Thomas Leuthard began his journey on street exploration in 2009 when he acquired a Nikon 85mm prime lens. The Swiss photographer started his project ‘85mm Street photography’, and over a change of many lens, he fell in love with the spry streets. To step into his monochrome world, you need to take a visual tour of his work which he has been able to capture amidst the humdrum routines of street life.

Street photography is vast. What does it mean to you and how will you define it?

For me street photography is “taking a walk with the camera” where you are observing and documenting the life of other people. For me it’s a kind of lifestyle, a compensation to my work as an IT professional and a reason to
go out.

These days, there is a plethora of phone apps to capture stories from the streets. Has photography been redefined?

Well, photography has nothing to do with cameras or apps. Photography is about capturing something you have encountered or seen. Of course, there will be more photographs taken every day than the day before. But this doesn’t mean that those are good photos and that they all tell a story. People are always snapping things, but there is no ‘new type’ of photography. There is more trash being produced and it is getting harder to find the pearls in the pile of everyday snaps.

Carrying on from the previous question, what’s the fate of a photograph in this era?

This is the biggest problem nowadays. Every one of us sees hundreds of photos every day. The quality and expectation for a good photo is being raised over time as we get used to it. Therefore everything we have seen already will be conventional. As a photographer you have to find new things, new views, new techniques or just new ways of showing existing things. This is the hardest part when you want to be successful. Things repeat itself too quickly.

Your photographs are mainly black and white. What’s your interpretation on monochrome?

I don’t like colour in photographs, but cities are too colourful today, which makes most of the photos useless. Often backgrounds are too distracting with colour, while a black and white photo focuses more on structures, forms, content and emotions. Some people say it’s easier, some say it’s more difficult. For me, it is what I like best.

Could you share story behind the photographs with stripes? 

I was in the Stockholm library when a lady with striped pants walked in. I remembered that there was a striped staircase at the entrance. I checked and decided that It would be the perfect shot. So I waited until she came back. How long would someone stay in a library? She took five minutes, and I was ready.

I was having a bite at Burger King once. A lady was sitting at a table next to me with her back facing me, and she was wearing a striped dress. And behind her I noticed a radiator with a similar pattern. A quick break from my burger got me this shot, right at the lunch table. Sometimes photographs come to you; sometimes go to the photographs.

You believe that street photography should look into “storytelling and composition-focused approach”. Do you think a photograph should have an equal balance between composition and content?

It needs both. A strong story without composition and a good composition without story doesn’t work. So find a story and put it into a frame in a good way. The stronger both parts are, the better.

Current works that you enjoy ?

Junichi Hakoyama

Thomas Toft

R▲F▲VT

Do you feel a single photograph is more powerful than a series of photographs?

Sometimes one photograph can tell everything you want to see and you don’t need to get more information. This is the challenge of photography, to tell stories in single frames. Of course, using more frames helps and makes it easier. In street photography we normally shoot single frames only.

Street photography is known to be very candid. Can you forecast a shot?

Yes, there are many moments which you can forecast. Human often act as humans and we can often see what will happen next. But, you have to be prepared and always expect the unexpected.

When you started out with street hotography, what lessons did you learn and challenges did you meet?

I have learned that the camera doesn’t make a difference. It’s all about your eye and this needs to be trained. The only training is practicing on the streets and not on the Internet. Shoot 500,000 shots in 10,000 hours and you
might become a master. Compositionis not about rules, it’s about harmony to your eyes. If you are not following the composition principles, your photographs will never appeal any eye

.In an era of fast-paced technology and constant metamorphosis, if you had to re-enter street photography, what would you change?

Technology doesn’t change anything in photography. You still have to find your subject and compose it. The only thing that changes is the black box which creates the photo. People who thinks that technology will change photography itself, may have not understood it at all.

If there was one thought you had to share about street photography that no one knows of, what would you say?

Shoot what you see and not what others want to see. Don’t listen to anyone else. Do what you like to do and do it often.

Words by Atheena Wilson Photographs by Thomas Leuthard

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