Much of my photography has been with medium and large format cameras. Working with larger cameras generally means a slower and more thoughtful approach to taking pictures. While being thoughtful has it's good points, sometimes being unthoughtful helps. Part of my getting back into 35mm rangefinder cameras was to get into unthoughtful photography, also known as street photography. Photography where one captures a quick moment without thinking — unthoughtful. But being unthoughtful means emptying your mind (see Pooh). There has been too much going on in my life to do much emptying, but I still have hope. Colin Jago had a post that has some interesting sidetracks. The object of the post was interesting enough:

Matt Stuart

Colin also linked to an article he did about street photography that is worth a read:

Street Photography

When I first had a camera I used to walk around taking pictures. I would go on a special trip to somewhere just with the intention of seeing what there was to photograph. I didn't know it at the time, but I was following in a long tradition called street photography. I also didn't know that this thing that I didn't know had a name was very difficult.

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In his article, Colin linked to this street photography site that I've watched for some time. (Note to self: Update your woefully outdated blog roll.)

iN-PUBLiC

Our aim is to promote Street Photography and to continue to explore its possibilities. All the photographers featured here have been invited to show their work because they have the ability to see the unusual in the everyday and to capture the moment. The pictures remind us that, if we let it, over-familiarity can make us blind to what’s really going on in the world around us.

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in-PUBLiC has several galleries of street photographers, including some additional Matt Stuart photographs. Good stuff. Inspirational. (Note to self: Pencil in some time to clear mind.)