Just back from my fifth trip to New York City, and every time I land there it still feels like I’ve walked onto a giant film set. Maybe it’s a British thing—growing up in the 70s and 80s we didn’t have Hollywood blockbusters of our own. We had gritty “kitchen-sink” realism from directors like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.
Brilliant films, but hardly escapist. For real cinematic magic we looked to American movies—The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Warriors, Rocky—stories that turned New York into myth. Add in the comics I devoured—Batman, Spider-Man, Superman—and the city became a dreamscape of impossible skylines and wild possibility.
Walking the streets with a camera in 2025 still hits that same nerve. In Coney Island, the fun-fair rides, neon signs and battered boardwalk feel like they’re waiting for a director to shout “Action!” As a street photographer, I’m not staging anything, but I am composing life as if I’m framing a shot in a film. That’s the thrill: you’re directing without actors, chasing moments where reality and cinema collide.
I’ve always said my photography is influenced more by cinema than traditional photography. I grew up watching movies, not poring over photo books. Even now I probably watch more films than I browse photo sites. Wide lenses let me move in close—right into the scene—like a cinematographer putting the camera center-stage. I want viewers to wonder, how did he get that shot? That cinematic tension drives every click of the shutter.
Good cinema feeds great photography. I talk about this in my Dare Photography Workshops: a steady diet of films—blockbusters and arthouse—shapes how you see light, shadow, and story. Don’t dismiss so-called popcorn films either. The Terminator, made on a shoestring budget, is a masterclass in atmosphere and visual storytelling. Movies like that train your eye to find drama in ordinary streets.
So if you’re chasing cinematic street photography, here’s my challenge: watch more movies. Study framing, pacing, and light. Then hit the streets and treat each frame like a still from your own film. Whether you’re in London, New York, or anywhere else, you can create a sense of scale and narrative that turns everyday life into a moving picture.
Join our community on Instagram—@the_street_thief and @idaretoshoot. Tag your work with #idaretoshoot and we might feature it in our stories or on the grid.
This episode dives into that cinematic street-photography mindset—how movies shaped the way I shoot, why New York street photography always feels epic, and how you can borrow the language of film to push your own images further. Grab your camera, queue up a classic film, and start making your own movie—one frame at a time.
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Lashmar (aka the Street Thief)
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