I am Sai Min Htet Oo aka Dede. I am a freelance street photographer based in New York, born in Myanmar also known as Burma.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I grew up. I always love to take pictures and as I get older my passion for photography grows. So I started to capture the sincere people's expression, beautiful light, spaces, and whatever I see. Among them, I realized when I see people's expressions and communicating with each other in my photos, my heart knew what I love. It is Street Photography. So I started learning about a street photo from Youtube, google, books and I asked some of the people who know more information about it. Later on, I met Rammy Narula on Facebook.I asked so many questions about the street photo and he helped and taught me more about it. I truly thank him for the button of my heart for teaching me more about street photography.
First of all, I felt creepy taking photos of strangers without their permissions but after looking back at the pictures, I felt pleased with the results and all my fear went away. I am passionate about capturing moments instantaneously. I do believe the best moment never happens more than once and a good photo doesn't require any explanation. I love to let my images speak for themselves.
In 2017, one of my photos was selected as a finalist by the Miami Street Photography Festival for the very first time. That was my first and great achievement in life and I know the best is yet to come. After I became a finalist of MSPF, I decided to create a small community group to share about what is Street Photography is. I want to help all my friends from my home country who are truly passionate about street photography and don't know how to start. So I created Street Photo Myanmar group on Facebook in November 2017. In that group, I have shared all my photos and I want to motivate others who are interested in street photography. To further improve my work, I went to street photography workshops from Maciej Dakowicz and Matt Stuart and I am still learning to take great pictures day by day.
See more of my work on Instagram @Saiminhtetoo
Selected Award
Italian Street Photo festival 2023-Single Image category -2nd place
Miami street Photography Festival 2017 Finalist
Miami Street Photography Festival 2018 Finalist
Miami Street Photography Festival 2020 Finalist
Miami Street Photography Festival 2022 Finalist
StreetfotoSan Francisco 2018 Finalist
Italian Street Photo Festival 2019 Finalist
Inquest Insight 4;The Exhibition 2018 Finalist
Exibart street contest second edition: HONORABLE MENTIONS
Moment Street Photo award 2020 finalists
Moment Street Photo award 2022 finalists
Street Photographer Foundations 2020 Finalist
Life-Framer winner 2022(The Human Body Theme)
Group Exhibition
Group Exhibition with NYC-SPC in 2018
Street Photography exhibition of @hardcore.street.collective Ahmedabad, India in 2023
Interview
Street Photography BD Magazine
Street Photographer Foundations