Mark Davidson on Street Photography: Stop Shooting for Instagram

Mark Davidson on Street Photography: Stop Shooting for Instagram

In this episode of Eyeshot 50mm, Australian street photographer Mark Davidson talks about street photography beyond Instagram, visual performance, clichés, and the pressure to make images that simply “work” online. Together, we discuss his late start in photography, his relationship with Melbourne, the use of flash as a way to capture tension and unease, the ethics of photographing strangers, and why failure, patience, and long-term projects are essential to building meaningful work. Eyeshot 50mm is our interview series dedicated to street and documentary photography: raw, direct conversations with photographers who turn the streets into visual stories. Subscribe to Eyeshot, explore our books and discover more interviews with contemporary street and documentary photographers.

How To See: Five Photographers on What Photography Is For

Five Eyeshot photographers on what photography is for now: gear and humility, fame and the unique eye, ethics, survival, and why they keep looking. "How to See: Best of Eyeshot Q2" brings together the five photographers of this season's Eyeshot release, Margarita Mavromichalis (Street Weather), Markus Andersen (The Grey Hours), Paul Russell (The Secret Lives of Humans), Federico Rios (White Line), and Adriana Zehbrauskas (Alma), in a single thematic conversation about contemporary photography. From street photography and documentary photography to ethics, authorship, visual storytelling, gear obsession, personal work, dignity, survival, memory, and the act of looking, this episode is a slow and human conversation about what still gives a photograph meaning in a world saturated with images. Not five interviews, but one story told through five different eyes. Discover the Q2 Eyeshot Collection and pre-order the books before June 30.

Richard Sandler: What Street Photography Has Lost Today

Richard Sandler joins Eyeshot 50mm for a raw conversation on New York street photography, film, flash, eye contact, documentary filmmaking, and what it means to photograph the unrehearsed human face. One of the defining street photographers of late 20th-century New York, Sandler reflects on photographing the city in the 1980s, working with Leica cameras and flash, learning from Gary Winogrand, dealing with risk, rejection, the technique of two pictures in one frame, the same technique he once taught a young Bruce Gilden, and the presence of the photographer in the frame. He speaks about why he never wanted to be invisible, why eye contact can reveal something deeply human, and why the best photographs often ask more questions than they answer. Direct, funny and uncompromising, a portrait of a photographer who never stopped questioning what he was looking at.

Ed Kashi: A Life in Photojournalism

In this episode we sit down with acclaimed photojournalist Ed Kashi of VII Photo Agency to explore his 45 years journey through documentary photography, visual activism, and the art of “candid intimacy" in over 100 countries. Known for his deep commitment to social issues, Ed reflects on the ethical responsibilities of the photographer, the emotional power of the still image, and the evolution of his visual language. We dive into his sold-out book with Eyeshot, “Visual Riffs”—a limited edition book now available for pre-order. Ed discusses how photography becomes a form of therapy, storytelling, and resistance, and shares insights into his creative process, from personal obsessions to field experiences across the globe.

Robin Schimko: Street Photography, YouTube & the Algorithm Problem

Robin Schimko, also known as The Real Sir Robin, joins Eyeshot 50mm for a direct conversation on street photography, YouTube, algorithms, AI, flash, gear culture, and what happens when social media starts shaping the way photographers see. In this episode, Robin reflects on the difference between being a street photographer and playing the YouTube game, questioning how algorithms reward repetition, imitation, silhouettes, POV videos, gear obsession, and easily consumable images. He also discusses why good street photography is not about perfection, why AI may push photography toward a dangerous idea of the “perfect image,” and why the real value of the medium still lies in instinct, presence, failure, and visual identity. He talks about a decade with the same Leica Q and 28mm lens, gear as costume, photographing around the shock at Thailand's Vegetarian Festival, the biggest beginner mistake he sees in workshops, what it takes to make a living without diluting the work, and why in the age of AI a flawed real photograph matters more than a perfect generated one.