Figure photography

Photographing live people has certain problems. Sometimes the photographer has a kind of shyness, sometimes he is afraid of unreasonable reactions from the subjects.

A certain - slight - substitute is photographing the non-living.

Don't worry, I'm not putting you in any horror situations. I'm talking about the mannequin characters.

I remembered a protagonist of a culinary TV show with his legendary quotes like "If you don't have shallots, put onions in, if you don't have eggs, put sausage in..."

So if you don't have live models, use the plastic ones.

But taking photos in shops is not exactly easy either. You can't set up your gear with all the tripods, lenses, lights and such. Again, you have to shoot discreetly and thoughtfully.

Discreet photography (in this case with a mobile phone) protects you from the eternal questions of your surroundings, such as what you are taking pictures of, why you are taking pictures, who you are taking pictures for, what you are going to do with the pictures and so on and so forth.

And it's also a kind of training. Learning how to shoot discreetly and unobtrusively in relatively "harmless" situations. It can come in handy when you're shooting somewhere where it's not really appropriate or desirable.

I didn't want to mention which shop served as my photography studio, so as not to give it any publicity - positive or negative. But you can actually tell from the photos. Next time, though, I'll still be shooting something completely different and in a completely different place.