The street photographer’s manual contains certain rules.
First: get out and then get moving.
What needs to be seen is never where one is, but wherever one will be. The street comes to no one so, instead, one must go to it. Train, bus, car, bicycle, feet—there must be movement, kinetic shifts from one place to another.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
***
Second: see—nay, not see, but see.
Look up, look out, look around the corner, through those bars and that fence, beyond that traffic light, and through the crowd.
Note: the textured and scratched walls, the corner of a roof, the cracked and uneven paving, the high and low tides of traffic at certain hours, the busker’s faith, the bustle of the hustle, the sizzle and crackle of the streetside food, the clouds coalescing in the late afternoon sky, and the CCTV camera that sees everything and nothing at the same time.
Make a choice: this scene but not that one, one frame but not another.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
Looking Up And Looking Out, Stone Town, Tanzania, 2023. © Rémy Ngamije.
***
Third: the right moment is always there.
Now.
Now.
And now again.
There is something to see today, and always.
POSTSCRIPT: We are deep in evil times which, in a way, I am thankful for because now we know the enemies and where they are. The fascists are waking up at 05h00 to oppress us, so we should set our goddamn alarms for 04h00.
READ: Black Buck, “Date Nights”, and “Long Bushy Tail” by Mateo Askaripour (BOMB, Joyland, and A Public Space respectively) • The Sellout, Slumberland and The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty • A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare • “An Aspect Of Love, Alive In The Ice And Fire” by Gwendolyn Brooks • “For No Clear Reason” by Robert Creeley (Poetry Foundation) • “Pound And Brodsky In Venice” by Megan Fernandes (Poetry Foundation) • “Heedful Hold” by Marcus Jackson (Poetry Foundation) • “Malcolm X, August 1952” by E. Ethelbert Miller (Poetry Foundation) • “Other Things, If Not More Urgent” by Natalie Shapero (Poetry Foundation) • “One Kind Of Hunger” by Lehua M. Taitano (Poetry Foundation) • The Garden Of Evening Mists and The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twang Eng • “What Carries Us” by Emily Jungmin Yoon (Poetry Foundation) | WATCH: Fuze (2025) • In The Grey (2026) • Jujutsu Kaisen, season 3 (2026) • Legends, season 1 (2026) • Mars Express (2023) • Project Hail Mary (2026) • The Christophers (2025) | LISTEN: “Chant For Don Cherry” and “Equanimity” by Ancient Infinity Orchestra • “Asphodel Meadows”, “As The River Flows”, “Broken Dreams”, “Damocles”, “Elysian Fields”, “Gates Of The Sun”, “Oneness”, “Persephone”, and “Spirits Unseen” by Atlantis Jazz Ensemble • “Not Easy” (featuring X Ambassadors, Elle King, and Wiz Khalifa) by Alex Da Kid • “A Life Worth Living” by Balimaya Project and Discos Pacifico All Stars • “Leavin’ Town” by Dexter Freebish • “It’s All In Your Mind”, “Low Sun”, and “Sonido Cósmico” by Hermanos Gutiérrez • “Too Sweet” and “Why Would You Be Loved” by Hozier • “Drive” by Incubus • “Likeness And Shadow” by Jasmine Myra • “Back Down South” by Kings Of Leon •“Mariella” by Khruangbin and Leon Bridges • “Deeper” by Labrys • “Carè” and “Marechià” (featuring Célia Kameni) by Nu Genea • “Invocation” and “Where We’ve Been” by Phi-Psonics • “Kohan” (original and live versions), “Spirits, Part 2” (original and live versions) by The Circling Sun • “How You like Me Now” by The Heavy • “Under The Silver Moon”, “What’s On Your Mind”, and “6 Years” by Thee Marloes | PLAY: through your music collections and ask yourself if you need all of the assembled tunes | TRY: resisting the urge to acquire new pens—fail miserably.