I cut my teeth on the street! Sounds like a tough time--but in my case not really. My early heroes in photography were street photographers, so we took to the street. We used to get together to 'go out shooting!' We'd jus get together and pick a place to go and see what kind of pictures we could make. Some of my most fun times were doing this. Boston, Providence, New York...just go with camera and make photos. Most of my portfolio from early on came from these lets 'go out shooting' trips. What made a good photo from these trips wasn't ever something we expected. We didn't go places to make picture postcards of the place or just document the mundane. We went to try to capture the essence of the place through it place and its people--there always had to be people in our photographs (sometimes animals or birds substituted adequately for subject matter). My friend Duane capture the best of show photo during one of our trips to Boston, two kids whispering that he title 'Pssst!' (its a picture we'd probably be reluctant to take today without first finding the parents and asking permission---different times). But what we learned on the streets was amazing. We really made some great photos and paved the way for the type of work we make today. So when I take a few moments to make photos on the street it really invigorates me.... it takes me to the days of Paul Strand and Andre Kertesz and Cartier-Bresson.... though admittedly since its more modern I think of Wingrand a lot. think our truest portraits of community can be found on the street. Photographs by Richard Sayer.