Taking pictures is the only way to freeze a brief moment that will never repeat itself ever again. Even if it’s something as mundane as a person walking on the sidewalk or a bird flying over the city square. When it comes to immortalizing the beauty of people’s everyday life, street photographers do it perfectly one candid shot at a time.

An abundance of such captivating shots can be found on the “Urban Street Photography” Facebook group. It has already garnered over 440,000 members, who are welcome to share their best work there. Today we want to share some of their most fascinating pictures, depicting everything from romance to traffic, from birds to people. Browse the list and view the streets through the eyes of the photographer.

#1 A Flying Pigeon | Gateway Of India

Image credits: Massab Mna

Candid pictures are the ones in photo albums I’ve always loved the most; there’s something special about people’s sincere reactions, unstaged movement, and unpolished environment. And these examples from the “Urban Street Photography” Facebook group show that street photographers are some of the best at capturing such unmediated moments.

Founded in 2013, the group is made up of, in their own words, “enthusiastic beginners and seasoned photographers from all over the world who all share a common love for street photography.”

#2 Всем Привет! С Наступающим!

Image credits: Сергей Санжаров

#3 Essaouira, Morocco 2022

Image credits: Tavepong Pratoomwong

People’s opinions differ about who to call the pioneer of street photography. However, one name seems to pop up more than others; it’s Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Born in France in 1908, he started his relationship with photography in 1931, after literature studies at Cambridge University. Years later, in 1947, he co-founded “Magnum Photos”—an international photographic cooperative, up and running to this day.

Henri Cartier-Bresson described Magnum as “a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.”

#4 Goallllll!

Image credits: Gabriel Wu

#5 Self Portrait By Mobile

Image credits: عبدالله شيبوب

Canadian photographer and writer, Michael Ernest Sweet pointed out that one of the reasons Henri Cartier-Bresson is now considered the father of street photography is timing. The genre became popular roughly the same time the artist emerged as a photographer.

Another fundamental condition was the introduction of the portable 35mm camera. It bolstered both—the genre and the photographer, as the compact camera eased the process of taking pictures on the street and allowed the skilled artist to fulfill his potential. (You can view some of his works right here.)

#6 Paris – Behind Notre Dame

Image credits: Don Kedgley

#7 Cat And A Mouse

Image credits: Yaşar Koç

#8 Newcastle

Image credits: Adam Lang

Michael Ernest Sweet himself is an expert in street photography as well. Based in New York, he is not only a professional photographer but also the author of two books covering the genre—”The Human Fragment” and “Michael Sweet’s Coney Island.” He also created “Disposable Camera”, a book containing his photographs taken with 35mm disposable cameras.

#9 Sunlight

Image credits: Александр Шаварев

#10 The Fishermen Know That The Sea Is Dangerous And The Storm Is Terrible, But They Have Never Found These Dangers Sufficient Reason For Remaining Ashore. — Vincent Van Gogh

Category: Fine Art
Artist: Jawad Shahid

Image credits: Jawad Shahid

#11 Budapest, Liberty Brigde

Image credits: Marc In

In an interview with Street Photography Magazine, Michael Ernest Sweet said it takes a certain type of personality to be a street photographer. He pointed out that you’ve got to be willing to get out and do what needs to be done to get the picture. According to him, “Dancing around to make sure everyone’s happy around you” might stand in the way of that. He did admit, however, that there have been a few times when he was shouted at or even hit with a woman’s purse.

#12 Two Stories

Image credits: Міхась Аракчэеў

#13 Every Time I Have Been In The City Centre For The Last Year, I Looked For Someone To Walk Past These Boards Who Matches Them

Image credits: Mike Bland

#14 Naples, Italy

Image credits: Michal Biadun

Another representative of the same genre, Dimitri Mellos, admitted that fearing to upset the subjects in the pictures affects him as a photographer. When the artist was asked to describe the difficulties he encountered when he first started taking pictures, Dimitri said that it was the guilt about invading people’s personal space.

“With time, those fears were mostly assuaged, as I discovered that (at least when a photographer is quick and discreet enough) most people don’t even notice when they are being photographed, and, even if they do, they don’t react badly,” he shared with his fellow photographer Eric Kim.

#15 Pretzels

Image credits: Yaşar Koç

#16 Lovers (Mantua, Italy)

Image credits: Tim Askerov

#17 Opposites

Image credits: Mónica José

Some people are not only okay with photographers taking their pictures; they even agree to share their stories, too. And that’s how Humans Of New York—also known as HONY—came to life.

HONY is a project that was started by photographer and blogger Brandon Stanton back in 2010. His initial goal was to take pictures of 10,000 New Yorkers and put them into a catalog. But over time Brandon started interviewing the people and adding snippets of dialogue to the stories along with the pictures.

#18 Promenade Riverside Park, NYC

Image credits: Jim Jimmy Jam Cappelletti

#19 Saman Mamexelani

Image credits: Jumping a puddle, London March 2023

#20 El Triciclo

Image credits: Irmalu Trejo

What started as a photoblog grew into a project of monstrous proportions. Humans Of New York expanded to feature stories from more than twenty countries, its Facebook page currently has 17 million followers (and an additional 12 million on Instagram), and there are two published books about it—Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories.

#21 Take It Easy

Bari, Italy
Fujifilm xt30

Image credits: Livia Favia

#22 This Is How Angels Are Born

Image credits: Sorin Dobrescu

#23 Barcelone

Image credits: Carole Hamelin

If you’d like to see more beautiful examples of street photography, check out these entertaining shots previously shared by Bored Panda or browse the 50 incredibly lucky shots by probably the best street photographer in the world.