “British” pub where we had fish and chips.

The photography website 121clicks.com is becoming one of my favourite websites. I love the documentary photo stories – they show the power of photographs in creating emotions and helping us to understand others’ lives.