Street Photography in Lanzarote
I'm writing this blog sipping a cappuccino as I watch the sunrise over the North Atlantic Ocean.
It’s the kind of slow living I could get used to. I came here to try and melt away the winter blues with some sunshine, and it seems to be doing the trick.
Escaping Winter, Becoming a Sloth
Usually on holiday I’m all go, trying to see all the landmarks and interesting sites I can. I got here the previous night, so this is the first morning of four that I’ll have here - but something feels different already. After another year in the trenches, followed by being plunged into winter like one of those stupid ice bucket challenges, I think now I just want to escape. No more, no less.
Why I Don’t Do Beach Holidays
For me, I don’t do holidays lying on the beach. I’m pale as an albino guinea pig, so tanning is out of the question. Like wine, I’m white or red — that’s it.
Lounging in roasting temperatures just makes me acutely aware that I’m slowly being cooked, not unlike my brother-in-law’s slow-cooked roast beef (twelve hours) on Christmas Day.
I like to keep it moving, and it excites me to immerse myself in the culture of a new place.
Getting Lost on Purpose
Even if I’m not visiting landmarks or nature, I’m usually walking around a city with my camera — “getting lost on purpose”, if you want a suitably pretentious mantra to use.
I’m looking for the novel: things that are rarely found in one’s home city.
Defrosting Finally
This trip is different though. The temperature is in the early twenties, but it feels hotter — probably something to do with the fact that when I left Manchester the mercury was hovering around zero. Four hours later, I feel the sun on my skin like I haven’t for months, and it is glorious.
I’ve got my camera with me, of course, and normally — on my usual summer holidays, the street-photography-based ones anyway — I’d be raring to go, hunting for “keepers”.
Gratitude Over Ambition
But as my cappuccino slowly disappears, I’m not too worried about cramming a million sites into a day or plundering the streets for portfolio shots. I’m just grateful to be here, lucky enough to get away for a few days in the middle of winter.
Even with air travel so cheap these days, it wasn’t always this way — and it may not be this way forever.
From Manchester to Lanzarote
Just a few days ago I was roaming the streets of Manchester wrapped in about four layers, getting home and practically hearing the gas meter ticking. A fisherman’s sweater, deployed so I can keep the radiators a little cooler than I’d like in a perfect world.
But today I don’t have to worry about that. Enough of my rambling — this is supposed to be a street photography blog, after all. So what is street photography like in Lanzarote?
Well, I can only vouch for where I am, as the island is a reasonable size and varies from place to place.
Playa Blanca: A Photographer’s Playground?
I’m in Playa Blanca, a charming fishing village on the south of the island, right on the coast.
It’s a seaside town, so as with any seaside town there’s always the potential for a good shot. The scenery is interesting: ocean, beach, and charming Spanish architecture. To be clear though, this is not New York, London, or Paris. It’s not that kind of place for epic street — although there are some interesting wrinkles.
By law the buildings have to be white and there are no skyscrapers permitted, and both of these can be used to your advantage. For one thing, the sun hits the ground for most of the day.
In Manchester, skyscrapers often shroud the city in shade, even at the height of summer. In Lanzarote, the white buildings reflect light back into the street, and even at midday the light isn’t especially harsh.
Light, Colour, and Plaice
I’m not sure whether it’s the time of year or just something about the place. I didn’t notice it at first, but it does something to the colours that I can’t quite put my finger on. I see it in the photographs, and every day where I’m staying the sunrises and sunsets have been beautiful.
Quiet Streets, Quiet Mind
With this in mind, my mood has shifted accordingly. There are plenty of people around in certain areas, but this isn’t a major metropolis like the places I’m used to shooting. I don’t have that adrenaline I usually feel — which, if I’m honest, is probably just anxiety that I’ve learned to convert into creativity via photography. Maybe as a coping mechanism. Maybe just for shits and giggles.
Why Street Photography?
Lately, I’ve found myself questioning what I’m actually doing with my photography. Many of my images are candid street portraits: one person large in the frame, usually an interesting-looking character in an interesting scene.
But sometimes including people for the sake of it starts to feel a bit arbitrary. Those days when everyone is wearing black — the couple with the man in the top hat and suit, his partner in a North Face jacket, staring at their phone.
What happens in Manchester if I don’t see any characters? Basically, I come home with nothing — because I’ve become so focused on the human element of street that I’ve forgotten I’m just taking photos. Fuck the genre.
The Shutter Button Has Never Heard of Genre
It’s about documenting life. My life, your life — the life of our nearest star in a photo of a sunset? Why not.
Like I said before, I’m mostly just feeling grateful to be here.
I’ve been walking around pretty aimlessly most days, stopping here and there for a beer, a coffee, or some food. My camera is always with me, but I’m not scoping out scenes or hunting for hats as usual. My eyes are open, and if I see something interesting, I take a photo.
Emancipation from the Street?
I got some images from this trip that I’m pleased with — some you could classify as street, others maybe landscape or nature. But labels are for losers.
The more I learn about photography, the more I understand that while it’s important, in my opinion, to specialise in a genre, a jack of all trades tends to be the master of none.
By the same token, you need to know how to take a good photo of any type and be able to use any lens.
For me, this holiday I used a 28–70mm, which I’m very familiar with. To the contrary of some gatekeepers of street photography, I know exactly why I’m choosing any given focal length in that range. Just because you can zoom doesn’t mean you stop using your feet — that’s a lazy photographer problem, not a lens problem.
Take a photo like there’s nothing else going on in the world right at that moment, and who cares what genre or lens you’re using.
Back to the Streets
But, alas I am down to the last vestiges of foam in my coffee cup, the sun has now fully risen. Its time to hit the streets with my camera and whether that means the beach, the promenade a mall, or the stony floor of the top of a volcano, I take photos wherever I go.
