Top 5 Street Photos 2024
18 January 2025
A few days ago, I wrote an extensive blog post about my photography during the last year. I focused on numbers, analysed what I did and expressed some thoughts on the future. I also announced writing two additional posts with my top five pictures (btw. these weren't included in the previous post) in street and nature photography. This one showcases my five favourite street-ish photographs.
The wall
The back story is not really special: Back then I tried to go out on the streets at least once a week and even more often, when possible. As part of my walk, I strolled around the Danube and the city wall of Ulm. I saw this composition and noticed that the two people on the little viewing platform matched my intention.
What I especially like about the photo are the numerous leading lines of the bricks and mortar of the city wall. But in my opinion, the direction to which the subjects are looking works quite well: the leading lines go from left to right and the two people are looking further to the right. The one with the bright jacket even seems to hold something like a binocular. It's just the street light that doesn't really fit. But I can't bring a chainsaw to every street walk.
On the lookout
About two months later on one of my more or less regular walks through the city. The day was already quite successful and I didn't expect anything else to happen. During my strolls, I'm regularly either in front or on top of the city wall of Ulm. It's an interesting area where often things happen that are out of the ordinary. It seems that people are a bit more relaxed there compared to the shopping area of the city.
As many other photographers recommend, looking upwards, downwards, or back often helps to see things that one would otherwise easily miss. This shot is a good example of that and capturing this situations was pure luck! I don't remember why but I turned around and instantly saw this scene. Without thinking much, I just pressed the shutter. Well… The focus is obviously off and I needed to straighten the image quite a bit. But in my opinion, it works nevertheless.
The dog's owner casually stood there, photographing with their smartphone while the dog put its front feet on top of the wall looking in exactly the same direction as the camera and the human. I don't know what was happening there (perhaps just the sunset) but it must have been equally fascinating for the human and the animal.
On top
It's almost comical. Again two months later and again on top of the city wall of Ulm. Also, again a casual day of photography on the streets. But out of the three pictures, this one is the most "planned" or, better, foreseen. I know the area and just beforehand I walked on top of the platform and saw this person sitting on this wall. I knew how it had to look from down there.
But when I saw the light, it was even better than I imagined! Due to many overcast days, I sadly don't have the option to play around with it on the street as often as I would like. But in this precious moment, the sun was there and the clouds cooperated, too. I'm glad that I had the option to take this photograph and it motivates me to look forward to what will happen this year.
Selfie
In the second half of August, I was on a calm and relaxing vacation at the sea in Italy, just a few kilometres away from Venice. Since we've been to the majestic city already a few times during the last years we decided to visit one of the islands first and Venice later that day. We've chosen the colourful world of the island of Burano. And we weren't disappointed! It's an absolutely beautiful location and certainly worth a visit.
I had a lot of fun photographing the island, mostly just regular touristy shots. Nothing special. But when possible I tried to incorporate my street photography experience. The result was this. Back then I just thought of it as a snapshot, but over time I started to like it more and more. It contains enough context to showcase the style of Burano and it also makes the harsh light visible. The subject which uses the blue wall as a backdrop for a selfie as well as the shadow of that act completes the ensemble nicely.
A seat at the lake
Just a few days later back in Germany my motivation for street photography was strongly dwindling. I was out on the streets in two different yet very interesting and busy places on the previous two days but came home only with disappointment. Therefore, I decided to just enjoy a day in Lindau at the lake Bodensee and merely take some nice pictures whenever I felt like it. In the end, I enjoyed this day a lot and I took a whole bunch of photos.
This one was relatively early that day. After arriving on the island I decided to walk around it completely (I don't know how far it is, but walking slowly it took me about three hours). I'm not quite sure what fascinates me about that pictures and objectively it might not be my best work of the year. But the silence included in the frame mirrored the calmness I longed for that day. And that's what makes this image so special for me. It also symbolises outlook in a way and thereby makes for a perfect end of this post: I'm looking forward to the work I'll create during 2025 and I'm curious which pictures I will pick as my favourites.