Between nice cameras and gear lust and everything I stopped to think why I just don't get the next dream camera of mine: I don't think I deserve it.
A woman I met on a photography course shot very good street photography. The compositions were clean, there were interesting people in them, overall some of the shots had HCB-esque style to them. She told the secret was to study hard. Study the photographs, study the masters, study your personal heroes.
While on the streets, I also recognize what my weaknesses are but I lack real motivation in trying to overcome them.
I think if I should put myself on a strict training regimen to get myself towards the photographic ideals that I value. Some tough love on myself, like in those 80s kung fu movies? "Go walk that street up and down and don't come back until you got something!"
Something that could be measured would perhaps help? "Spend 60 minutes in a library studying photo books at least 4 evenings a week."
Would taking notes help with focusing? But will it actually help with progressing towards goals?
(I just joined this forum so apologies for dredging up an old thread.)
At the urging of my teenage son I started an Instagram account last year about this time. I've found it to be a great source of inspiration, motivation, and enjoyment. The first month or two, I would just trawl through my Lightroom catalogue and post one or two (or 3 or 4 during the initial spurt) photos per day. I realized that I would, at some point, run out of photos I thought were good enough to post publicly. Like you, I'm also into street photography but it was something I only did while travelling, and we all know what travel was like in 2020. So, to feed my habit of posting a photo per day, I had to force myself to start shooting street locally. I was never interested in doing it before because I've seen the same culture, buildings, markets, and other sights for DECADES. Local stuff did not get my creative juices flowing. Even more importantly, as someone who is an introvert and very confrontationally challenged, I couldn't take advantage of my "hey, I'm just a tourist" status to photograph people with impunity. But after a few months of getting likes from people on Instagram, I wanted to keep up with it so I made the effort to head out every other weekend to make photos for my feed.
Instagram wasn't just useful for the motivation. I learned from it, too. I followed several street photographers that were recommended on various photo sites and I found inspiration in their work. By studying their photos and seeing dozens of great, new street photos in my feed every day, I learned to hunt for light, shadows, reflections, colours, repeating patterns and mirrored elements. The daily exposure to these elements in my Instagram feed helped me to find those things in my own city where before I saw no photo opportunities.
I also started watching Youtube videos. The POV street photography videos weren't usually very helpful. In fact, after doing street somewhat religiously for a year now, I'd have to say that most of the street POV Youtubers are actually not particularly good at it. The only one that stands out is The Real Sir Robin (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc-9JMcDZSh6R4OXuWX6Gag) simply because it is eye opening to see how blatantly obvious he is about photographing people and they don't seem to care. His photos are also quite good, especially when he shoots with the Xpan. But two Youtubers I'd really recommend are Nick Turpin (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7KQzmf51UIB0sUyAq8gW6g) and Olaf Photo (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtfoRWmCw_Rny7_JFnkTktg) because they explain how they work a scene and what thoughts go through their heads while shooting.
I'm not ashamed to admit that the likes I'd get from my photos were very addictive. It helped to keep me motivated so, despite the shallow nature of trying to earn likes, they had a very positive effective in forcing me to practice my photography on a regular basis. But I was clear-eyed enough to know that my favourite photos didn't always get as many likes as some of my less favourite ones, and that I shouldn't change my style to follow the likes. In the end, the photos are for myself. Also, the longer I was on Instagram, the more I began to recognize over-used street photography templates (juxtaposition of young, attractive model on billboard and old woman walking in front of it; shadows on the ground but the image is flipped over so it looks like they're standing up; person blowing smoke; silhouettes of people walking between shadows). Yes, I indulged in those tropes but I don't see it as a bad thing. I learned from them and I can see how over-used they are and will strive for something beyond them.
Oh, another thing: I did not tell my friends about my Instagram account. I only wanted strangers, preferably street photographers or people who enjoyed looking at street photography, to follow me. Getting a bunch of likes from friends who will give a like for anything you do isn't helpful in terms of using Instagram likes to encourage your photography.