Greetings everyone from the cloudy Belgrade! In this set of photos I focused more on the close-up portraits of people rather than contrasty aesthetic scenes. Belgrade streets are full of interesting people so it's always fun walking around and grabbing some colorful portraits.
Photographing people from up close without them posing was much easier with my previous equipment I must confess. I've used Fuji X100F which has a 23mm fixed lens. It is much wider compared to the 35mm lens I now use on X-Pro2. Wider frame allowed me to have a better control of the composition and include more elements.
With 35mm (50mm equivalent on a full frame) it's so easy to lose the subject to the edge of the frame or miss auto-focus. Manual focus and hip shooting method is also impossible with this setup - it's simply too narrow to allow for any inaccuracies. 50mm EQ is a sweet spot, not exactly telephoto but not the one to get in super close with the moving subject. And that's how it is most of the time on the streets, very chaotic and unpredictable.
I started my journey by following artists who preferred the approach of getting into people's faces. They'll even wait for the subjects to notice them for a more intense feeling. I personally don't want to make people uncomfortable so usually subjects don't realize I've snapped their photo. But I do like to make these super-close shots of interesting people, it is more impactful and tells a story better. As the quote from a famous photographer Robert Capa goes:
If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.
Taking the best shots, but being respectful. Some photos are taken during a manifestation for children, races on roller skates, scooters and other things that roll. Hope you enjoy these scenes!