Big Photo Hunt: A Photography Podcast

Street Photography in Seattle: Photo Walks, Pike Place & the Beauty of Chaos

• Ken Deckinger

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In this episode of the Big Photo Hunt Podcast, host Ken Deckinger sits down with Seattle-based street photographer Tyler Tang to talk about street photography, photo walks and why embracing chaos often leads to more meaningful images.

With the Big Photo Hunt’s first-ever photowalk heading to Seattle, Tyler shares practical insights on where to shoot street photography in Seattle, including Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, Chinatown and the waterfront. He explains what makes Seattle such a unique city for photographers - especially in overcast, gray conditions - and how to find compelling images beyond the obvious tourist scenes.

The conversation goes deeper into the street photography mindset, covering topics like snapshot-style shooting, letting go of perfection and learning to trust instinct over rigid composition rules. Tyler discusses his influences, including legendary Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama, and how adopting a more intuitive, spontaneous approach transformed his work.

Show Notes:
Tyler Tang: https://www.ttangfilms.me/
Tyler Tang Instagram
Tyler Tang YouTube

Thank you for your support. I started posting on my new YouTube channel and the 1st video got 9,000+ views in its first ten days. So thank you! See you there for Big Photo Hunt learnings, photography tips & tricks and more guest interviews.

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speaker-0 (00:00.046)
And I think part of it too is just like as I've grown and developed over the years with my photography, know, it's just like diving into other inspirations from other photographers. Like one of my go-to is a Japanese photographer named Daido Moriyama. Some people call him kind of like the creator of snapshot street photography where he's not going in with this big, I got to capture this particular subject or I'm looking for this nuance. No, he just goes into like, that looks cool, snap and.

One of the books I have about him, the writer that was with him was like, we've walked less than 10 meters from our car and he's already changing out his film.

speaker-1 (00:41.228)
Welcome to the Big Photo Hunt podcast, a show where we talk with aspiring and professional photographers to help us all grow and improve our photography together. I'm your host, Ken Deckinger. If you're one of our community members and you'd like to be a guest on the show, please visit bigphotohunt.com for more information.

speaker-1 (01:13.57)
Thanks so much for joining me for today's show. My guest is Tyler Tang, a street photographer from Seattle, Washington. And although I say every episode of this podcast is super cool and I always have a reason, today's episode is super cool. And I do have a reason. And that reason surrounds our first ever Big Photo Hunt Live event, a photo walk in Seattle.

This is my first time in Seattle, and if you've listened to this podcast before, then you know that I live almost as far away from it in the continental United States as possible. So today, Tyler is going to talk with us about photo walks, spots and just street photography in general for Seattle so that I actually know what I'm doing or at least look like I do when I'm there. Anyway, Tyler, I'm glad you're here.

I'm excited to chat and in addition to talking about Seattle, I wanna get into your street photography mindset, but let's do that once we get going.

Are you from Seattle originally?

Actually, no, I've been up in Seattle for about a little over five years. I actually grew up in the Southwest in Phoenix.

speaker-1 (02:25.282)
What brought you to Seattle then?

So was working in video production down in Phoenix and it was just, it just got to the point where it was like, just started to feel stuck. And since I've never really lived anywhere else at the time, my creative director and coworkers encouraged me to like, just go, you know, you always have a place to come back to.

So you were doing and you do video editing. How'd you get into street photography and what is it that was the allure to you?

I've always had an interest or like a fascination like cameras and storytelling. And while living up here for the first six months or so, had, you know, I didn't really have much to do. So it'd be applied to jobs and then kind of go wander and explore the city on my own. I didn't live too far away from downtown. I was in the neighborhood Capitol Hill. So it was an easy walk. And if I had a freelance job, I could easily walk to the job. Once I got off, I could just wander the city and take photos.

So that's really where it all took off. then COVID hit and then it kind of just forced me to really like work out my creativity. So I still went out and tried to take photos when I could. Then obviously being on Capitol Hill, my, well, Capitol Hill being a very, you know, like young neighborhoods, it's very progressive. It was also the site for a lot of protests during the Black Lives Matter marches. And so, you know, I got to witness some of that.

speaker-0 (03:51.746)
just living out in that neighborhood. yeah, it just really was one of those things where it just kind of pushed me to explore and just get outside my comfort zone and try to also make sense of the world as well.

And so it's not like you were into photography, you just had a camera and so you just decided to go out into the streets to get around and while you were new there and learn the city, is that how it kind of started?

A little bit, yeah. mean, there was an interest, but I think I caught the bug when I moved up here to Seattle and it was just easier to get around to actually partake in, I guess, your traditional urban street photography.

What is Seattle like as the destination for street photography? Because I imagine it being gray, but yet like almost like a lot of, I don't know if this is correct, but gray with a lot of like colorful characters and even colorful, like literally almost like I could see, I don't know, clothing that's colorful, even though it's a gray city. I've never been to Seattle. yeah, so, you know, we're leading this photo tour coming up for the big photo hunt in Seattle. And it's my first time there.

There's like 15 or 16 people, which for me is a big deal because like we're kind of new. And I've been talking with one of the big photo members in the area and he's like, Hey man, I've never done this before. was like, I've never done this before either. So I'm super excited, but I've never, what, what should I anticipate going there for street photography?

speaker-0 (05:21.568)
Yeah!

If I remember correctly, the time you're coming, yes, it will be gray and overcast. It'll vary on color, but I guess the next time you host one of these photo walks, you'd have to come during like spring or even summer. But, you know, photography wise, yeah, it's beautiful. Like you got a mixture of metropolitan development. You also got the old part of the city, which, you know, buildings dating back all the way to the early 1900s. And then I feel like you have like everything for photography.

Yeah, I really screwed up by planning this for December, didn't I?

Nah, you'll be fine because it should still be fun. Pike Place Market, feel like is going to always have, you you got a mixture of locals and a mixture of out of towners just hanging out. And I think you'll be there when all the decorations should be up. So you'll definitely have more of the holiday hustle going on. So it's not necessarily bad.

Okay, and so where are like the spots? Like where would you recommend we go? Let's say we had like five areas to go to. I think you've named a couple of them that I'm kind of getting vibes that that's where we should go. like, where would we go? Let's say it was five spots in Seattle that we should hit for street photography. Where would they be?

speaker-0 (06:37.43)
Okay, Pike Place Market is your number one place. That's where a lot of the local photographers, they'll be at, you know, hanging out. Then you could go down onto the waterfront. We had a lot of development happen recently. So there's like a lot more activity going on down at the piers. You can go up to Fremont. It's a very like vibrant, small community. It's a lot of small local shops and it's just kind of like a little bit more artsy and creative up there. And then.

I guess I personally, I like going down to Chinatown just because it's like, you know, it is a part of the old Seattle.

I love Chinatown in Andy City. Just so much opportunity for cool photos.

Yeah, our China town might not be as like hustle and bustle like San Francisco or New York, but you still get a feel for like this is a community of people living here. It's not a tourist destination. It's actual like livelihood right here.

And what about, so is it Pioneer Square and Capitol Hill? Those are the ones you mentioned that I thought you were gonna throw in there. Are those worth going to?

speaker-0 (07:44.286)
They are, it varies. So Capitol Hill, would say it's great to go to, but go on like a weekend or during the nighttime because that's the night vibes or if there's an event going on. Pioneer Square, think it's also worth the visit. It's just one of those like. know, the joke is that it can be kind of like scary sometimes because that's kind of like it's old Seattle and you know, sometimes that's been.

some pretty sketchy stuff has happened down there. One of my previous jobs, we were stationed down there, so you get used to it.

I'm so glad I'm talking to you because I was gonna say let's meet like to everyone. Hey, let's meet here.

Yeah, during the day it's fine. And I think they've done a pretty good job at like, you know, getting things under wraps. But if you are attracting like local or amateur photographers when they hear going to Pioneer Square, some might say no. I would say, yeah. But if you're going during the day, you might, I don't think it'd be a problem. Start there and then you just walk your way all the way up to Pike Place.

Yeah, so I'm kind of tough, I think. And maybe I'll be able to handle this Pioneer's Pioneer square place.

speaker-0 (08:54.574)
Honestly, it's really nothing. You'll be fine.

I'm sure, sure, I know. Yeah, I know. Kidding aside, so yeah, those are awesome places, thank you. And I know that we wanna try to get something with like the space needle, like in the background or something like that. You know, some kind of scenery or get that in a scene somehow.

I will say, yeah, Seattle Center, I would say it's worthwhile if you have some extra time to make your way up there. There's a monorail that could take you from downtown straight directly there. So.

that's cool in its own right, just getting on a monorail. That's pretty cool. And where would you reckon when we start then? I obviously want to spend a lot of time at Pike Place, but I don't want to start there because I feel like you have to get warmed up and people, like two hours in, everyone's much freer with the cameras than they are when things start, right? And so.

Maybe Pioneer Square might be a great place to start. it's

speaker-1 (09:46.574)
Tyler, you were almost giving me shit. I saw you, was like, this guy is crazy, man. He wants to go to some shitty part of town.

Sometimes that's the best place to go.

Hey, I completely agree. love shit. Those are some of the best parts of photography. It's some of the best stuff. Yeah.

Yeah, so I would say yeah, go to yeah, start in Pioneer Square. If you're going there early, it's not like I said, it's not it's not that bad. Just gets a lot. It just gets a bad rap. So.

I'm just kidding too. I know I go anywhere. So wait, let's go back to your three photographers for a second. One of the things I thought was really cool was that you were in these places that are famous like Pike Place Market and are very popular with tourists. I could see the average person including myself just shooting all the activity of the market, right? The stalls and the tourists, but you were really doing some cool shots that frankly could have been anywhere, but you were like leveraging that.

speaker-1 (10:46.422)
location to get them. Talk to me more about that and like what your style is and like what you're looking for and hoping to capture.

I guess for me, it's like, I'm okay with, I know there's some people who are just like, why are you going to the tourist spot? Or, you know, everyone goes to Pike Place markets. Like, well, it's a tourist destination. So everyone's going to be there. You know, I'm not going to hide it or be ashamed that we have it. It's kind of cool to have. Maybe there's just me coming in as a transplant from a different city. But what I like to portray is that like, yeah, it's a tourist destination, but it's still a place where.

Locals work, locals are shopping as well. There's some great food around Pike Place Market. You have some really great artists that are there. sure, yeah, the fish guys that are, you the guys that throw the fish, it's, you know, it's more for show. Sure, and maybe it's romanticized, but you got to remember there's people who live and work here that don't get to go home and romanticize about it. Some of us still are there where, you know, we work here, we live here, and it's our home. So trying to...

remind people that like, these are the people that are giving you that tourist memory, so to say. That's just been one of those bigger creative philosophies that I've just started to like really collect my thoughts on is just like, yeah, I think that's what it is. Who are the people and the locals that make a tourist destination or idealized place, the place. And I think part of it too, it's just like, as I've grown and developed over the years with my photography, you know, it's just like,

diving into other inspirations from other photographers. Like one of my go-to is a Japanese photographer named Daito Moriyama. Some people call him kind of like the creator of snapshot street photography where he's not going in with this big, I gotta capture this particular subject or I'm looking for this nuance. No, he just goes into like, that looks cool, snap. And one of the books I have about him, the writer that was with him was like,

speaker-0 (12:48.546)
We've walked less than 10 meters from our car and he's already changing out his film. So in my opinion, I'm like, there's a method to his madness. It's not like he's just randomly shooting. guess in a way he's trying to put you in the center of that moment, which could just be as something as obscure as like, okay, maybe it's a slightly blurry photo, but you got a bunch of people walking through in the foreground of the Pike Place sign. I'm just spitting something out, but it's, it's just something that I've started to embrace is like,

That just feels more, in my opinion, more authentic and rather than it has to be this perfectly composed moment in time. It's great to have like Henri Cartier-Bresson's where, you know, finding the decisive moment. But sometimes, you know, I think we get too caught up in trying to fight, you know, become that or become the Joel Meyer witses. It's more just like, just embrace the chaos sometimes.

couldn't agree more. And frankly, it's because I can never be those guys anyway, and I have no choice but embrace the chaos because otherwise my photos would be shit. And they're all shit anyway, but this way they'd be not as

Yeah, sometimes, you know, I used to be in that mentality of like, just the rapid fire, hopefully I capture something. But then when I'm looking in Lightroom, then I'm like, well, fuck, I have 300 photos and not one of them look great. And so I've come to the comfort where I'm like, I'll shoot something random, like maybe to my partner, she might see me take my camera out, take a picture or something. And then it would literally would just be like a mailbox.

And she's like, well, it's like, why? It's like, I don't know. There's just something that intrigued me. And then when I look at it in Lightroom, yeah, maybe it's not like perfectly composed, but it's like slightly canted. It's like maybe the state of mind that I was in at the moment. Just like, cool.

speaker-1 (14:38.646)
You know what I love about street photography are those special moments that like sometimes you get something that you don't expect. Like the other day I was just shooting this guy getting on a bus and the photo I looked back and I was like, wow, this photo is pretty lame. But then he had a newspaper in his hand and there was like this woman. The bus was red. It had a black and white newspaper. And this woman was just like staring at the camera, the cover of newspaper. And I was like, holy shit, this photo is amazing. And but it was like.

Pure luck like absolute luck. Otherwise, it was the stupidest photo in the world But like the guy is stepping on the bus the newspapers there and she's like looking right at the camera and I was like Wow, man, I'm talented man

See, when those moments happen, then that's when I'm like, I'm like, yes, that's me. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. But it's going take another 15 years for me to get a shot like that. Get lucky again.

Yeah, and I did have that moment when I actually was in I was in Japan probably like in back in February.

speaker-1 (15:36.27)
which is like the best place on planet to write like for photos.

Yeah, I will say this is my second time being in Japan. First time was actually right before the lockdown happened in the US. So it was nice coming back in February to four or five years of more experience. It was great being back there. And I think we were walking through Asakusa market trying to get to our our subway and very awesome area crowded. I'm just shooting from the hip at this or from the chin at this point. And I think I snapped a photo because I saw this

This is an awesome area.

speaker-0 (16:09.71)
I saw this mother, she had a baby strapped to her or a toddler strapped to her chest and the toddler was having a fit. I saw I got two shots. One of them was in focus. The other was kind of like shaky. And I was like, I like the shaky one better. But the other one, know, the one in focus, obviously it's ideal because it's the baby cry. You got the mom kind of looking very dejected. But then my girlfriend or my partner looked closer and she's like,

Hey, look at the baby. She has a little pin on it with a smiley face. And when you look at the shakier one, the version of it is like you get this happy pin contrast with the baby crying, the chaotic look and the mom just looking like dejected. was like, that was my moment where I was like, fuck yeah, I'm the best.

I just looked at this photo the other day that reminded me, this photo that was like, again, it was like 8 a.m. in Barcelona. I was walking by these people on the street. They were all like, they were having coffee and like reading the newspaper. It was like 8 a.m. smoking cigarettes in this neighborhood. And I just walked by, a shot from the hip. just like, psh, psh. And I got this one photo. It's amazing. I didn't even see it at the time, but the guy that I thought I was taking the picture of is there. He's got a cigarette hanging from his mouth and he's got his coffee and reading the paper. And then to his left,

Like, I don't know, maybe like five feet over. I had no clue. didn't even see this. It's like 8 a.m. know, people having coffee and breakfast, this guy's drinking a beer. It's clearly a breakfast scene, you know? And then you've got this guy drinking a beer and it was so cool. I was like, again, just in pure luck. These moments where, you and I want to sit here and tell you that I'm like much more talented and skilled like that. And I meant to get this shot. And but no, it was just.

And I think that's why I've embraced the chaotic nature of snapshot-style street photography, where sometimes I gravitate towards a lot of people who wear hats or who are on their smoke rake or kind of lost in thought. But even then, I'm not actively trying to find it. It's just a natural instinct where I'm like, that's cool, or this is interesting. I'm also embracing the nature of, OK, maybe after walking and I haven't taken a shot.

speaker-0 (18:22.19)
I haven't shot my camera for a bit. Sometimes I'll just like snap a few things. Maybe, you know, something might come of it. It's like maybe something's not hitting me. I'd rather like shoot for progress purpose. And then maybe when I'm in the edit room, I'm like, oh, that actually kind of looks cooler than I intended. I've had I've had that happen plenty of times.

Yeah, especially do you find that you have that after letting time pass?

Yeah, definitely. One of my coworkers, he makes a zines and that inspired me to be like, maybe I should make one. And I actually opened up my catalog of Japan pictures and I'm like, wait, I'm finding a connection for a theme right now where I have like 2000 plus photos. So I'm like, how do I distill this down? And suddenly there's like, I have a lot of pictures on the, on the subway and people on bikes. just goes to show you how sometimes having time and just disassociating from.

what you're working on, it kind of helps you refocus and freshens up your eyes.

100 % without a doubt. I completely feel the same way and you see something later that you didn't see the first time or didn't expect or you wrote off a PIP photo or something like that. Yeah, totally get it. So I wanna ask you, for those of us or anyone listening that is going to Seattle and interested in street photography, what is one tip or one takeaway that you'd want them to have before they get here?

speaker-0 (19:49.422)
before they get here.

well, as they're planning or considering their trip.

I honestly don't know. I'm the very much the type that's just like, just embrace the moment. I've hosted a few local like photo walks with non photographers trying to get them to get their feet wet in the photo game. And I'll like to say is just bring a camera, even if it's on your phone, come in and just be having open mind, have a roadmap of like, okay, maybe I want to find, you know, I want to capture the workers at Pike Place Market. So I want to get some really great shots there, but

Don't just be so narrow-minded where you're only gonna do that. Maybe open yourself to potential like pivoting to a different theme that you might end up catching. And who knows, as a Hayami Azaki says, it'll work itself out somehow.

Especially when you go to a city that's known for something, you know, you can oftentimes have in your mind what you want to shoot But every city is so much more than just that one thing

speaker-0 (20:48.684)
Yeah, that's why you should go to Pioneer Square then.

I'm incredibly excited about this Pioneer Square at this point. Alright, so I asked three questions of every one of my guests and the first question is, what's your favorite genre to shoot and why?

Honestly, I just say street. It's just what it's what I do.

Yeah, I'd be shocked if you said anything else. that sounds like Streep's the right answer there. Question number two is what camera system do you use?

I'm actually a recent Fujifilm convert. used to... So, you know, I can go through my whole lineup of... I started on Canon, then upgraded to Sony when the mirrorless revolution started. Then I got hooked on Fujifilm because of the whole color science and the straight out of camera trend that was happening. I was curious, why is Fujifilm the way it is? And I can get behind what the color science is and...

speaker-0 (21:54.27)
whole straight out of camera craze and I think it's taught me to be a better photographer to slow down and take those philosophies that I started to spout off of just embracing the chaos or not being so uptight of like having to constantly like shoot and hopefully I capture something. Now it slows down and you know don't worry about how is the outcome going to be on the the final exposure or whatnot. I mean you gotta know the basics but at the same time it's like

don't get uptight and start chimp being to be like, did I get it right? Did it the compose right? Is the the lighting right? Sometimes you just got to sit back and say no, it is what it is.

What camera model are you using?

So I have the X-Pro3, that was my first Fujifilm I got. And then while I was in Japan, I picked up the Fujifilm X-E3. And then I recently did to really go to the lo-fi and just kind of like no bells and whistles. I picked up their new X-Half. It's like a point and shoot where it's literally like very tiny shoots only JPEGs, has all the Fujifilm simulations. It's treated like.

a point and shoot 35 millimeter camera.

speaker-1 (23:05.836)
You said it makes you slow down. What is it that makes you slow down about it?

so the X-Pro3 is what really taught me about the Fuji philosophy, which is it's a rangefinder style where the back screen isn't exposed. It flips down kind of like awkwardly. So when you're looking at the back of the camera, it's kind of just this blank plastic. So forces you to bring it up to your eye or to shoot from the hip. You don't have the back screen to kind of like guide you. I mean, you can shoot with the back screen, but you still have to like flip it down and

then you're crouched over looking at the screen trying to shoot from the hip. So that's what I mean by slow down. It's slowing down and remembering that you should enjoy the process of taking photos. Don't rely on getting the outcome. So I still have my Sony camera, but I use it more for like, if shooting an event or a paid gig, that's my workhorse, whereas Fuji is kind of like for more creative purposes. that's what I mean by slow down.

All right, the third question I ask is on a scale of one to 10, one being the least, 10 being the most, how often do you get that burning itch to just get out there and shoot photos?

Probably gotta be about an eight, I would say. No, I would say a 10, but it's like, I still have to enjoy my weekend sometimes after work or something.

speaker-1 (24:24.504)
to go back through all my episodes and I would bet you that eight is probably the mean on where most people land on on this podcast.

Life gets in the way sometimes, but you know, every weekend I do at least get the itch to be like, I should just go out and shoot. I admit that sometimes it's harder to go out on your own. So I've been trying to bug my friend to be like, hey, let's go shoot, but he's also busy. So, you know, I'm trying to force myself now to be like, all right, let's just go out on my own for like an hour or two, to get back in the moment, get back in practice.

I still carry my camera everywhere. Even when I go to work, it's just, you know, it's with me. Maybe I see something on my commute while I'm on the bus or when I'm just walking to the office. Who knows?

I want everyone to find you. Where can people find you online, on Instagram, on YouTube, just wherever.

To be honest, I'm very minimal on social, but I would say Instagram is going to be the best place where I'm a little bit more active. Maybe I don't post as much, which is at T-Tang with three A's in the name.

speaker-1 (25:32.718)
So T-T-A-A-A-N-G. What's your YouTube channel?

Correct, that's the best place. Teetang Films, but it's been a while since I've been on or uploaded anything to YouTube just because it's, I think part of it, other than work, it's also just like this whole algorithm and AI stuff, it's starting to really weigh on me.

Well, listen, I can't thank you enough. I am now totally prepared and psyched for my photo walk in Seattle and Pioneer Square. And I'm very, very, I'm just pumped, man. You know, it's a city for me. I'm born and raised on the East Coast. I've been to California a lot, but otherwise nowhere else in like the Pacific Northwest. And so I'm excited to check it out and get some good photos. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, man. Thank you for your time. really appreciate

Thank you again for this opportunity.

Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. Our next show will feature more valuable stories from our community members. If you'd like to audition to be a guest, please visit bigphotohunt.com for more information. Thanks again for listening today.