Need advice on feeling comfortable taking shots of strangers

I can only say that it is possible to take photos of strangers unobtrusively - my own experience tells me this, and perhaps my photos are evidence of this.Maybe it's a case of blending in with the background and being non-threatening. It helps to look totally insignificant! If something intersting is developing scan the scene through the viewfinder and pan around as if looking for nothing in particular and take your shot quietly and quickly and carry on panning as if you are still looking. I never use a tele or wide angle in these situations - the tele seems sneaky, and the wide angle interposes its own optical personality on the image. I do know that people are usually too preoccupied with their own affairs to notice someone taking their photograph. But never forget that empathy with others and integrity are vital ingredients in the process. Oh, and confidence in the purely technical aspects of image-making is vital, especially if using traditional cameras without automatic metering and focusing.

On the street I take mostly street portraits, shot with permission of the subject. When I approach the person I choose a certain part of the person's clothing (such as a tee shirt with a logo)or other aspect of their person and tell them I would like to photograph that particular thing. I find that easier than just approaching and asking "can I take your picture." If I get turned down I thank the person and move on.

A quick note about shooting on the subway in New York City: It is NOT (and never has been) illegal. The MTA (as of last week) has tabled the proposed ban due to the negative press it's gotten. Shooting on the subway is generally safe - just keep in mind that you're in an enclosed space and you can't fade into the crowd as easy as you could if you were on a city street.

<p>Heather's advice above, about picking events and shooting them, is excellent. For getting your feet wet, I really recommend going to some parades or street festivals. These are highly public areas which attract lots of photographers, and everyone is making a real spectacle of themselves, including the spectators. It is hard to feel like you are spying on people in this kind of environment! My experience was that after I had done a couple parades, the anxiety that previously accompanied taking photos of strangers in everyday situations faded.

 

<p><i>Don't take people by surprise. The worst way to do it, and the most unfair, is to walk down a busy sidewalk with a prefocused lens, and then quickly, with your highly honed photographic eye and instincts, snap a photo of someone. I wouldn't like that, and I don't know why anyone else would.</i>

 

<p>I'm not saying this M.O. is never appropriate, but it reminds me of a story. At the <a href="http://jeff.medkeff.com/photo/parade/bearpaw/04/">Bear Paw Festival</a> in Eagle River last year I took several pictures of a big, mean-looking guy. He noticed and started to ham it up, so I took several more. I was using a new digital SLR (new enough that I kind of screwed up shooting the whole weekend) with a biggish lens and made no attempt to conceal what I was doing. I thanked him when I was done.

 

<p>Later, I saw Big Guy leaving the festival, so I tried to catch up to him to offer him a print. As I was approaching, a man walking the opposite direction pulled a pre-focused (I assume) Leica out of his fanny pack, took a shot of Big Guy, and returned the camera to the fanny pack, all in about 1/3 of a second. Big Guy had some objection to this, as he turned around, poked Leica Guy in the back, and made a pointed, high-decibel inquiry about why Leica Guy was sneaking around. Leica guy took off, not quite running, but not quite peeing his pants either.

 

<p>A few seconds later I caught up to Big Guy and gave him his print. A nicer guy I couldn't have hoped to meet. I never saw Leica Guy again.

Another thing I forgot to mention is you may find yourself in somebody else's picture. This happened to me several weeks ago. I was doing some street shooting myself and as I stood in front of a large crowd waiting for the walk signal to turn green, I noticed a young man with a camera with the largest telephoto lens I can remember seeing on the other side standing on concrete slab. As the light turned and I started walking, he brought up his camera (why not a tripod with such a lens) and pointed it straight at me. I almost gave him a "peace" sign but thought he might want a more candid shot. It's all part of the fun.

I was taking a photo class a while ago and during one assignment, we had to go to a busy city market on market day. This is in Montreal (Canada). Oddly enough, there was another photo class from another school also there. But the environment was very relaxed. The vendors and farmers are used to having people coming up to them. I approached many of them, made eye contact and just asked them if I could photograph them. Most said yes. One or two said no, which was no big deal because so many people--strangers--were saying yes.

 

In fact, it wasn't much harder to shoot many of the customers, either. I was just kind of walking around (Nikon f80 w/ 50mm lens) and making eye contact with people, smiling and holding up the camera. People were more than happy to be photographed. It was a busy market day, the weather was nice, bright overcast...you couldn't ask for better. And then there was this one guy who saw me photographing people and felt he had to tell me his life story and political opinions, and everything about his artistic, university-age daughter... I nodded politely, chatted a bit with him, then took a shot or two of him and moved on.

 

Another student did bring a long telephoto lens, but in the end, it didn't put him any more at ease, and he ended up only taking 3 shots in about 2-3 hours, while I finished a roll (we had to shoot 1 roll). I suppose the lesson is that it's all about attitude, which is what many others have said.

I was hanging out at a streetmarket in London really early one morning, about

a year ago, with my son on my shoulders, looking cute (er, my son, that is, not

me). A photog with a huge rig asked if he could take our photo. I said OK. He

took bleedin ages, I felt like a prat, and I know the photos would have been

dreadful. If he'd just got on with it, without asking, the photos would have been

better, and saved me time.

Going with a group of photographer might be something to try. Try to enroll to a local club. Also, if you are strong enough then you can carry a tripod with you, then you would be obvious a photographer rather than a 'spy'.

Haven't read all the above yet, but I agree with what I saw.

 

Keep your intentions pure, don't act scared, and chat with them a moment if they see you doing it. (Or even if not, if you'd like to send them a print.)

 

Michael Reichman, at luminouslandscape.com, wrote this a short while back, in answer to a question on his street candids:

 

These shots were taken with the camera at eye level. What I do is "see" the shot that I want to take, prejudge the focal length required and then set the zoom before bringing the camera up to my eye. If I think that I'll only have a moment to shoot I'll also preset the focus and exposure. This way the camera's responsiveness is speeded up considerably.

 

This is the way that I worked for many years with a Leica when doing street shooting. Preset the lens, preset the focus, preset the exposure and then view and shoot.

 

Keep a smile on your face, don't be sneaky (but work quickly), and if someone looks like they're going to object just smile, shrug and walk away. It's not worth being mugged to get a shot (usually). One "trick" that I use is to take the shot and look act as if what I'm really shooting is something beyond the person being photographed. It's amazing how well this sometimes works.

I used to do that when I shot a lot more than I do now (shoot with both eyes open, one in the viewfinder and another beyond the subject) and it worked well. Now that I'm getting back into the art of photography, I find myself more shy than ever. Perhaps it's because I hate being photographed, and subconciously I think everyone else hates it, too. From experience I know that's not true (most people don't care). Maybe another part of it is that I'm no longer comfortable with the camera in my hands. I still "remember" how to shoot and have the same reflexes for a shot (maybe a bit slower but I'm speeding up), but the auto focus and everything else is new to me. This particular camera is, of course, new to me, too.

 

So you guys don't use autofocus when shooting in the street? I have trouble getting it to "lock on" to what I want it to, but I don't know if it's just not designed for that purpose or if it's because I'm still learning how to use it.

Hi..

 

I seriously think that if you are in truth convinced and believe that you're doing street photography for no bad reason at all people will perceive it and let you do..it's, anyway, a thin connection between being discrete and friendly, between having a nice attitude and the sense of respect. There have been many times where I haven't pressed the shutter just for a sort of respect, and it's part of the game, cause you probably have learned a lot even from the shot you have not taken.

Be discrete, use a small and quiet camera, be friendly and simple and honest..you can't go wrong.

 

Now I'll go reading all the other post in this tread :))

 

bye!

To make the interaction less one-sided, I try to give as well as take. One of the things that

I do is either bring a second, consumer digital camera with me to loan, for a few minutes,

to my subject so that he or she (or even toddler) can take pictures too, or I let them try the

camera I'm using. About half of the people take me up on it. Taking someone's photo,

then, becomes a shared event and not invasive or predatory.

 

I always ask them if they'd like me to email a photo to them, so I also always try to take

both the photos I want and more conventional portrait photos they'd want to see of

themselves. If I know them already, I print a 4 x 6 on an Epson R800 that I bought

especially for that purpose and give them prints.

 

I always engage in conversation with the people I photograph and I often tell them what I

love about them that has me want to take a photo of them. I may also show them photos

I've taken of other people so they can see what kind of portraits I take. This has calmed a

lot of skittish friends and strangers. ( I have a small 2 x 3" book that fits into my back

pocket and can hold up to 120 photos.) I also tell people that I'll erase my pictures of them

if they don't like them. No one has ever asked me to.

 

Yes, empathy, I think, is essential. Especially since I need to be, as my brother says, "right

in someone's face."

 

Now that I'm thinking about this, I realize that photographing dogs close up and

interacting with their owners has made it a lot easier to take portraits of people. Dogs

don't ever make you feel bad and the owners are always happy to have a picture of their

dog. It's always a positive experience and through that I realized that we, the owner and I,

could both gain from the interaction.

 

-Anna

<I>"Don't be embarrased by your curiosity."</I>

<P>

That was a quote I heard form Alec Soth at a speaking engagement just last week regarding his approach to the work he did for his book <a href="http://www.alecsoth.com/Mississippi/pages/09_big.html">"Sleeping by the Mississippi"</a>.

<P>

It somehow resonated with me. And for what it's worth I always feel more at ease when there is some type of tacit agreement; either out-right approval, a nod, or even simple eye contact. So far no hassles.

I like to use my 70-200 usually at 200. Last saturday I took about 60 pictures through a window in a cafe overlooking a bus stop. I feel a little self concious with a big white lense, but nobody even gave me a second look.

This may or may not be of interest to you, but Garry Winogrand was known for his very obvious technique. I hope the link works.

 

<a href="http://www.photogs.com/bwworld/xtol1.html">Garry Winogrand</a>

I've always felt a little uncomfortable taking photos of people, or at least people I don't know myself, so I know where you're coming from.

 

I don't suggest that you use a long telephoto lens, 'cause that seems to me to be a perfect way to make you feel worse - what you need to do is get over shyness about it and the feeling that you're being a voyeur or doing something "wrong" by taking a photo.

 

The best way I find is to get to know the people you are photographing - come up to them, let them know what you're doing if they seem friendly enough, and talk to them. Get them comfortable with you - and become comfortable with them.

 

I still have problems photographing people I don't know... so now, I just get to know them. :-D<div></div>