“…I learned photography in the classic way, loading my own film, setting my f-stop and shutter speed, focusing manually, developing, and printing my images in the darkroom,” street photographer Gretchen Grace tells the Phoblographer. “This process forms a connection to the medium, and black and white is typically where you begin. There is a depth and contrast to black and white that color sometimes misses.” Indeed, if you pour your eyes over Gretchen’s work, you’ll understand exactly what she’s saying.
All images by Gretchen Grace. Used with permission. Be sure to check her out on Instagram. If you like her work, pick up her book Two Way Street.
“Rationally, it makes no sense since most of us exist in a color world. But images (and films) in black and white seem to render or reveal things sometimes obscured by color.”
Despite having roots in black and white photography, she started experimenting with color over the past decade. She called this series Street Abstractions and shot these digitally. Gretchen called these “unexpected compositions” when she spoke about them with us.
Gretchen Grace in Photography
Photographer Gretchen Grace started out in high school doing photography and then went on to study design in college. When she moved to NYC, she walked around looking at everything. Then she picked her camera up and shot everything. “Eventually, I used my design career to support myself, but spent all the rest of my time shooting on the street,” she says. “This work, done over three decades, comprises one of two perspectives on NYC through street photography in my new book, âTwo Way Street.”
Gretchen started out like so many photographers: using a Canon A-1. “It was my first camera and always very reliable, she recounts. However, she also found it heavy and felt vulnerable wearing it on the streets. So after a while, she switched to the Yashica T4s that boasted a Carl Zeiss lens. These were variants of Contax cameras according to articles that we’ve done previously. And if I had a week, I still wouldn’t have enough time to name all the photographers that have used it successfully.
I was a huge fan of those cameras, and eventually had a whole fleet of them. I always had two on me, one with black & white film for the street and one with color film for photographing everything else. Unfortunately, they are all a bit tired now, with numerous issues; from light leaks to film advancing problems, etc., and they are very hard to repair. I miss their quality, their speed, their flash, and their tiny size. I recently bought a Contax G2, that will hopefully replace this gap in my equipment, and look forward to trying it out on the street and shooting with film again.
Gretchen Grace
But Gretchen doesn’t only use film. Believe it or not, she uses her iPhone on the street most of the time. For Gretchen, it’s lightweight, easy, and always on her. She can shoot and edit on the same device pretty easily. That’s what so many have been asking for for a while.
Other stuff she uses and lusts over:
- Canon EOS 5D MK III: Gretchen uses this in the studio. She’s done a lot of experiments with this, including a series called Motion Pictures, where she does multiple exposure and movement processes.
- A Rolleiflex that she inherited from her father-in-law. She used to shoot with it all the time but then the lens got scratched and she hasn’t been able to repair it.
- A Holga: She loves doing pinhole work.
- She dreams of owning a Fujifilm X100V and a Mamiya 7.
“Iâve found this predicament with several of my cameras that I love; unfortunately, I think the prevalence and use of mobile phones as oneâs primary camera has directly contributed to the obsolescence of many of the conventional cameras I enjoy using,” says Gretchen, in reference to issues with cameras over the years.
A New York City Street Photographer
Depending on where you are in NYC, you’ve probably got different feelings about life here. “I think New York City is back,” says Gretchen when asked about post-pandemic life. “While it might not be the same as it used to be, the flow is there again. The crowds are different with more people working part-time and at home, or staggering their hours in the office, but the tourists are back, and people are out, and itâs vibrant, with a different post-pandemic rhythm.” This, of course, is promising for long-term visitors and tourists alike. And the flow of people changes when it comes to street photography.
Gretchen doesn’t have a specific time of year that she loves, despite the light hitting completely differently in NYC depending on the time of the year and neighborhood. “The snow changes the city landscape completely, the rain makes the colors intensify and creates reflections, and the wind animates everything,” she says. “But, when the weather is warm and lovely, there are always more people out and about, and for a street photographer, that means a lot of possibility.”
All images by Gretchen Grace. Used with permission. Be sure to check her out on Instagram. If you like her work, pick up her book Two Way Street.
