Overcoming fear

[kipkeston]

Phew, good to hear Morca.

Taking these street photos is exhilarating, especially when head on with your subject and a 35. It's like asking different women out over and over again as you walk down the street, but dare I say, even better.

[itf]

I'm a bit late posting on this; just noticed the last post was about a week ago, and I might just be echoing others anyway.

I'll start by saying there are people that can't understand why some always carry a camera with them and take photos wherever they go. They ask "Don't you feel like you're missing life and always just seeing it through a lens?" Or something along those lines. I think it is based on seeing tourists going to sites and constantly taking photos while there, missing out (perhaps) on the experience of being at the place.

For myself photography is very different from this perception people have. It makes me actually be in my surrounds rather than just observe as a seperate part of it; I meet people and explore places. Sometimes it's hard to say whether I carry my camera because I do this anyway, or if I do this because I carry my camera.

Anyway, this is a long way of getting around to saying I rarely ask anyone if I can take their photo, but I do remain upbeat and happy and (I'm sure) looking like I'm absorbed by the wonder of it all (because usually I am). I don't hide that I'm taking photos, and don't try to make it obvious either, though I am quick.

Sometimes people see me take their photo so I give them a smile, they might smile back or have a laugh, and might even invite me to join them in whatever they're doing. Other times they're inviting me to take their photo, or join them before I get a chance to photograph them (can't always be quick enough I guess). Often they're too preoccupied to notice, or just aren't bothered.

I have to add that different places are different though (obvious I guess). In the North-West of England I was almost lynched by a group of teenagers because they thought I was a paedophile out to get their younger siblings, x-ray Canon QL17 in hand. They wound up calling the police instead, and I was hounded for a week with phonecalls and home visits. Apparently there had been a man spotted photographing through a local school's fence from his car. They came around to my place saying "I suppose you know why you're here..."! Even this was positive in the end; I made friends with them and was invited along to some community meetings.

This has ended up quite long, I'll end it on a happy note. I'm in Cambodia at the moment, and in the last three days I've hung out in the back of a pickup truck outside a Phnom Penh market drinking cheap Cambodian spirits in the day's final light with a group of young drivers, hung out with factory workers in their living quarters above the factory while they had lunch, sat on a street corner with tuk-tuk and cyclo (cycle rickshaw) drivers, and hustled with some street-kids. I speak virtually no Khmer, and all but one tuk-tuk driver and one factory worker spoke virtually no English so the usual ways of meeting people were rather limited.

I'm disappointed I can't share any photos; I'm still a six weeks away from home (Australia), processing, printing, scanning, editing, etc. And I'm itching to see!

EDIT: Wow, this really was long. All this just to say be natural, open, and above all enjoy it. If others become suspicious, continue to be natural and open and if you can enjoy that too....

[marke]

navilluspm: I'm sorry but I never did comment on your earlier photos. I just wanted to say how much the one of the teenager moved me, and the story behind it really gave us something real to connect with.

kipkeston: I hope I didn't sound discouraging in my initial response. Sometimes it takes a bit to jog a person's perception out of their present rut, and Morca007's comment helped me with that. Now when I look at it, I see something I hadn't seen before. It gives me the feeling like the man is almost watching a movie and not something happening right before his eyes. The fact that he is centered seems to reinforce his disconnection with the scene, as if he's watching from behind a two way mirror.

itf: Wow! It sure sounds like you are having the kind of experience in photography I only dream of having! Being IN the scene, becoming part of the scene until no one gives you a second look. I hope you keepus posted as to when we can view some of what you're capturing!

[marke]

[marke]

[itf]

itf: Wow! It sure sounds like you are having the kind of experience in photography I only dream of having! Being IN the scene, becoming part of the scene until no one gives you a second look. I hope you keepus posted as to when we can view some of what you're capturing!

Thanks Mark. I'm generally not a particularly outgoing person, though not desperately introverted either. I'm just friendly and interested, people often talk to me first. I hope some of my photos do justice to the times I have when I'm out and about (though I've seen some of my UK photos, which I was happy with), and hopefully I'll have some to show by early next year.

I really like those photos you have. I like the way the series begins by being unclear about what is happening, and progresses to give its answer.

[wlewisiii]

Fear? Fear is the mind killer. The rest is well near irrelevant.

(No, do not take me seriously. I did 16 years taking Uncle Sam's Dollar. I know all to well what fear means. I just really hate that pos comment that I used, half seriously, above. )

William

[Welsh_Italian]

Fear is a challenge for my photography. For me, when a picture has people in it, it becomes far more interesting; when they are doing something, this increases. But I'm always concerned about being confronted (though I can talk my way out of most situations) or even getting involved in a fight.

Recently, I went to a market with the intention of taking some pictures for the market's website. So in a way, I had permission and a reason to shoot. That made me feel much better and bolder about doing so. Although it wasn't my first attempt at street photography, it was the first one where I felt comfortable enough to approach people.

Most regular folks seemed confused but also a bit shy that I wanted to take pictures of them, but I wanted to capture something of the left-ish atmosphere of the place (it's an organic foods type market). I asked for permission from the first couple here but the second were just snapped.





The market traders didn't seem to be in the slightest bit bothered and carried on about their business.

(note the people in the background who seem to be watching me - I guess I wasn't as discrete as I thought!)






By the time I left, I was absolutely buzzing and couldn't wait to take more pictures around the city. It certainly helped to increase my confidence in taking pictures of people, and will help me as I seek to learn more about this fascinating artform.

disclaimer - these are DSLR pics (boo! hiss! lol!), but I needed the results to be available quickly.

[Matt White]

Hi, folks. I'm new to RFF, but I thought I'd share my recent attempt to overcome the fear factor in street photography. I'm mainly a landscapes, wildlife and architecture kind of person - partly because I've always been quite shy about asking strangers if I can take their picture, and nervous about the potential confrontations if I shoot without asking.

So for the past couple of weeks I've been out and about without any film in my camera, just walking around behaving as if I was taking pictures of as many people as I could. The idea of having no film was that I could deal with a confrontation by saying something like: "It's a new camera. I'm just testing the exposure setting, focusing and handling. I didn't notice you in the frame. Terribly sorry. Look, there's not even a film in the camera."

Having that escape route gave me more confidence than I have previously been able to muster in just using the camera openly in the street. I have been able to test different styles and approaches to shooting. And probably the most significant thing for me is that, in openly taking hundreds of non-photos, not one person said or did anything hostile or aggressive. I've had a few puzzled or slightly awkward looks, quite a lot of smiles, and a few pleasant snippets of conversation, but mostly people just didn't notice, or they ignored me. I haven't had to use my pre-prepared explanation at all.

I now have film loaded again and have been shooting for real. It's not quite as easy with a loaded camera; and it's too early to say the exercise has been a complete success, since I don't have much of a collection of real images to show. But still I feel a lot more confident than a month ago. And I can always go back to no film and work out different working methods if the confidence wavers. The only regret I have now is from the thought of all those shots I didn't get because of the absence of film.