Does the size/complexity of equipment get in the way of street shooting?

[JohnTF]

OK, if this is in the wrong place, administrators, please feel free to move it.

I have a friend I wish to equip for shooting a bit under the radar, and I may try this myself.

In some cultures, if you have an expensive looking rig, you are met as an artist and treated well, and some places as just someone to be avoided. My excellent photo friend Florencio can and does get great street portraits with a large SLR Lens combination, and gets a lot of cooperation in Mexico.

Is a Leica Mini, with Elmar 35mm 3.5, a viable choice to shoot street images without undue attention, or would you feel totally unequipped to get anything worth even an 8x10?

Am thinking you were say to shoot XP2 in this P&S? You can turn the flash on and off, the lens has a built in clear cover/cap, it does have a red Leica circle, but certainly it looks unpretentious, well, it really is. Negative film seems to work well in this camera. 🙂

 

[FrankS]

John, I think the most significant limitation of doing street potography with a P+S camera is the inability to manually set the focus distance with most of these camera types. With a P+S camera, unless the subject is centered and read by the autofocus sensor, the camera may focus itself at infinity.

I liked walking around England and France with a Leica IIf and 35 Summaron lens. I set the focus manually to say, 6ft/2m, and then walk to that distance from the subject. Exposure is already set, and I notice the DOF available at the aperture and distance set.

Sometimes I treated this setup like a digi-cam, holding it up out in front of my face as if I were looking at a screen on the back. Folks don't seem to be intimidated as much by digi-cams, as by a camera held to the photographer's eye. I guess that it seems more casual and a less considered way of shooting.

The most important thing though, is your attitude, not your equipment. Some photographers can successfully do street photography with big MF film cameras or large dSLR gear.

 

[JohnTF]

John, I think the most significant limitation of doing street potography with a P+S camera is the inability to manually set the focus distance with most of these camera types. With a P+S camera, unless the subject is centered and read by the autofocus sensor, the camera may focus itself at infinity.

I liked walking around England and France with a Leica IIf and 35 Summaron lens. I set the focus manually to say, 6ft/2m, and then walk to that distance from the subject. Exposure is already set, and I notice the DOF available at the aperture and distance set.

Sometimes I treated this setup like a digi-cam, holding it up out in front of my face as if I were looking at a screen on the back. Folks don't seem to be intimidated as much by digi-cams, as by a camera held to the photographer's eye. I guess that it seems more casual and a less considered way of shooting.

I agree, have done the same, which takes care of me, but I am wondering about the friend who has only used P&S and Nikon SLR? Interesting comment about the screen thing, I somehow thought people would have less tolerance for the digital world. I would have preferred Charlie Rose to have had a second hour with HCB and asked a few technical questions, but I definitely got the impression that the technique was entirely secondary.

If I am working with AF, say with a Contax G2, it will make some focusing errors unless I set it as you do your IIf? Exposure is spot on. 🙂

Perhaps I should put a fresh roll in the and send it to each of you to shoot six photos. ;-) Appreciate your reply.

 

[FrankS]

Hi John,

Any job is more enjoyable to do if you have an appropriate tool to do it.

 

[JohnTF]

It depends also on exacly what you're looking for.

In the RFF gallery "Belle" has some great street portraits done with a Rolleiflex.

I often know what I am looking for just after I find it.

Generally, I would think the technical ability to gather an image I have found. Am also speaking for my friend, who is not here. Chance and the prepared mind?

Nice image, now I have to dust off the Rollei. ;-)

Have been surprised by the relatively open nature of the people in some small towns in Mexico, of which I am reminded by this image, and have made some notes to revisit, with film this time.

Had a friend from Germany who could handle three M6's very quickly in the streets.

 

[cosmonot]

And one might argue that the appropriate tool is the one you can use most effectively, regardless of it's size or complexity.

 

[JohnTF]

Hi John,

Any job is more enjoyable to do if you have an appropriate tool to do it.

I also find it odd that there are certain days that as long as I have film, light, and any acceptably good camera, I manage to find several, often unrelated, good images. The kind you know when you shoot, and generally print without cropping.

I do not always have a camera with me, and those images stay with me as well, the "ones" that got away.

I think I know a few people who have those days more often than I. ;-)

Regards, John

 

[Rogier]

What about taking a old fashioned looking camera like a folder. Approach the person nicely and ask. I bet you want have to ask them to smile ;-)
More importantly people (officials in uniform...) might not take you seriously...

 

[kennethcooke]

I quite like the approach Frank adopts where he holds the camera up to his face but not to his eye. I think that might be less intimidating to a potential subject. I will try it next time I am on the streets. I bought a hand held lightmeter (Weston) so as I can check exposure information without having to bring my camera up to my eye. This, I can then preset along with the distance.

 

[JohnTF]

What about taking a old fashioned looking camera like a folder. Approach the person nicely and ask. I bet you want have to ask them to smile ;-)
More importantly people (officials in uniform...) might not take you seriously...

There are certainly times for that, and holding a camera to your eye for a while generally lets people know you are interested in photographing them, but if you are looking for something more candid or animated, you might either grab the moment, or wait until they are used to your presence and otherwise occupied. Certainly the "old camera" is beginning to match better with the shooter in my case. ;-)

I always wonder what the guy releaving himself by the wall in HCB's shot was thinking as he was looking in the direction of the camera, I do not think I would have shot that, but who knows the more you hang about the more relaxed you get. And he certainly was not alone.

I guess I was not that clear in my post, and there are times when the subject is interesting and relaxed as the Rolllei photograph posted.

If I am in Prague, my Czech is limited to Prosim Pivo, for the most part, so the act of holding a camera up must be equal to asking.

Funny, my friend shot a series of a dozen shots of a policeman directing traffic there, and the officer was a slight bit more animated and not at all evasive. Neither spoke a common language, but he walked up to him with three cameras, so in this case the equipment was obvious.

I somewhere have a shot of two students standing next to one of the well known British guards, whose bayonet got a little close to her back side and his eyes did deflect, so these are both street shots when someone was "asked". This guy probably gets 500 photos a day.

I am not really out to photograph something I would be normally denied, and if I can, I sometimes go back even a year or more later with some prints, but the question is still does elaborate equipment get in the way, and if you choose something simpler such as the Mini what chance do you have to not offend, and get the shots you would like?

For me, I have a number of cameras I can use, but my friend does not have the inclination to learn how to scale focus and handle the type of cameras of which you speak. I think a Bessa L makes a terrific camera for that use, as you can see the meter from the top, but my friend is not going to be able to use this, unless I perhaps set the camera like a "box camera".


If it were up to me teaching photo students, this might be a good exercise, but I am antediluvian in that I think everyone should learn on cheap old cameras with lots of adjustments and film.

On some program, a guy hands a camera to a young beginning student and tells her to start with all manual settings so she really learn. It was an M8.

I think I am drifting to experimentation from theory, but the comments so far are interesting.

 

[JohnTF]

I quite like the approach Frank adopts where he holds the camera up to his face but not to his eye. I think that might be less intimidating to a potential subject. I will try it next time I am on the streets. I bought a hand held lightmeter (Weston) so as I can check exposure information without having to bring my camera up to my eye. This, I can then preset along with the distance.

Certainly you are being open with your intentions.

Regards, John

 

[JohnTF]

It depends also on exactly what you're looking for.

In the RFF gallery "Belle" has some great street portraits done with a Rolleiflex.

Having looked at this several times, I remember the perspective difference with a TLR, and using the Rollei may also allow people to puzzle about your intentions, rather than possibly seeing you as a stalking Paparazzi?

Somehow a gentleman out with a Rollei for a stroll may disarm subjects? I guess I might have to look around for a gentleman to match my Rollei. ;-)

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

It depends also on exacly what you're looking for.

In the RFF gallery "Belle" has some great street portraits done with a Rolleiflex.

Nice. The Rolleiflex is for the discriminating type of street photographer. A lot of dedication, patience and knowledge, if you're shooting wide open and without the assistance of a flash.

I have a number of rolls I've shot with my Rolleiflex I still haven't developed, including a handful from my last visit to Paris, last year.

Here's a "street" shot from a few years ago:






Both with Rolleiflex Automat IV + T-Max 400 @ ISO 800 in Diafine

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Hi John,

Any job is more enjoyable to do if you have an appropriate tool to do it.

No, it's not true! Everybody knows that a butter knife is the best tool for any job. Ever. There, I said it. Now I'm famous and smart. 😉

 

[35mmdelux]

it has more to do with the photographer than the gear. In the old days the masters used the Rollieflex and did fabulous work. HCB, Evans, and the other guys used Leicas and they did quite well too. I think the ability to work quietly in addition to discreetly is valuable.

 

[JohnTF]

Nice. The Rolleiflex is for the discriminating type of street photographer. A lot of dedication, patience and knowledge, if you're shooting wide open and without the assistance of a flash.

I have a number of rolls I've shot with my Rolleiflex I still haven't developed, including a handful from my last visit to Paris, last year.

Here's a "street" shot from a few years ago:






Both with Rolleiflex Automat IV + T-Max 400 @ ISO 800 in Diafine

The waist level perspective reminds me of the very early days with my Brownie, the quality reminds me of my Rollei 3.5 and a few other of that style.

I used to sometimes put the Rollei on the ground, put a folded handkerchief under the front edge to cut out some of the ground, and get an even lower viewpoint.

Conversely, I sometimes held the Rollei upside down over my head, using the strap to steady it, to get over a crowd. Makes me think about taking it for a stroll.

Great shots, Regards, John

 

[JohnTF]

it has more to do with the photographer than the gear. In the old days the masters used the Rollieflex and did fabulous work. HCB, Evans, and the other guys used Leicas and they did quite well too. I think the ability to work quietly in addition to discreetly is valuable.

In the Charlie Rose interview, HCB describes how he used a short strap to keep his Leica in his hand. I am thinking he composed in his head, zone focused, and shot quickly on many occasions.

I got pretty candid shots in high school, as I was working without flash indoors, and people were accustomed to only flash photography. I was shooting Tri X at 800 developed in D76. My camera had a 2.8 lens and was scale focus, essentially no light meter.

Regards, John