Street Photography in America's Biggest Mall

This July, I had the opportunity to travel back to Minneapolis for a conference. After several days of working hard, I had a free afternoon and decided to visit one of the most impressive places I’ve ever been - The Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN.

The Mall of America is best known surely for the theme park sitting in its center, complete with rollercoasters, a water ride, and many other classic attractions, but as if that wasn’t enough the shopping center hosts over 500 stores and restaurants as well. Its design and size give the impression that the mall is never ending, and newcomers like myself can easily get lost in its labyrinth. I will also add, I have not seen a mall so full since the early 2000’s, and its understandable why this mall has withstood the test of time - it truly is a wonder of American civilization.

Street Photography in malls has always interested me, there is often interesting architecture, lots of characters, and surprisingly nice light throughout. I must admit, however, that I am always reluctant to do so as it seems so easy to get caught, something that does not normally bother me in public spaces. Malls are private property and tend to have overzealous and unforgiving security guards, and the last thing I want is to make a scene.

Mall of America offers multiple solutions to this conundrum: for starters, it is so unique that it actually serves more as a tourist destination than an actual shopping center. I don’t think anyone there batted an eye at the site of someone carrying a camera and snapping photos, especially in the theme park section. Secondly, modern malls tend to be rather sparse in terms of numbers of people. Walking through a mall in 2022, it is hard to be subtle while trying to snap photos of other people, as there are never many people in a given area. Mall of America is very different, however, as it was packed with hundreds, if not thousands, of both locals and site-seers, shoppers and adrenaline-enthusiasts, mall-rats and families of all ages. This made it much easier to blend in and avoid interrupting scenes before me.

In terms of gear, I decided to use a new lens I am trying out, the TTartisans 28mm f/5.6 for M-Mount, adapted to my Fuji X-Pro2. This lens’ small form factor and antique design allowed me to avoid standing out to potential subjects or unfriendly guards.

Alright, enough words… how did I do?

Obviously the first place I was drawn to was the theme park itself, the most lively area of the mall with nice harsh sunlight and bright colors made for a perfect scene. I tried to look for unique moments and gestures, as well as use the lighting to my advantage.

Afterwards I explored more of the mall itself, again hunting for patches of sunlight and taking advantage of the many floors and glass structures to find unique frames

Finally I made my way onto the upper levels and shot into the park, using fellow mall-goers to add scale and perspective to my images, and to show a little more context.

I won’t write too much in the way of a ‘conclusion’, testing out a new lens in a new area doesn’t always yield the best results, especially when I only have ~1 hour to work with. There are a couple photos I’m very happy with, and lots I could have done better on. What I will say is this: The Mall of America is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and if I was a local I would be shooting here until they kicked me out.

Here are some random photos from the airport (MSP + IAD) since I’m not going to give them their own blog post. Thanks for reading!