When photographing streets, there are several ways to approach a scene. On one hand, you want to show spontaneous moments specific to a location, the so-called “decisive moments” of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

You can do this instinctively, by walking down the street and photographing

Kyoto, Japan,-December 14th, 2001: A man painting a t-shirt using traditional dye in the picturesque streets of Kyoto.

anything in front of you that you find it interesting. This is a fantastic photographic and eye-catching exercise that can easily become addictive.

In a much more exciting way, the turning point can be created, and it is actually a sum of small decisive moments that keep impressing you after several repeated walks at various moments through the same place. These are the walks full of analysis and dreaming prior to an important street-photo. You analyse what is happening, what exists in this street sector, respectively what people are doing there or how the light is at different times of day/night and in this way, using all this information, you create an ad-hoc scenario aiming to present that decisive moment, specific to that street section, city, country or even the world. At that moment, you are like a movie/theatre director. The scene is the street and the actors are the unpredictable passers-by, and you manage all of them to create a frame, a static spectacle of an action full of dynamism. You, the passer-by- scene director, anonymous viewer-the street photographer.

That’s how I discovered this painter on a street, sometimes crowded, in the

proximity of Maruyama Park, in Kyoto. I kept walking and I looked at what he was doing. I was watching him as well as all the passing tourists. What impressed me was the concentration and dedication which he put into his work. Through his dedication he became almost a static landmark of the place, always in almost the same position, it was like one of the area specific monuments.

And so, after some analysis, I considered that although surrounded by the crowd, the man must be presented alone in his world, a world that absorbs him completely and to which he belongs. Just take a look at the position he is standing while painting …. he is the Kyoto T-shirt painter.

Stay close to the blog of www.provisualstock.com …. the place where the stories whispered by the fireside are seen