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I received an interesting email today from one of my blog subscribers, relating to her being too shy to try her hand at street photography. I found it interesting that she should bring this up, as I was out doing just that on Saturday, after not having done it for quite some time.

I was prompted by Scott Kelby’s Old School Photo Challenge, which was basically where he suggested an interesting return to the creativity and uncertainty of shooting film instead of digital. He challenged us to turn off the LCD screens on the back of our cameras and choose one ISO setting and stick to it. Then no looking at the shots we took for 24 hours. We were encouraged not to work on the photos, but as I shot in RAW, some post processing was necessary, but only (in the case of this photo) a basic levels adjustment, slight tweak to the recovery, a small boost of definition (‘clarity’ for my Lightroom-wielding friends) and a very small amount trimmed off around the left-hand side.

I went out armed only with my beloved D700, with a 50mm f/1.8 prime stuck on it. A prime lens is one that has no zoom/telephoto capabilities. If you want to get closer to, or further from, your subject, you have to do it with your feet! I chose this lens because it’s one that I have probably only ever used half a dozen times. Ordinarily I’ll take either the D700 with the 24-70mm f/2.8, or my D300S with the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR. Whilst going ‘walkabout’ in a purely opportunistic way, I tend to use the latter. This is quite simply because it’s an excellent all-round combination. Great camera and the lens offers a great range of focal lengths.

So this was a rig that I was not fully comfortable with. I really enjoyed the exercise. I had to rethink the way I approached my shots and pay extra care to the compositional aspects. It’s something that I’ll definitely be trying again and for those of us that can’t readily think of ways to challenge ourselves to think outside of our normal boundaries, Scott will be posting a different challenge every month. I urge you to visit his site regularly, or even better, subscribe to his RSS feed, so you receive notifications to your inbox with a synopsis of the days post. For those of you unfamiliar with RSS feeds, either do a search on Google (it really is very simple), or wait for a day or two and I’ll post some useful info on how to stay connected to some of the most interesting and useful blogs out there, without having to visit them all individually.

So, back to the topic at hand. Being too shy to take photographs of strangers in the street is completely understandable. I still sometimes feel slightly uneasy and always to a quick assessment to see if I could cause offense by taking the shot. If it seems likely, don’t take it. No shot is worth you getting more trouble than you care for. Some journalists and conflict photographers will certainly disagree with me, but if you don’t fall into either of those two categories, please exercise caution, restraint and common sense.

Also be mindful of shooting situations that may cause distress to the subject should they come across a published shot of themselves portrayed in a way that they wouldn’t want friends, family or colleagues to see them. Examples may include homeless people, public drunkenness, taking drugs and even public displays of affection could also qualify. You never know, someone could be cheating on a partner and you don’t want to get dragged into a divorce dispute in court! So discretion is important, as is self-restraint in some instances.

However, I don’t want to sound too restrictive here. These are just my personal guidelines and they are just that; guidelines. I occasionally break these rules, as every situation is unique. If the subject is passed out drunk in a public place and you photograph them in such a way that they can’t be readily identified, then that should be OK. If you would be horrified to find a publicly available photo of you in a particular ‘personal’ situation, then I would err on the side of caution when shooting such an image.

As cute as they are, children should also generally be photographed only with the parent’s permission. I’m quite certain the reasons for this are obvious.

One should also exercise caution when photographing around sites that could be seen as potential terrorist targets, such as airports, military and police establishments, etc. If you do find yourself approached by a police officer or security guard, they can advise you of any possible contravention, but they have no right to force you to either delete any images or surrender your memory cards or equipment. They don’t even have the right to view your images without ‘just cause’. Now exactly what constitutes ‘just cause’ is open to interpretation, so I would encourage you to read up on guidelines and laws for your particular country, as they will vary. Also check up any regulations when visiting a foreign country. What is perfectly acceptable at home may be strictly against the law elsewhere, so take the time to check what is and what isn’t permitted.

You may also find that many buildings listed as private property, such as shopping centers, do not permit photography inside, although there will normally be notification of this at the entrance.

So, now all the scary stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the fun part!

Taking photographs on the street can yield some very satisfying results. If you look around you, you’ll see small stories happening all around you. Take the shot above. The homeless guy sitting with the refuse, asking for change; the people walking away from him, whilst the only one looking at him, is the garbage man (and his look is not one of compassion). This photograph really resonated with me. Obviously these kind of situations happen very quickly, so you need to be on your toes. I was squatting down to take a shot of the homeless man at his usual spot, when through the viewfinder I saw the garbage man approaching him. The bin was obviously in need of emptying, so I watched patiently, finger pressed halfway down on the shutter and waited for the ‘decisive moment’ to happen.

For those of you who’ve been following my blogging endeavour, you may recall my talking about this in my first post. It was a concept that was first really discussed by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was one of the most celebrated street photographers.

Basically, it’s the moment when the action in the shot reaches it’s peak and fits seamlessly with the composition. OK, there isn’t a lot in the way of action going on here at first glance, but if you have a moment, study the image. The homeless man’s face turned to watch the people passing him by as though he doesn’t even exist, his beer bottle doubling as a vase, in a somewhat hopeful way of prompting the donation of more change, the cups on the garbage bin behind him; Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Starbucks. All symbols of success and  disposable income. And then the look on the face of the garbage man.

There really is a lot going on here. A photographic masterpiece? No, of course not, but an interesting piece of social documentary? I like to think so.

In this situation, I simply took the shot and walked away, but when photographing homeless people (which I do quite a lot), I like to approach them and talk to them a little. Give them some spare change and ask them if I can take their photograph. The vast majority give their permission.

I think they’re so used to people ignoring them, that to have a little compassionate human interaction is worth even more to them the price of a cup of coffee. I believe that all too often people assume that they’re alcoholics or drug addicts that can’t be bothered to get a job, but there are a multitude of reasons why someone may be living on the streets. I’m certain that for most of them, it’s not choice. Either way, I find that this exercise can be very rewarding and enjoy meeting and speaking with these people. You’d be surprised just how approachable and friendly most of them are. I heard (or read) a quote from a street-person once, that I found very grounding. I’m paraphrasing here and don’t remember where I saw it, so can’t double check it, but basically the guy said something along the lines of; “Anyone of those people walking past me, without so much of a smile to give, is only one paycheck away from my life”.

Pretty powerful stuff.

OK. This has taken on a life of it’s own and I didn’t intend for the post to go on quite this long, so I’ll break it down and continue tomorrow. I do hope this makes some kind of sense and remember, take care out there! Make sure you don’t go anywhere on your own where you could be vulnerable and if specifically trying to get these kinds of shot at night, make sure you tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to return. Perhaps arrange to give them a call, just to let them know you’re home safe.

I’d be interested to hear any thoughts or comments you may have on any of the stuff I’ve touched upon here and look forward to catching up with you again tomorrow.