Street Shooters: Polling Your Style

[RayPA]

OK. There are lots of different styles and philosophies surrounding street shooting (street photography), and much of that has to do with the photographer's style, or approach.

Is your street shooting style:

a. Expressionistic In-Your-Face Gonzo—I'm the Photographer; I'm Taking Your Picture!
b. Humanistic—I'd like to take your picture, and with your permission I press the shutter release.
c. Unobtrusive and Stealthy—Ah, there's a moment, and I'd Like to capture the essence of that moment, unseen and unbeknownst to you. You will never know I was here.
d. I'm way too shy for this stuff. Real photographers shoot landscapes anyway.


🙂

 

[RayPA]

I like the essence of the moment and remaining unseen. Carry on!




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[cp_ste.croix]

I am a ninja.


But seriously, I aim for stealth, but upon confrontation am a mix of gonzo and humanistic. Does that make sense?

 

[RayPA]

I am a ninja.


But seriously, I aim for stealth, but upon confrontation am a mix of gonzo and humanistic. Does that make sense?

It does. I do the same. I cross all of the top three, but prefer the stealth.



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[jbf]

I take on pretty much every one of those roles excluding the shyness part.

Sometimes i'm in your face taking your photos, others i'm stealthy. It all depends on the moment/situation/etc.


Most recently I'm shooting with the style of Gary Winogrand, etc.

 

[RayPA]

done. all's well.


🙂

 

[detzie]

Well then, I'll remove it as well 🙂

 

[RayPA]

Accepted, Pitxu. I've seen your work. I understand. I just don't want this thread to disintegrate. I've seen many threads here driven off topic. I'm just hoping folks become more sensitive to the original purpose of a thread.

Welcome back, btw. 🙂

 

[Bingley]

I like the essence of the moment and remaining unseen. Carry on!




.

Ray -- I, too, prefer this approach, although if someone notices I will try to smile serenely and inquire if they'd mind if I just... oops, I just pressed the shutter! I am more of the observer, rather than participant, school of street photography. Maybe that's why I prefer using a 50mm, rather than 35mm or wider, lens. It maintains a little distance.

 

[jky]

I am a ninja.

I'd be a chicken ninja.... the kind that would be discrete, but with the biggest butterflies in my stomach...

 

[Sjixxxy]

It varies quite a bit with me.

With my M3 its either stealthy, or expresionist, depending on the scene.

When I use my Speed Graphic, it is pretty much all Expresionist. That thingis hard to be stealthy with.

Far as my shooting experience has gone though, I find that my favorites that I've produced have come from the expressionist or humanistic options as you've described them.

 

[RayPA]

I'd be a chicken ninja.... the kind that would be discrete, but with the biggest butterflies in my stomach...

I think I like that rush.


🙂

 

[Honus]

Now, what was the topic again? 😀

I just voted and was shocked to see the results thus far. Evidently stealthy is quite popular these days. If I were Hillary or Obama I would start courting the stealthy vote ASAP.

Back to the topic - shooting street is a delicate proposition in this day and age (speaking as a US citizen). The police/security-guard group wants to throw 9/11 in your face, pointing your lens at a child turns you into a pedophile and people in general are quite irascible towards photographers. It's no wonder that stealthy is so popular.

 

[RayPA]

Now, what was the topic again? 😀

I just voted and was shocked to see the results thus far. Evidently stealthy is quite popular these days. If I were Hillary or Obama I would start courting the stealthy vote ASAP.

Back to the topic - shooting street is a delicate proposition in this day and age (speaking as a US citizen). The police/security-guard group wants to throw 9/11 in your face, pointing your lens at a child turns you into a pedophile and people in general are quite irascible towards photographers. It's no wonder that stealthy is so popular.

I'm surprised too. I thought the Humanistic approach would lead. I really like all three of the options, and have used all three. Funny, at our last local RFF shoot I was able to watch Brad (streetpix) shoot with his 12-24 AF on a dSLR, and I would definitely categorize his approach as gonzo/expressionistic, and the results bear that out. Great stuff, but it's different from what us RF film shooters produced, and our approach was vastly different.


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[Doug]

I like the subjects to be aware and at least tacitly accede to the photo, and like the interaction with the subject. But I'll often suggest they return to what they were doing when I interrupted them, as that's what had drawn my interest.

 

[dan denmark]

hello. i am thinking street photography is all about the moment, the instant. some scenes or instant events simply have to be captured for whatever personal reason and so the style i choose is expressionistic and unobtrusive. i think they can be one when you transcend the act of shooting and enter the realm of recording.

but today the laws are the same in favour of the subject everywhere and know no international boundries and the question exists for the unobtrusive photographer, "what do you do with the photograph?"

i think this thread should perhaps lead to another of your polls and ask that question, what does a street photographer who shoots unobtrusively do with the image? do you shoot and then ask permission or do you stealth away with a moment of someone's personal spirit?

when i shot this way (i still do, actually) we had no need for permission or releases, especially if we were a foreigner in a foreign country. we had the feeling in the 60s and 70s that the stolen subject had no rights, especially if the stolen spirit was from a country we european westerners felt were of a culture not like our own.

unobtrusive is one thing, stealth is another. respect and rights are yet other considerations, recording the moment yet another (not to be confused with the opportunistic artificial world proferred by the self enamored journalista). i prefer to think that nearly fifty years later i can exhibit my street shots of many kinds of western and non-western streets but there is always the chance in this new global world that a relative will recognise a violation.

sad but true. we do not shoot in this manner to intimidate but to reflect. how can this be justified without the relfection of ill intent?

this is a thought i have when i frame a shot. faces? how will the subject be enhanced or compromised by faces or recognisable characteristics? will i be approached the week before i die? too many things to think of nowadays.

so we steal. still.

dd

 

[mfunnell]

The humanistic approach is the most polite, for sure, but it can alter the naturalness of the shot. I prefer the stealth method not to hide or catch someone doing something silly, but rather to retain a natural look, like if I wasn't there. though all aproaches have their merits.

I couldn't agree more. What I'm usually after is the naturalness, which generally constrains me to "unobtrusive" (though never sneaky).

...Mike

 

[Spider67]

When taking photographs of people I like the humanist approach...I had a magic streak of several month in a row when no one declined my qrequest.
I like parades when nobody's complaining about his picture being taken.
so it "humanist and stealth" for me.
My ideal would be "unobtrusive" being around people who forget that you are taking photos of them all the while.

 

[lZr]

I voted c option, but sometimes I go b option. It depends on the idea I have.
Sitemistic is correct, but people don't know that or don't mind about

 

[Roger Hicks]

Unobtrusive but not stealthy. I smile a lot. A lot of people smile back, before or after they've noticed I'm taking pics.

Cheers,

R.