Friday, March 29, 2024

How To Get Spotted by a Street Style Photographer

5 Top Tips for Getting Noticed by a
Street Style Photographer

It’s always flattering to get stopped by a street style photographer, but sometimes it’s hard to know what’s going to turn their heads.  Here are our 5 top tips for getting noticed by one of our shutter bugs!

You’ve seen those street style photographers snapping away in the street, but you can’t for the life of you work out why they stop the people they do. What is it exactly? What’s caught their eye? You just can’t see why they’d want to take that guy’s photo, right?

Well, men, women or binary, we’re about to let you in on our secrets on what our shutterbugs look for when they’re out there in the streets. It may come as a surprise, but our street style photographers will probably look straight past you if you are dressed all in black. You’d have to have some thing else going on that’s amazing if you outfit palette is pure black.

Rule # 1: No Black

It might come as a surprise to you to learn that if you are wearing black, our photographers are more than likely to look past you.

Why?

There are a few, simple reasons.

While many people see black as stylish, elegant and versatile, with so many people in black, no one stands out from the crowd. On cold winter days, when everyone is wearing a black, brown or dark grey coat, our photographers look for a higher vantage point to look down the street to see who is in bright colours. One of the easiest ways to spot them in a crowd is to look for the colour in a sea of black.

How interesting would our weekly fashion galleries look if we brought you photo after photo after photo of people in head to toe black? Not very. Even Vogue editor Anna Wintour has been famously quoted for her most hated “fashion” as being “head to toe black”. We agree.

Besides, the uniform of choice for almost every waiter, waitress, barista, bean-smith, hairdresser, function manager, and self-uniformed office worker now seems to be black. Black has now become uniform, ubiquitous, cliché and downright hackneyed. It’s so common in fact that our shutterbugs are not interested in photographing that look.

Unless there’s something really edgy about your total look, you might not be noticed. If you are in head to toe black, we might not see you at all.

If you insist on wearing mainly black, it’s going to have to be incredibly eye catching, like this photo from our Lookbook, to get noticed.
If you insist on wearing mainly black, make sure it’s eye catching.

So, Rule Number One for “How to Get Spotted by a Street Style photographer”, DON’T WEAR BLACK, and especially DON’T WEAR HEAD TO TOE BLACK.

Rule # 2: Give Them Something Worth Photographing.

Let’s explain that a bit further.

We know you love your gorgeous $500 designer jeans that have been ripped in all the right places. And we know you love them so much you wear them everywhere you go. We know how much they cost too. But street style photographers are not interested in photographing every pair of ripped jeans or even non-ripped jeans  that come walking towards them. It doesn’t matter to the photographers how much you paid for your jeans, even if you wave the receipt in their faces as you walk past, or iron on the price tag to the seat of your pants.

What interests the street style photographer is not the price of your outfit, but the uniqueness of your look. So, as exclusive as they may be priced to be, there’s every chance our shutterbugs have already seen a million Roberto Cavalli or Dolce & Gabbana jeans strutting towards them. So ask yourself this question. If street style photographers see these jeans everyday, why would they notice them as being photo worthy? Why would they notice you wearing them? Sadly, the truth is that they probably won’t and you’re going to have something else going for you for our shutterbug to notice you.

Photo-worthy despite the denim. Photo by Jacob Han
Photo-worthy. Photo by Jacob Han

 

Photo-worthy. Pic: Ruby Reginato
Photo-worthy. Pic: Ruby Reginato

So, no black, no relying just on jeans- no matter who designed them and how much they cost you. That leads us to Rule Number Three, which is all about making sure you look finished.

Rule # 3: Look “Finished”

What we mean by Rule Number Three is: your overall look from head to toe should look like its been attended to. Care’s been taken. Every hair’s in place or casually ruffled depending on your preferred style. Open shoes or sandals display feet that have been attended to, manicured and clean. Street style photographers are not going to spend time on you if you are walking around like your feet have spent the last two hours in a black sandbox. They are looking for people who have made an effort to present themselves to the world. No effort, no reward, and that means no photo.

That also means not relying on one single feature to get yourself noticed, like a striking pair of platforms or latest over-sized bag, or your oversized hat. While on their own, they might be enough to get you noticed, if that is your only style or fashion effort, there’s a good chance that after the initial head turn, you might still be overlooked. Those new platforms or your newly stylized hair are probably not going to cut it on their own. If that’s all you’ve got going for yourself, then there’s a good chance street style photographers will certainly snap your platforms, or the back of your head, but they’re not going to be interested in YOU.

Look “finished”. Photo: Les Brown
Look “finished”. Photo: Les Brown

 

Look “finished” from Head to Toe. Photo: Susianna Chandra
Look “finished” from Head to Toe. Photo: Susianna Chandra

 

While it was the shoes that originally caught the eye of our street style photographer for this pic, it was the overall look that ensured Photographer Ruby Reginato took the shot.
While it was the shoes that originally caught the eye of our street style photographer for this pic, it was the overall look that ensured Photographer Ruby Reginato took the shot.

In short: Top-to-toe, guys, Top-to-toe. Finish your look.

Which brings us to Rule Number Four for getting spotted by a street style photographer. Rule Number Four is: Colour is King.

Rule #4: Colour is King or Queenish…

Street style photographers are not just looking for colour, they’re looking for lots of it. So, while a single bright colour might get you noticed, the more colour photographers notice, the more likely they’ll want to capture in their photos the vitality, energy and chutzpah you’re projecting. Dress like you’re making a big, bold, colourful but tasteful statement and you’re likely to be rewarded by having your lovely mug snapped.

There’s an argument that goes: it’s not possible to be wearing too much colour or too much make-up to be noticed by a street style photographer. But we advise caution. Too much make-up, too many colours, and overblown hair might just see the photographer look straight past you at the person walking behind you who has taken a bit more care. It’s always a subjective call, but overall remember, your street style photographer is on the lookout not only for colour, but a look that’s been produced with care and a bit of effort, not something that stands out for the wrong (loud) reasons.

oursay_colour1
oursay_colour2

And finally, probably the single most defining rule that most clearly and easily identifies what a street style photographer is looking for: originality.

Rule #5: Be Original

It might be quirky, it could be edgy, it might even be glamorous. And it will most likely be unique. But so long as it’s stylish – and it “works”- original style looks will always get you noticed.

So long as you look different enough to the next fashionista, you’ll look different enough to be photographed. If you look too much like the next person, or the person after that, then sadly, you wont be spotted in the crowd, no matter how “nice” you look. So, not it’s not just about your style, it’s also about your originality: your own stamp.

Look Original: Photo: Carisse Antonas
Photo: Carisse Antonas

So, now you know how to get spotted by a street style photographer, our guys will be looking forward to snapping you in the street!

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