About Human Stories

• AUTHORAndy Hawthorne
• PUBLISHED19-01-2025

Street photography is not about the streets.

It’s not about buildings or cars or the shadows they cast. Those things are there, of course. They set the stage.

But the heart of street photography is people. Their stories.

Every street is alive with them. A man walking fast, briefcase swinging, eyes fixed ahead—where’s he going? A woman sitting alone on a park bench, looking down at her hands—what’s she thinking? A group of kids kicking a ball against a wall, their laughter echoing down the alley—how long before they grow up and stop playing?

The stories are there if you look. They don’t shout. They whisper. A glance, a gesture, a moment frozen in time. That’s what we chase as street photographers. Not just pictures, but slices of life.

You don’t need words to tell these stories. You don’t need a fancy camera, either. You just need to watch and wait. To see people as they are, not as they pretend to be. Street photography is about truth. And truth is always human.

When I walk with my camera, I’m not looking for perfection. I’m looking for life. The messy, honest, wonderful kind. Because every person on the street has a story. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can catch it.