View Full Version : rate your street shooting confidence/aggressiveness
1 - I'm afraid to even point my camera in the direction of a person whom I worry about offending if they should notice me and my camera, therefore I wait until there is no one in the frame when I take my urban landscape photos.
2 - If I'm sure I won't get caught, I sneak a hipshot or camera-on-table shot of people I don't know.
3 -
4 - I can walk right up to total strangers on the street, stick my camera in their face and take several shots. I am invincable on the street with my camera. If someine is in public, they are fair game and I am not breaking any laws.
Or, provide your own description
JonShuler
07-27-2007, 08:43
In fact, I think that's part of why I joined the forum. I've been streetshooting in some of the less safe parts of Orlando with two DSLRs and after my last trip decided that I need to re-think my gear stratagie. Anyone got an Epson that they are looking off load?
'I am invincible' with a TV camera only...and get so tired of people-orientated filming that my photography tends to concentrate on scenes where there are no people present. Not sure if that makes me a 'wuss' or someone in search of 'silence'... ;)
Dave Wilkinson
07-27-2007, 08:48
Perhaps 'how big are you?' should enter into this! ;)
shadowfox
07-27-2007, 08:52
3 - Strangely, it depends on the day. Some days I'm confident, taking pictures of people from close range (not close-up yet). But some other days I'm so unispired and shy that I only take pictures of the city doves... the demure ones... with a tele-lens.
I tend to take "sneak" shots because I like to capture people in natural situations. I find as soon as I raise the camera to my eye the mood changes and they give me looks like "what are you doing, why are you taking my picture". Sometimes I luck out and they don't notice the camera up to my eye or me at all. :)
Cheers,
Brandon.
Well, I'm not afraid to hold up my camera and take someone's picture. Most of the time I do hold it long enough to let the person knows what I'm doing, or I simply ask for a permission to do so. Sometimes I will get rejected, sometimes I will get a friendly smile and take some pictures. It's nice to be able to "interact" (e.g. a little chat) with the person you want to snap so know some history about her/him beside the image. And it makes the image more meaningful.
Silva Lining
07-27-2007, 09:07
Perhaps 'how big are you?' should enter into this! ;)
heh, or how fast can you run....:)
rogue_designer
07-27-2007, 09:09
3 - I have no real hesitation when in a park, on the train, or on the sidewalk pulling up the camera for a frame or two, even very close to the subject. But I'm not invincible, or invisible - so if they wave me off, I back off. I'm a nice guy.
like2fiddle
07-27-2007, 09:16
I spend most of my time around number 3, but have been known to spend time at #1 and #4, ---- good ole' bell curve.
3 - Strangely, it depends on the day. Some days I'm confident, taking pictures of people from close range (not close-up yet). But some other days I'm so unispired and shy that I only take pictures of the city doves... the demure ones... with a tele-lens.
I agree with Shadow on this one. Some days you got it and some days you just cower at the thought of someone even looking at you while taking a photograph. Also depends on the type of camera you are using as I tend to just snap away without a care in the world with my tiny Oly XA & XA4. With the XA4 you can get really close and not even be noticed.
5 - Depends on how much I've been drinking.
Size doesn't matter...uhhemm...my girlfriend is 5'2" and 95 pounds and she has the biggest balls of anyone I know (metaphorically speaking, thankfully, not literally).
Same here,
some days are just not made for great shots and you know that after 5 min. walking around. Usually no one takes notice and if they don't want to be photographed I don't take the shot.
I only had one single incident when someone came after me, not even having seen me taking that shot. A girl with trendy sunglasses so big to hide her face almost entirely - at least no one can recognize her. Someone told her that some guy took a picture of her. After the first heat wave she cooled off when I explained no commercial photog and no digital camera so I could not possibly delete that file. And no, she would not have her picture on the front page of people's magazine.
Morca007
07-27-2007, 10:07
As has been said, it all depends on the day. Some days I have absolutely no qualms about shooting brazenly, and some days I can barely get in a hip shot.
Location makes a big difference as well. For example, on a recent wait in the airport, I had about an hour to kill and went around taking pictures openly, and it felt great. However, the last time I was in Portland, a city I'm somewhat familiar with, something just didn't feel right, and I barely shot at all.
I know that for myself, being at an event and acting like a tourist makes it easier for me to take photos of the public.
I have never taking a hip shot so I can't vote #2. Though I hate to admit it I have missed a few shots because of #1. I haven't yet felt the need to compose a shot by sticking my camera in their face. Sounds interesting though to get a shot of maybe a rapper with gold teeth, I'll have to find somebody, that might be cool. So I classify my self between a 1 & 4. I'm a wuss until I get myself psyched out and then I transform into being bold with my camera. Some days though the transformation doesn't come. Maybe we need more phonebooths.
Here is my most successful street shot (nudity warning):
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=13389
It was at an event. (Fri.13th, Port Dover, biker meeting) This gal knew I was there, knew I had a camera, and she went ahead and did this.
Silva Lining
07-27-2007, 10:36
Here is my most successful street shot (nudity warning):
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=13389
It was at an event. (Fri.13th, Port Dover, biker meeting) This gal knew I was there, knew I had a camera, and she went ahead and did this.
:D Not the shy retiring type...
I marked between 2 and 4.
I don't consider myself to be shy by any means, but I do try to respect the personal space and the comfort level of others. (Most of the time.) :)
I recently shot several rolls during the final few hours of the Frontier casino. This was one time where you could shoot away inside a casino with impunity, and most of the people there were cool about it. It was a festive but bittersweet atmosphere.
I didn't try to hide the camera at all. When I was taking them I don't remember any body language -- at the time -- until I got the photos back from the lab the next day and ... the look on the guy's face on the right ... I can just hear him saying "what in the {f-bomb} are you doing taking my picture!"
sepiareverb
07-27-2007, 12:12
I'm a 4, but I don't photograph people- only property, and that with a strong in your facade attitude.
350D_user
07-27-2007, 12:36
Somewhere between 2 and 3.
I've never had a problem photographing people in public. Once in a while I've gotten a dirty look from someone but mostly people don't pay much attention. I think it is mostly a matter of your demeanor. If you look like you are having fun and doing nothing wrong, people are generally fine with that. I am always out in the open and up front about it. I do not shoot from the hip or try in other ways to be sneaky about it. If someone looks like they really don't want their picture taken, I usually give them a nod that says, "Ok, I won't bother you" and move on. As in many things, a sense of humor can be helpful.
Having said all that, I would agree that times/society have changed over the years and people seem a little more suspicious than they were 30 years ago. Sad. Take a look at the picture in my gallery of the swimming pool (taken in the seventies). I imagine it could be a little easier to get into trouble these days shooting pictures through the fence of kids at a public swimming pool.
Cheers,
Gary
PetarDima
07-27-2007, 12:56
somewhere betwen 1 & 4:p
I'm not joking.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h272/PetarDima/Korzo.jpg
BESSA R2M, Rokkor 4o mm
Bobfrance
07-27-2007, 13:33
I voted 3. But like most others it varies wildly.
You sometimes you just get a feeling whether you should shoot or not.
Today I missed a really good potential shot because I was hesitant approaching a couple of people (I couldn't be quick or subtle, there was just muself and them in the middle of a field). I felt I had let myself down and this steeled my will - I later got a shot of a couple in a confined space that I think should be pretty good, which I may not have taken otherwise.
And after all that internal turmoil I don't think they even noticed.
It just goes to show!
back alley
07-27-2007, 16:14
99% of what i shoot i consider to be 'street' or 'urban black & white'.
99% of the time i just shoot without regard or concern for my subject.
i don't try to hide the camera or my actions. if someone waves me off or indicates they prefer not to be photographed then i back off - this is a hobby and i want all my limbs intact so i can continue to enjoy myself.
i never/rarely shoot kids anymore, not worth the potential hassle for a 'cute' shot.
somedays i go out with the goal of practicing hip shots or just doing buildings/shapes/shadows...non people shots.
and some days i never take the camera out of the bag as it's just not happening for me.
joe
hammerman
07-27-2007, 16:38
i was always a 4. but in 1979 i was in new Orleans being a No 4, spotted a wild and wonderful looking older woman, shot her in rapid fire mode on an M3 and she came straight at me screaming in Creole. i did reel back but kept shooting until i got away. a local tradesman who saw the event took me aside and told me i had just had a spell cast on me, that she was a voodoo woman. since then, for whatever reason, i am a convicted 3. sometimes 3.5, but i take a bit more care now.
Well, I'm not afraid to hold up my camera and take someone's picture. Most of the time I do hold it long enough to let the person knows what I'm doing, or I simply ask for a permission to do so. Sometimes I will get rejected, sometimes I will get a friendly smile and take some pictures. It's nice to be able to "interact" (e.g. a little chat) with the person you want to snap so know some history about her/him beside the image. And it makes the image more meaningful.I am not big, but I look friendly, harmless, and a bit aged. “I am invincible” would be overstating it but not by much, and yet sometimes courage escapes me and I’m back to square one as a wuss. I rarely do a hip shot, preferring at least tacit acknowlegement from my victim. I like to go wide and get close. Agree with Nevin’s approach.
...being at an event and acting like a tourist makes it easier for me to take photos of the public.That's usually me. Fairs, open markets and the like, no problem - get the shot. In cafés, businesses or every.day sidewalks I'd rather have some interaction first and that isn't always so warm, so I pass. Like others, I have no intention or desire to tick someone off over my hobby. My "big" has gone to my middle-aged backside and my knees are too shot to run. :o So, invincible? No. Patient? That's better.
Here is my most successful street shot (nudity warning):
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=13389
It was at an event. (Fri.13th, Port Dover, biker meeting) This gal knew I was there, knew I had a camera, and she went ahead and did this. Some people in public act in a public capacity. That is, they expect to be seen. These are people who bare their boobs, who play a musical instrument, who march, or who, in any respect, might expect others to notice them. I have no qualms about photographing these people. Others----someone who doses off on a subway, someone who's talking on a cellphone (fully 30% of all street candid street shots?:)), someone who is sipping espresso in a cafe, someone who has taken no affirmative action to be public, but is only "pretty" or has a craggy face---these people are legally fodder for my images, but I don't even want their photo unless they are engaged in some action or context that tells a fuller story (apologies for "going on" about this theme).
Martin
cellison
07-27-2007, 17:29
&uotI'm new to street shooting but from the bit I've done I find that I don't get too freaked out when people confront me. After taking a picture a woman came running over to me and said "What are you taking pictures of?" to which I replied "Everything". She then says "Did you take my picture? I want $20!" I could tell she wasn't kidding so I said "Actually, I'm taking pictures of everything except you". and turned away. She stood there for a few seconds then turned and walked away.
Later that same day after shooting a picture of a general street scene with many people in the frame a woman comes up behind me and says "Taking sneaky pictures I see." in a very disapproving tone to which I replied "Not sneaky at all... just capturing what I see". She say "No one knew you took their picture so that's sneaky." I replied "No one is supposed to notice... that's the point." I turned away and she went on her way.
I'm trying not to hide the fact that I'm shooting and if someone gives me "the look" I won't shoot.
Shooting from the hip feels especially uncomfortable to me. I'd rather just be up front about what I'm doing. Also I don't want to leave the framing to random chance. :)
Chris
I'll shoot at a fair oe event if there are other peoplr with cameras.
http://www.pbase.com/bard385/image/59339285/medium.jpg
She was a vendor selling her art.
This has been getting the most hits on my pbase galleries for almost a year.
back alley
07-27-2007, 17:44
This has been getting the most hits on my pbase galleries for almost a year...
must be the, ah, art work ;)
i was always a 4. but in 1979 i was in new Orleans being a No 4, spotted a wild and wonderful looking older woman, shot her in rapid fire mode on an M3 and she came straight at me screaming in Creole. i did reel back but kept shooting until i got away. a local tradesman who saw the event took me aside and told me i had just had a spell cast on me, that she was a voodoo woman. since then, for whatever reason, i am a convicted 3. sometimes 3.5, but i take a bit more care now.
Wow Hammerman, you most likely took a photo of the infamous Bead Lady. She was probably dressed almost all in black, and everyone around here always knew enough to give her a wide bearth. Sometimes I explain to people that New Orleans celebrates eccentricity to a fault...we've got people that are yes, eccentric, but also troubled and problematic and someone to avoid. That said, I did feel sad when I heard that she had died. Everybody around here has stories about her, me included. Are the photos of her posted online anywhere? I'd be nice to see them. Me personally? I've never had the nerve to raise my camera in front of the Bead Lady. Luckily, you were naive and did not know what you were doing, and therefore, you've got a rare photo of one of the "non-photographables" in my little corner of the world. Let's see it!
Wow Hammerman, you most likely took a photo of the infamous Bead Lady. She was probably dressed almost all in black, and everyone around here always knew enough to give her a wide bearth. Sometimes I explain to people that New Orleans celebrates eccentricity to a fault...we've got people that are yes, eccentric, but also troubled and problematic and someone to avoid. That said, I did feel sad when I heard that she had died. Everybody around here has stories about her, me included. Are the photos of her posted online anywhere? I'd be nice to see them. Me personally? I've never had the nerve to raise my camera in front of the Bead Lady. Luckily, you were naive and did not know what you were doing, and therefore, you've got a rare photo of one of the "non-photographables" in my little corner of the world. Let's see it!
You never thought of taking a #2 of the infamous bead lady. Or were you too afraid of her spells?:D I have always liked the song, House of the Rising Sun. I always heard it was a brothel in New Orleans, Is it real or fictional. I would like to see pictures of it if it's real. I would like to see the bead lady too.
thomasw_
07-27-2007, 19:51
an undefined three. i try to ride the line between being a rude, 'get the shot without regard to the people' and a timid, confident-less shooter. i see myself as disciplined, patient and sneaky in my street shooting. my no.1 method is to appear to be shooting something else than the scene i will eventually turn and shoot. the rf is perfect for this both eyes wide-open "crooked-eye" method because one eye is always free from the vf and no one can tell for sure which eye the shooter is concentrating on.
Two days ago I was at the chengdu train station, there were 5-6 people sitting next to the ticket office on the ground shooting heroin. Needles, chemicals, reptile like skin, and everything in plain sight. I snapped one photo then a few moments later a police man walked over and looked at them then walked off, I snapped a second photo of the police man walking away from the drug users within 2 meters of the police man and the users in the same frame. The drug users were still there later on when I came to catch my train.
Is this aggressive? Or is it inappropriate? Does it speak for itself or does it require explanation? I'm posting it because it's provocative.
I think aggressive is a misleading term and shouldn't be associated with street photography ... I'm not out there to pick a fight or prove anything! :p
Assertive would be a better description of the frame of mind needed to stick your camera in someone's face ... so to speak. I have trouble with it and I'm only a little guy ... so I do feel vulnerable at times. If I was six feet four and 120 kilos it would make me less liable to get done over ... but I'd feel no less uncomfortable about invading someone's space!
I guess it's like spiders and snakes ... when I came to Oz I was paranoid about them ... now I pay them no heed and I'm not frightened of them. De-sensitizing is a lengthy process and the only way to achieve it is constant exposure to the source of the fear! :)
Agree with Keith. Friendliness is likely to go much farther than aggression. Sometimes, though, one must defend one's right to take pictures without harassing others.
hammerman
07-28-2007, 01:29
vodid and gb hill, i will look out the negs of that day. they are buried in boxes as would be much the same for many of us. it was a memorable day but not unlike my former job. i had just left seven years in germany as a civilian "independent" photographer for the mixed allied forces, often finding myself in places "independent photographers" weren't supposed to be. that was a "2" job with the adrenalin of a "4." but i was young and unbreakable. so having a spell cast on me seemed an equal risk to being shot, i reckon. today, i live in a sleepy part of australia where no one believes my stories...just as well. i will look out the negs and see if i can get a scan. that is another thread i have started here...scanning problems... stay tuned, as they say... dj
right, i have just looked out the negs...sat'dy night here and got no life... i found two images which show her displeasure at my attention to her...i will scan them in the next days and return to this post with images as well as in my gallery if they are printable. to be honest, never printed them so this will be an exciting journey. looking at my other landscape negs of that trip across the US in 1979 i must have thought i was ansel adams... never mind. we'll see what comes up, eh? she had black clothes, a hard face and thick gray long hair...sound right?
PetarDima
07-28-2007, 07:19
When I started to shoot street shots, some people said to me:
Get closer - in other case, your photos will tell he is chicken :p
Then I thought - Yes, it's true - I don't have enuff strenght :( ,
but, it's true: it's very, very hard to have '' natural look '' of people, when they realise that you have camera - it's not about - are you strong or not
it's about decisive moment
that's why we are playing chess with photography ...
foto_fool
07-28-2007, 07:24
If I want more than one frame from close enough to speak to the subject, I ask. Met some very cool people that way.
- John
I like people to know I am taking the picture. I like the eye contact. Living in Japan it was easy, but sometimes people were just too shy.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1001/922037074_e6a5ffdcf5.jpg
eric.schmiedl
07-28-2007, 11:17
4) I've gone subway shooting with a Mamiya 645 Pro TL "Loud Slow Huge Black Camera of Doom." Delta 3200 baby!
And yes, I was looking through the viewfinder like a man and not right-angle-focusing on the ground glass like a wuss :)
vodid and gb hill, i will look out the negs of that day. they are buried in boxes as would be much the same for many of us. it was a memorable day but not unlike my former job. i had just left seven years in germany as a civilian "independent" photographer for the mixed allied forces, often finding myself in places "independent photographers" weren't supposed to be. that was a "2" job with the adrenalin of a "4." but i was young and unbreakable. so having a spell cast on me seemed an equal risk to being shot, i reckon. today, i live in a sleepy part of australia where no one believes my stories...just as well. i will look out the negs and see if i can get a scan. that is another thread i have started here...scanning problems... stay tuned, as they say... dj
right, i have just looked out the negs...sat'dy night here and got no life... i found two images which show her displeasure at my attention to her...i will scan them in the next days and return to this post with images as well as in my gallery if they are printable. to be honest, never printed them so this will be an exciting journey. looking at my other landscape negs of that trip across the US in 1979 i must have thought i was ansel adams... never mind. we'll see what comes up, eh? she had black clothes, a hard face and thick gray long hair...sound right?
Glad to here you found the neg. Hope you can get a good scan. As for knowing if thats the infamous bead lady I guess we will have to here from Vodod.
Todd.Hanz
07-28-2007, 18:59
somedays 3 and somedays 4...who really cares?
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1426/927711195_93715cb2dd_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1380/772409733_d26483b8e5_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/447783677_5a6c17afaa_o.jpg
it's really just a matter of composition, light and framing, isn't it? I mean...we have these discussions about every third week here, it gets boring after a couple years I think. Just step a couple feet further into the frame and push the shutter, thats it.
Todd
It depends on what Im shooting. With people im anywhere from a 2 to a 4... but with architecture and light its a 4.
With people most of the time I just take the photo and if they see me with the camera I just look at them and point to the camera with a look of, "is it alright?". Most just nod or others just kindly shake their head in a "ee, please no."
Post deleted by posters request
markinlondon
07-29-2007, 06:46
Mostly 1, sometimes 3.
hammerman
07-30-2007, 21:27
well, here is a pic of the woman who might be the Bead Lady.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=67247
i didn't think it appropriate to upload the pictures of her lurching at me, her next gesture as she shouted. she clearly didn't want me taking her picture so this is as much as i am prepared to publish in this format. i remember the sensation well...! perhaps in an exhibition in the near future.
Stephanie Brim
07-30-2007, 21:36
Somewhere between 1 and 4. Not quite sure where yet.
Hammerman...thanks for posting the photo...Yep, that's the bead lady. More about the bead lady as a comment under the photo of her in your RFF gallery. Imagine a gravelly voice that is more scary than sweet..."Would you like to buy a lucky bead?" The correct response is a very polite No, Thank You. But of course, that's all in the past. I gotta admit, I sorta miss seeing the surly old bead lady...but only from a safe distance.
Harry Lime
07-31-2007, 03:02
I'm not hesitant to shoot from very close (2-5 meters) in the middle of the street.
Most people never know I was there. Over the years I've learned a few tricks to make myself 'invisible' and they don't involve a role of black tape ;-). A pleasant demeanour and a little charm also go a long way. If people ask me what I am doing I tell them I'm an artist working on a photo project. Most people consider artists to be harmless and poor, where as photographers get lumped in with the paparazzi who in the opinion of most of the public should be burned at the stake.
But regardless you are going to have to learn to live with the fact that you are intruding on people's lives for a split second and not all will be happy about it. That's just part of the territory and something you need to learn to live with. There is a great article about this as the introduction of Richard Kalvar's book "Terriens".
I also believe that a lot of this is location dependent.
It is one thing to shoot freely in the middle of Time Square or Central Park, but a whole different story in a place like Harlem or South Central Los Angeles. If you try this in the wrong neighbourhood, without easing yourself in to the community or getting sanctioned, you may be in for a trip to the hospital or worse.
HL
Harry Lime
07-31-2007, 03:18
Hammerman...thanks for posting the photo...Yep, that's the bead lady. More about the bead lady as a comment under the photo of her in your RFF gallery. Imagine a gravelly voice that is more scary than sweet..."Would you like to buy a lucky bead?" The correct response is a very polite No, Thank You. But of course, that's all in the past. I gotta admit, I sorta miss seeing the surly old bead lady...but only from a safe distance.
Cool.
Last time I was in New Orleans I got shot at, because I accidentally got to close to a meth lab, while wandering through the rubble around 2:00am.
But I think you are right. The city is not what it used to be. Rap, gang culture and Katrina may have killed whatever was left of the 'old New Orleans'.
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