Street Photography: Finding The Extraordinary In The Ordinary

It was almost two decades ago when I first stepped into the world of photojournalism. Back then, I was working for a national daily, and the term street photography wasn’t used as commonly as it is now.

In those days, between assignments, we were often asked to keep an eye out for interesting visuals. These weren’t meant to make headlines—they were fillers, offbeat images to print when an advertisement or a story fell through. Sometimes, it was about matching the mood of a weather report—a foggy morning, a sudden downpour or a biting cold snap. Other times, it was about showing life in areas under curfew, where human resilience carried on quietly behind the headlines.

As I moved to a wire agency a couple of years later, I realised these visuals weren’t just stopgaps; they had their own weight. On slow news days, they kept the newsroom alive and the region’s output steady. Those lean days taught me the art of seeing—the ability to find a moment that might otherwise go unnoticed. My earliest lessons in street photography were shaped during this time, on the streets of Delhi.

I still remember those chilly mornings, wandering through misty streets, looking for that one frame that could tell a story. It was usually about the weather—rain, fog or cold—and I’d find myself photographing people braving the elements, going about their lives. Unlike today, it used to be a single image and not a photo series. We had one frame to say it all. That single image had to capture everything: the mood, the struggle, the perseverance.

Looking back, I realise how much those early assignments sharpened my craft. The ability to anticipate a moment, to respond quickly and to find beauty in the mundane—that’s what street photography gave me. And over the years, these skills became invaluable as my work expanded. In recent times, the same approach has applied to stories about politics, religion, economics, and quite recently, the pandemic.

For me, street photography isn’t just about catching a fleeting moment of action. It’s about patience—waiting for that instance when the subject is oblivious to the fact that I am there. That’s the magic: when someone goes back to their routine, unaware of the lens, and you glimpse an unscripted moment of their life. It’s these honest, raw slices of humanity that I strive to capture—moments that could easily slip away in a motion picture but feel timeless in a still frame.

Interestingly, I still use equipment with the same focal length I did back when I started. It’s almost instinctive now—I know exactly where to stop, how close to get and when to let the subject’s space breathe. 

Over the years, street photography has evolved—from a task to a passion, to something deeply personal. For me, it’s always been about one thing: finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, one candid moment at a time.

Anindito Mukherjee is an independent photojournalist and documentary photographer

(This appeared in the print as 'Unscripted Moments')