There’s something special about walking through Zurich with a camera in hand. The city is clean and orderly, yes, but if you pay attention, there’s a raw and dynamic rhythm hidden in the streets. For me, the magic often happens not in the subjects themselves but in the way light and shadow carve the scene. On a recent walk, I decided to spend an afternoon around Zurich’s main train station, letting the sun and the city guide my street photography.
The station itself is a playground for contrasts. Light pours through the high glass windows, cutting sharp beams across the floor. Travelers hurry through them like actors crossing a stage, some stepping into the glow, others swallowed back into darkness. With every frame, the geometry shifted. A man in a business suit paused with his suitcase right in the middle of the beam — click. A woman on a bicycle glided past the pillars outside, her shadow stretching longer than her body — click. It’s almost like the station is choreographed by light, and all you have to do is press the shutter at the right moment.
What fascinates me most about shooting in a place like this is the unpredictability. You can plan angles and exposures, but you can’t control the flow of people. That randomness is what makes street photography addictive. One second, the space is empty. The next, a cluster of travelers fills the frame, their silhouettes creating a story you couldn’t have imagined.
Outside the station, the tempo changes. The square in front of the building offers wide open light, but the streets curling off to the sides are narrow, and the sun slices between tall facades like a blade. I followed the shadows like a breadcrumb trail, watching how people slipped in and out of them. At one corner, a cyclist leaned against the wall checking his phone, his face completely hidden in shadow except for one stripe of light across his arm. That shot became one of my favorites of the day — simple, understated, but full of atmosphere.
Zurich has a reputation for being precise and maybe even a little too polished. But through the lens, I see something else. The cracks in the rhythm. The fleeting moments when commuters forget themselves. The reflection of light on tram windows, bending into abstract shapes as they glide by. Even something as ordinary as a coffee-to-go cup sitting on a bench can become interesting when the shadow falls just right. Street photography is about giving those everyday details a second life.
I worked mostly with strong contrasts that afternoon, exposing for the highlights so the shadows dropped into deep blacks. It’s a style that fits the mood of Zurich surprisingly well. The city has this balance of elegance and mystery, and high contrast black-and-white captures that duality. Every person walking through my frame became a silhouette, anonymous but expressive. You don’t need to see a face to feel a story.
As the sun began to sink lower, the golden light painted the side streets near the river. Here the reflections danced on the water and bounced back onto the buildings, softening the edges. It was a reminder that shadow doesn’t always have to be harsh. Sometimes it’s subtle, wrapping around subjects gently, adding depth instead of drama.
By the time I looped back to the train station, I had filled my memory card with fragments of the day: strangers frozen mid-step, bicycles casting spiderweb shadows, a tram slicing through a pool of sunlight. None of the images are “perfect,” but that’s exactly the point. Street photography in Zurich isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence — being there when light and shadow collide to create something fleeting.
Next time you find yourself in Zurich, don’t just look at the big postcard views. Step into the flow of the city, find the hard lines of sunlight on the pavement, and watch how people interact with them. That’s where the stories hide.
Camera: Fujifilm X-H2s Lens: Fujinon several lenses Filter: none Location: Switzerland
I'm a freelance Filmmaker in Zurich, looking forward to meeting you here on HIVE and explore visual Art. All my posts are original content when not stated otherwise.
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