How Lèche-Vitrine Can Transform Your Photography Skills (and Save You Money).

Hi Viewfinders friends 👋🏼

What if I told you that mastering photography wasn’t just about expensive gear or endless practice, but about perfecting the art of ‘Lèche-Vitrine?’ Yes, really.

First of all: What the heck is Lèche-Vitrine?
Pardon my French.
Lèche-Vitrine literally means window-shopping in français, aka looking at things in shop windows, but not actually buying anything.

Little Housekeeping: All pictures in this publication are mine (unless otherwise stated). They are copyrighted and cannot be used without my permission.

This is one of my favorite things I like to do when I’m walking in the cities, among pure street photography.
And what I mean by that is that I really love watching how the light and shadow are playing together and reveal elements in the shop’s windows.
Some shops are really creative and offer beautiful, colorful étalages. (By all means, I’m happy to teach you a bit of French.)

It’s another great way to be intentional and mindful when you’re doing your photo walks.
And to be honest, this practice will save you lots of money, haha.

But Dan, how can this assignment help you with your documentary work, you may ask?
Well, actually, a lot. Just like street photography did too. Capturing stories, improving composition skills, learning to react faster, playing with layering, and so much more.

This exercise can be done in daylight but also in the night.

I love to walk around and observe how the sun reflects on objects, how the shadow is helping create a scene.
Then, I add some extra layers, like this lady who just popped while I was framing the shot.

A person probably doing window shopping too.

Or this colorful frame with this lovely Dalmatian dog enjoying a moment of pure calmness. I love exploring color theory all the time (and love seeing that people incorporate it into their window displays accordingly).

A Dalmatian having a sun bath. Such a life.

Here are another analogous complementary colors.

And then, like I mentioned earlier, you can also do this in the evening/night.

I absolutely love to play with composition, storytelling, and reflections:

Sad abandoned mannequins.

Sad abandoned mannequins.

And last but not least, just to be present by composing your shot.

Hope you liked it and you will try it out.

Please let me know in the comment if you found this useful.

Happy Photo walks everyone.

Till next time 👋🏼

Dan D’Ascenzo