Into the Streets With 2017 EyeEm Awards Winner Julie Hrudova

Julie Hrudova is last year's EyeEm Awards winner in the Street Photography category. She's a talented photographer with an eye for finding the interesting in the ordinary. In this guest post, she shares some insights on her work, what she believes makes a memorable street photograph, and what projects she's been up to since winning the award last year.

Street photography can be done anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t even have to be on the street – that’s why ‘street’ photographers are not always happy about the name. For me, it’s a constant theatre of unexpected events. The weather, the light, the people or no people, animals, situations.

I started out with digital technology, at first a mobile phone, which gave me instant feedback so I could adjust settings or framing – learning a lot by trial and error. In the beginning it was important to walk a lot, learn how to capture something I saw or I wanted to see, and to be fast enough.

“It’s a constant theatre of unexpected events.”

I’ve always been attracted to a strong atmosphere in an image and to freezing a fast moving subject like a flying animal or a jumping child. The past year, I’ve discovered a deeper personal fascination within the genre of street photography; capturing something in a slightly unclear way.

“Sometimes I’m even not 100% sure what is happening in my own photo.”

I want to freeze a peculiar moment, even if the situation itself is common and understandable. That’s why I’m happy when people ask me questions about my work. Sometimes I’m even not 100% sure what is happening in my own photo. For me, the essence of photography is to transform one reality into another.

Winning the EyeEm Street Photographer award was a great experience for me. It motivated me to pursue a personal vision in photography, and I’m very grateful for that.

The past year I’ve focused even more on this theme and participated in some photography festivals and exhibitions. For example the Brussels Street Photography Festival and the Italian Street Photo Festival. I’ve also done a solo show in Nighni Tagil, Russia, and currently, some of my work is exhibited in the windows of Peer in Gallery, which is an old building in The Hague, Netherlands.

“I’ve always been attracted to a strong atmosphere in an image.”

Another project I’ve been up to since I won the award, is this Instagram account that I started about similarities in street photography, called StreetRepeat. I collect images in sets of threes by photographers from around the world, where each set of three has its own obvious theme. This is a really inspiring and fun project to me. We all encounter a constant stream of images everyday, and it’s inevitable to become influenced, even if we don’t realize it at the time.

People can reach out to me on instagram or via e-mail if they see a nice theme themselves, or have photos that suit a certain theme. To me, a good street photograph is when it makes you think about it. When you work your own vision instead of following the vision of someone else.

To see more of Julie’s beautiful photography, visit her website or follow along on her Instagram. Show us your visions of life on the streets from around the globe. Click here to submit your work to The Street Photographer.