Half-Assed Guide To Shooting Strangers
Had a number of conversations where something to the effect of "I'd love to do street photography, but..." comes up. Seems some folks just aren't comfortable walking up to complete strangers in the street and shooting them. I get that, wasn't always comfortable with it myself.
Calling this a guide is probably a bit of a stretch, I'm no expert in street photography, but I thought I'd jot down a few of the things that make it a bit easier for me. Pretty sure street photography is the art of getting the evil eye.
There's only so much you can do about that but lenses are a good place to start. I typically use one of three lenses, either a zoom (70-300mm), a prime (50mm), or a wide angle, each with it's own pros and cons.
A nice long zoom lens is like the sniper rifle of photography, lets you post up far enough out that you can shoot and scoot before any unfriendlies could reach you. To continue with that analogy, they're also not the best thing for close-in work. I really like them for shooting in crowds, they're good for isolating a subject and in a crowd it's much more difficult for people to tell what you're aiming at. With longer shots, getting a clean line of sight can sometimes be difficult but with a bit of planning or an elevated position you can often miss the worst of that.
My 50mm prime lens is my standard equipment for street photography, more for it's versatility than any particular thing it does. For some reason there seems to be a direct correlation between the size of the lens you're using and how seriously people take you. Pull out a long lens and they're cracking paparazzi jokes, pull out a 50mm and they're asking about your 'hobby'. It's kind of beautiful, you've got to get a lot closer with a 50mm but people mostly ignore you.
My wide angle is probably my least favorite lens for street photography. If a long lens is like a sniper rifle then the wide angle is a snubbie, you damn near have to stick it in someone's belly to make the shot. That probably sounds like a nightmare for those of you uncomfortable with street photography, but there's a but! Namely, but if you get really close, people tend to think you're aiming at something else and not realize they're still in the frame. This image by Bruce Gilden is one of my favorite examples of that, the lady is point at what she thought he was taking a photo of.
Wide angles are good for street photography on the sly. I've experimented with letting my camera hang from my neck and surreptitiously shooting from there, with both the prime and the wide angle and the latter definitely works better for that. Neither work especially well, but the combination of the different perspective and the distortions from the wide angle can make for some fun shots.
That's more than enough about lenses, no matter what kit you have the most important thing will always be to simply get out and shoot. On that note, here's some gimmicks and gambits that I like to use.
Ambush photography -- Whenever I find a nice kill zone scene I like to post up somewhere inobtrusive and then wait for a suitable target subject to walk into it and then start shooting. Oftentimes, if you do it right your subject will apologize to you afterwards for 'ruining' your shot.
Misdirection is your friend -- Usually I don't want my subjects to know they're about to be shot. One of my favorite ways of accomplishing this is to act like I'm shooting everything, start off pointing the camera at something innocuous and then slowly panning to what my real subject is.
Use the lay of the land to your advantage -- You can never be sure how people are going to respond to having their photo taken but you can do things to keep the risk to yourself minimal. Obstacles, physical barriers, and choke points are great, especially with a long lens, you can post up and shoot away and if anyone takes it poorly you can be gone long before they could reach you. Elevated positions can be quite nice too but if things get lively the exfil can get a little dicey.
While this half-assed "guide" is intend for folks who would like to get into street photography, I'd love to hear from other street photographers, drop me a comment if you have your own tips or tricks. I can't talk about street photography without mentioning Everybody Street by Cheryl Dunn, the documentary that got me interested in street photography in the first place. It's about NYC street photographers and I regularly return to it for inspiration. For a while you could watch it for free on youtube but that no longer seems to be the case but you can still find many of the interviews from it on there.
That's quite enough out of me, y'all stay safe out there and remember: Shoot first, ask questions later!
Thank you!
Great post!
This one works best for me.
I loved doing street photography in the Philippines, and once they spot you before you get that shot, the image is of no use to you, because it's posed with the peace sign and even the thought irks me. However, get that real candid and you have a winner.
Here in the UK, I don't do much street photography for different reasons. However, it's still one of my favourite kinds of photography and I absolutely love all of these shots 👏
Thank you!
I get a lot of mileage out of that one, above and beyond street photography. Grief is probably one of the most difficult/sensitive things to photograph, ended up using that a lot at the vigil for the mass shooting earlier this year.
Ha, yeah, I'm with you on the posed stuff. Sometimes I'll be out wandering looking for something to shoot and people will see the camera and start acting up for it, that can sometimes be quite interesting to shoot but that's about the only exception I make for posed stuff.
Interesting, do you mind if I inquire as to why? Getting shot or robbed is usually my chief concern doing street photography here in the US, the dearth of guns in the UK makes it seem like a much more relaxed place to do street photography. Thank you!
There's still a lot of racism especially if you're in areas that are not very multicultured, like where I'm living now.
Also, sometimes people can be aggressive here too, and there are so many laws to protect people (fostering the victim-mindset, I like to call it) that you never know when someone might say you "did" something that caused them "something" that it's best not to take the chance sometimes.
It's difficult to explain here... :)
Ah, gotcha, I can understand that completely. The area I grew up in was not very multicultured to put it mildly (The Guardian did a feature on my hometown for being the 'poorest white town in America').
I'd forgotten about that, dandays has expounded upon some of the quirks of the laws there, almost certain I'd get myself arrested there. Do they still do the antisocial behavior orders there or have they replaced that with something else?
There might be that one and several others. Some that will make you afraid to look at strangers. I think it's crazy and you could find yourself getting arrested or with a police record very easily.
When the images are converted into black and white, it becomes much more beautiful and beautiful and the way we see people going about their lives.
Very true!
Yes.
The pictures that my friends show are quite beautiful.
Thank you!
It is actually very weird for someone to approach you and want to take your picture here in my country
It is not safe out there and that's why most people won't agree
Anyway, the pictures are nice
Judging by the reactions I get, most people here regard it as at least somewhat weird still. With the way I usually do street photography most people generally don't get the option to agree, I usually take my photos without asking permission.
Thank you!
I like the misdirection technique. I even use it for birds to kind of acclimate them rather than suddenly aiming a giant noisy eyeball right at them.
This post is da shit. I want to ask @appreciator to appreciate this post. I don't know if it's against the rules to solicit votes from whales for other people? I also don't know if you have to be someone special to ask @tipu to curate. But here goes...
It's so handy! Hadn't thought about it with critters but I imagine it would work equally well with them.
Thank you! Don't know if it's against the rules or not either but they found me. Pretty sure tipu requires a stake or something, maybe ask ninahaskin?
Yep! That's me alright! Would love to do it, but the introvert in me wins that internal argument each and every time.
I'll need to try some of these out. If the rain holds off I might have an opportunity today!
I'm an antisocial extrovert, so I can relate to that. Waited tables for years before quitting that to do photography, so I have lots of practice at approaching and talking to complete strangers but I still don't particularly enjoy it.
Street photography is like most things, the more you do it the easier it gets. Fingers crossed the rain holds off, I'd love to see/hear how it went for you.
Congratulations. Today's #monomad second place is yours.
Thank You very much for participating and for being part of the Black And White Community!
Awesome, thanks so much!
I loved your post! I feel related in so many ways. I’m a surf photographer and I love it because I use a zoom lens and I don’t need to talk to people to take their photos.
I only talk to the surfer later on, when they find me in social media asking if I have some photo of their surf session.
As a good photographer that I try to be, I have tried street photography, but it is by far the kind of photography that I like because of what you said, I don’t want to walk to a stranger and ask him/her to take a photo.
Although I don’t like it, I was offered a summer job at a summer/pool club where I should take photos of everyone, and I had to talk to them all. It was kind of uncomfortable for me, but it allowed me to get out of my “bubble”.
I plan on posting some of theses photos sometime soon :)
Yay, I'm glad! Surf photography, now that sounds like fun. Lol, there's a time for talking and a time for taking photos and they usually don't coincide. Thankfully I don't have very many people who I photograph trying to track me down.
Street photography is definitely something that takes some getting used to but I feel like the more you do it the easier it gets. Don't think it ever gets completely easy though.
Getting out of your bubble is good but I wish it didn't have to be so annoying :) Before I got started with photography I waited tables, didn't get to take photos but it got me out of my bubble with approaching and talking with people.
I look forward to seeing them!
Esas fotos en blanco y negro lucen excelente, y el parque de diversiones está sumamente hermoso..