I’ve been street photographing for a little while now and I generally find that my confidence tends to relate to my mood on the day – gregarious vs introverted. Ethically, I have no problem taking photographs of people without their knowledge and I would never use an image that was degrading or disrespectful. I do not, however, ever wish to upset anyone by my actions so I generally proceed with caution.
I use various tactics such as appearing to take a photo of something else with my wide angle lens, loitering with intent, pretending I’m waiting for them to pass etc. Eric Kim has produced some excellent free to download books on this subject such as ’31 Days to Overcome your Fear of Shooting Street Photography’ (2012)http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/06/20/free-ebook-31-days-to-overcome-your-fear-of-shooting-street-photography/ . But he has numerous other free downloadables that have really helped me to think about the process of street photography. Some days, if I’m in the mood, I’ll ask people if I can photograph them (I have only experienced a couple of nos to date!) and then the trick is to get what I want from the image when they know I’m there with my camera. The workman above were happy for to photograph them. Other days I prefer to try and maintain an anonymity. This tends to be easier in busier environments – which are generally less accessible to me since I live in the country somewhere between 2 small cathedral cities and a number of market towns. I have some trips to Birmingham and London planned!
Jo's learning log 