Rediscovering Street Photography: Slowing Down and Experiencing the Moment by Raufan Yusup

Written by Raufan Yusup

I honestly can’t remember the last time I did street photography. A year ago? Maybe even longer?

What I do remember is how my focus slowly shifted, toward water, swaying trees, or as simple as a little corner I found during my walks. At some point, I simply stopped enjoying street photography the way I used to. It happened without me even noticing.

That shift deepened when I started shooting with larger formats, first 6×6 medium format, then 4×5 large format film. I began to slow down, soaking in the scene before committing to that one precious (read: expensive, lol) shot.

But recently, I was back on the streets! A friend and I went to the Sanja Festival in Tokyo and to be honest, I enjoyed both the session and the results, but in a different way.

Getting Back Out There

The Sanja Festival (Sanja Matsuri) is one of Tokyo’s most vibrant and energetic traditional festivals, held every May in Asakusa. It celebrates the three founders of Sensō-ji Temple, enshrined at the nearby Asakusa Shrine.

For three days, the streets come alive with hundreds of mikoshi (portable shrines), traditional music, and a sea of energy from the crowds. It’s a wild, joyful mix of spirituality, community pride, and street-level intensity, a rare and beautiful glimpse into Tokyo’s cultural soul.

For this outing I brought two cameras: the Nikon FE loaded with Ilford XP2 400, and the Minolta TC-1 (find on eBay) with JCH Streetpan 400.

The TC-1 was an easy choice. It’s tiny, almost invisible in a crowd, and that 28mm Rokkor lens is just remarkable for something that fits in your palm. The FE on the other hand is more deliberate. Manual focus, manual exposure, it actually nudges you toward being selective rather than reactive. I used a 50mm lens as well for the FE which is a little bit tricky for this kind of situation. But that felt right for the headspace I was in. I wasn’t there to shoot fast or shoot a lot.

Next time though, I’m genuinely curious what it would feel like to bring my Fuji GW690ii. Medium format at a festival sounds kind of wild, probably impractical, but maybe that’s exactly the point. The added ritual and weight of it might push me even further into that observational, unhurried mode.

Learning to Slow Down

After I got the film back from the lab, I found myself reflecting: Why did this feel different from before? Why did I unexpectedly enjoy it? What changed?

One of the things I realized is that, in the past, I was always chasing faces. That’s what street photography meant to me: getting close, capturing expressions. But it came with a constant sense of hesitation and discomfort. To be honest, I often felt like a thief, stealing someone’s face without permission.

But after spending so much time slowing down, shooting landscapes, little corners, and using slower formats, I think I’ve started to see things differently. This time, I didn’t approach street photography with the same urgency or pressure. I wasn’t looking to capture people’s faces. I was simply enjoying the moment, letting the festival unfold around me, and photographing it with care.

What pulled me in were the moments, the things happening all around me. The mikoshi being carried through packed streets, surrounded by people in happi coats, the whole procession moving like one living organism.

There’s something about Sanja Matsuri specifically that makes this so compelling. It’s not just a street scene, it’s one of the most iconic festivals in Japan, and you can feel that history and collective pride in every direction you point your camera.

Experiencing the Moment

One frame I keep coming back to is from the TC-1, a shot of the procession where the crowd and the shrine and all that energy happen to line up together.

I wasn’t trying to isolate anyone or wait for a decisive moment in the classic street photography sense. I just raised the camera when the scene felt whole. There was no pressure in it. And I think that’s exactly why it worked.

Another one from the FM2 is a wider view of the shrine with the crowd spreading in every direction, layers of people and signage and movement all in the same frame.

In the past I would have tried to cut through all of that and isolate something specific. This time, I let the chaos be the subject. That feels like the most honest way to show what Sanja Matsuri actually feels like to be in.

It felt more like documenting an experience than intruding on it. I wasn’t trying to “get the shot,” I was just there, present, observing, enjoying. And I think that shift is what made this time feel so different.

Final Thoughts

Maybe that’s something worth remembering: when we stop enjoying something, sometimes all we need is a little distance, a chance to step back, see it from a new angle, and come back to it in a different way.

Will I return to shooting street photography more often? I’m not sure. Maybe I will, but probably not as frequently as before. Right now, I’ve found comfort in small corners of the streets, flowing water, and the soft light of sunset. That’s my safe space for now.

Thank you so much, Raufan! Raufan is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, such as Ilfocolor Vivid 400 Film Review: First Impressions and New Lucky 200 Film Review: Color, Latitude, and Low-Light Performance.

You can also check out more of his work on Substack, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Leave your thoughts and questions about street photography below in the comments.

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Raufan Yusup

Raufan Yusup specializes in landscape, travel, and documentary photography. He is a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film, and you can find his other articles here, like Harman Phoenix I vs Phoenix II Film Comparison and New Lucky 200 Film Review.

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