Portraits vs Street: Can Everyone Do Both?

In many years working as a photojournalist, documentary photographer and street photographer, while also working portraits, I have always found a contradiction. People tend to say that whoever specializes in street photography will never be a good portrait photographer, while those who prefer some commercial or artistic photos, like portraits, weddings, boudoir, etc will never succeed while embarking on a journey along the streets.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Capturing the essence of people on the streets will always involve some sense of portrait photography. Without it, the street photographs you take might lack some life. Here sits a man, turning a pike to roast a whole pig in the city of Holguin, Cuba, during the so-called “Holguin Nights”, an event organized by the local government and the Communist Party to make money. The idea was received with mixed feelings because the event was held by closing out the main avenue leading to the Pediatric Hospital, which caused detours and delays in ambulance services.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz

Many great photographers have taken a deep dive into the world of street photography, while not leaving the “artsy” part of the industry aside. And the reason for my quotation marks is precisely the fact that I consider any type of photography to be a form of art. As someone who has done more street photography than portraits, I can’t seem to have them separated.

A good portrait photographer needs to have the “chip” of the street photographer installed in them. There are many times that the expressions a subject brings during a portrait session can be more captivating if it comes in candid fashion.

A man selling fresh fish on the streets of Old Havana stops and smiles for a photo, even though the activity that he is carrying out might be labelled as illegal and he might get in trouble. Most times, people in Havana did not care about their picture being taken (regardless what they were doing) as long as they received some respect and a smile. It was nice to combine the street with the portrait.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz

In the same manner, a good street photographer needs to connect with the people that are included in their frame even without talking to them. Understanding their lifestyle, their struggles, the things that bring them joy or their fears is crucial for a street photographer to capture the true “street” essence of the image.

I have heard more than one portrait photographer tell me that they would not be able to take to street photography, and more than one street photographer say the same about portraiture. Yet, the reality of that is that you don’t know unless you try. As Henri Cartier-Bresson once said: “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst,” we need to think of any new type of photography we experiment to be starting from scratch.

Many seasoned photographers will find it frustrating to be “less successful” in other genres when they start. However, they are forgetting that they are “10,000” images short of being good. You will not know how good or bad you are until you try.

That’s why I would encourage anyone with interest in a type of photography to start shooting. They don’t know how valuable and useful the skills they have mastered can be in their new endeavors.

The ability to connect with the subjects that portrait photographers need to have can help them connect with the street people: portrait photographer need (by nature) to be personable and friendly, and those are tools that open many a door (both literally and figuratively). In contrast, the street skills, the exploratory experience and nature, and the sneakiness of urban explorers can see through a subject’s soul, and maybe capture emotions that can result in compelling portraits.

Although I got way deeper into street photography than I ever did in portraits, I had to learn the techniques and particularities of portraits both in my time as a photojournalist and in my time with I Love Cuba Photo Tours. Many of our clients wanted to have their portraits taken, and doing it with natural light most of the time brought many challenges. Framing with the possible background distractions of people walking by is a hard task, mainly when we were not the ones editing the photos (our customers brought their SD card and we gave them the raw files once our day was done).

Alex Rumpf poses for a picture in Mystic, CT. Having known her for over six years when this photo was taken, it was easy for us to connect and bond during shoots. Keeping people from showing up in the background proved to be the most difficult challenge of the day, as it was Sunday and we were in a very popular location.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz

This experience added an extra value to our skills: we had to improvise. In addition, we had to think fast, because many times we were with our clients at noon, when Havana’s intense sun was at its zenith and shadows were harder than normal.

It was during those times that I had someone have the reverse experience. I had a client who specialized in boudoir and fine art photography. Our walking photographic tour around Central Havana (accompanied by two of his daughters) allowed him to capture amazing street images. The candid portraits that he took of both me and his daughters were just a testament that both genres can be combined.

What has been proven, at least in my opinion, is that a good street photographer is going to be a bad portrait photographer as long as they don’t try and vice versa. Just like something more physically demanding like a sport or dance, you can only grow if you try and practice.

Letting some unfounded and generalized opinions get in your way and influence your opinion about your art will only deprive you of experimenting on something you could actually become great at.

Legna Otero poses for a photo in Old Havana during one of the personalized services we provided photographers while I worked with I Love Cuba Photo Tours. Mixing portraiture in the streets is always going to be a challenge, but Legna was a real trooper, and a pleasure to work with. Like with many other subjects, we had established a strong and solid working relation and a friendship over coffee and discussions leading to the session.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz