7 Street Photographers You’re Going to Fall in Love with

Street photography remains popular strong in 2021. As the world continues to open up, the streets are filling up with people. It’s a perfect time again for street photographers to get out and shoot. However, if you need a little push or you’re looking to get started in the game of the candid frame, we’ve got some inspiration for you. Below is a round-up of some of the best street photographers we have featured over the years. Without a doubt, you’re going to fall in love with them and the weirdly wonderful craft that is street photography.

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Paul Kessel Found Street Photography at 70

Street photography can enter your life at any time and without warning. Paul Kessel, a retired psychologist and professor from New York, waited 70 years before starting street photography. He was looking for things to do post-retirement, and following his daughter’s interest in photography, he began to educate himself on the craft. It paid off too. Kessell took 1st place at the 2020 Miami Street Photography Festival with the photograph above. See more from him here.

Ale Ruaro’s Unique Street Photography

Working out of São Paulo, Brazil, Ale Ruaro has some incredible work. We came across him earlier this year, and we were drawn to the dark and deep black and white images he creates. He likes to mix things up. In his work, you can see simplistic candid frames and off-the-cuff street portraits. He also likes to play with light, giving him an overall eclectic body of work. See more of it here.

Rinzi Ruiz Has Colorful Street Photography

Rinzi Ruiz is a mainstay name in the street photography community. He’s also an official Fujifilm X photographer, highlighting his skillset and contribution to the craft. You will have seen his work on The Phoblographer several times. That’s because he’s constantly delivering a high standard of street photography, which we can’t stop sharing with our readers. He always has images we lust after, whether it’s a cinematic vibe or classic black and white. Take a look here.

Sándor Kereki Kept His Street Photography a Secret

Possibly one of the more heartwarming stories from this year is that of Sándor Kereki. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1952, Kereki photographed his home city shortly after the revolution. For reasons unbeknown to us, he kept those images all to himself. Then one day, he woke up and decided to submit 1800 shots to the public image site, Fortepan. We had a pleasure looking through his historical work. You can see it here.

Melissa O’Shaughnessy Shows Off The Diversity of New York

Melissa O’Shaughnessy is an excellent street photographer. For over seven years, she would navigate the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, looking for differences and finding connections. Her book, Perfect Strangers, showed off the highlights from her body of work. Legendary street photographer Joel Meyerowitz wrote the foreword. See more of her work here.

Polly Rusyn is a Globetrotter!

Back in 2019, The Phoblographer named Polly Rusyn, our street photographer of the year. Prior to the pandemic, Rusyn would get around the world, her Fujifilm Fujifilm X-T2 in hand, and document the diversity of our societies. Full of vibrancy, her street photography grips you to the point you can’t look away. But her work is far from just being pretty colors. She can tell the stories of the streets compellingly. Check out her work here.

Nina Welch-Kling Was Our Photo Contest Winner

Back in 2020, deep into the pandemic, The Phoblographer brought some light to the world with our street photography contest. The winner was Nina Welch-Kling, a street photographer based in NYC. She’s a patient shooter and won’t create for the sake of it. Instead, she bides her time and waits for the frame to come to her. That’s why all her images a pure gold, and why we picked her as our winner! See her work here.

Time For More

While we love taking a trip down memory line, life is too short to get lost in nostalgia for too long. So, we want to see more street photography from new street photographers. If you spend time on the streets and think you have dope photographs, send them in using the form above!
We look forward to seeing what you’ve got.

Lead photo by Sándor Kereki. All images used with permission.

Check out our full round-up by our Flipboard magazine!