Amateur Street Photography Article

<p>Just had this published by the Guardian:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/camera-club-blog/2011/nov/15/amateur-street-photography-camera-club">http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/camera-club-blog/2011/nov/15/amateur-street-photography-camera-club</a></p>

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<p>A rather informative, practical article with good photo examples. Excellent work!</p>

<p>Well done. A very interesting article.</p>

<p>John, well done indeed in being published by the Guardian. A well composed article too.</p>

<p>Very well written. I liked that you started out from the perspective of someone on the street having a camera pointed at them--given the likely audience for your article, that was a great way to hit it off. I also liked your very compassionate attitude toward humanity (summed up nicely at the end). Well done! </p>

<p>Great article J.C. Sums it up perfectly.</p>

<p>A great article for the novice street photographer like myself. (So far, I have yet to have any actual people in my "Street" work!) Getting past the jitters is a huge part of the battle, and I'm still working on it. <br>

A well done piece that just may give me the courage to get out and try it again.<br>

Thanks for the link!</p>

 

<p>Thanks, folks, for all the kind comments.<br>

@Amy: I know exactly what you mean. Trust me: just take the plunge and it won't be as bad as you think!</p>

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<p>John - I enjoyed it too, and agree with Daniel, particularly the reference to 'humanity' which is so often overlooked by many practitioners, so I've taken the liberty of giving this a plug on <a href="http://duckrabbit.info/blog/">duckrabbit</a> where I'm a guest contributor. Hope you dont mind!</p>

<p>John: yes, of course, plug away!</p>

<p>In general: do feel free to log in to the Guardian site and leave comments, this is very much encouraged.</p>

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<p>Nice work, John C.</p>

John C, that was excellent. Probably the best description in words I've seen that relates to the wide range

of circumstances encountered on the street - along with ways of dealing with situations. Well done...

John,Excellent info. and well written.

<p>This was a great read for me as I have started into street photography. Thanks so much for posting the link to this article! I will go out now with a slightly more positive attitude from now on!</p>

<p>A very good article. </p>

<p>About encountering hostility. If you get too much of it you are either doing something wrong or you are in the wrong place. Or both. If you are in the wrong place it is best to pack it in. You do not want photographs that are consistently hostile any more than those with muggers giving peace signs (as here in Japan). If you are doing a documentary, as opposed to creative street photography, it's a different story of course.</p>

<p>There are ways of becoming invisible and snapping furtive shots of decisive moments. There are also ways of becoming friends with your subjects so that they take your presence as natural and don't worry about you taking photographs. It is another way of disappearing.</p>

<p>John's remark about using film cameras for street photography are worth noting. You cannot delete a film shot, short of ripping the film out of the camera. Film cameras are less obtrusive than digital cameras, I have found in my experience.</p>

<p>I think John's article might scare a few people away from street photography through no fault of his own. He tells it like it is. And much of the time it is not easy.</p>