Hip???

[Bill Pierce]

I’ve always felt a little embarrassed about shooting from the hip when I’m photographing on the streets. After all, one of the first great street shooters, Cartier Bresson raised the camera to his eye (albeit quickly up and quickly down). Hip shooting seemed a little like cheating. It was my shameful secret. Then I looked up “hip shooting” on the web. The first search page was filled from top to bottom with articles that described the practice positively. More than positive, they were actually laudatory. I wasn’t a cheat; I was an artist.

Well, maybe a cheating artist… Your thoughts?

 

[boojum]

Many, many moons ago I read an article by a street shooter who was shooting from just above the ground. A new perspective; a new response from his subjects. If we were really dogmatic about this we would be using 8x10 glass plate cameras on huge tripods. Whatever it takes, short of a physical assault, seems fair to me. And if you do resort to a physical assault, tell them it is for your art. ;o)

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Bill, check out this book that came out way back in 1988. I have it, its an interesting book with some great photos. All were shot with a Nikon 35mm AF point-n-shoot camera!

https://www.amazon.com/Hipshot-One-Handed-Auto-Focus-Photographs-Photographer/dp/0893812935

 

[TenEleven]

I think without trying to overstep my jurisdiction, so to speak, I feel that there are two topics that you are conflating:

• the pictures that you would like to take
• the techniques that you use to do the above

For me personally, I usually like people reacting to me and the camera so I rarely shoot from the hip.
Unless it's a Rolleiflex in which case I guess I'm shooting from the waist.

I feel that I do not have good control of the composition and framing when shooting from the hip. It's hard to imagine what the result is going to be like. It also seems harder to focus correctly, hold the camera steady as well as anticipating obstacles in the line-of-sight.

So for me, personally, shooting from the hip is a hail Mary that I will only resort to when I am out of other valid options this can be either due to it being really considered inappropriate to photograph there or simply physical constraints such as a hole in a fence at waist height.

I do know that it takes some practice to overcome your shyness of shooting strangers (while basically staring them down while doing it / focussing) but in the end it's worth it to me.

And, yes, in my experience every 500th or so person will react negatively to what you are doing and that (as long as they stay reasonably polite) is their good right and I will hear them and their concerns out. However this is not something I try to mentally burden myself with beforehand. It's one of these "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" kind of thing.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

If I'm working a crowded street I'll shoot from the hip. I don't care. I'll hold the camera over my head or hold it down beneath my knees if that's what it takes. When I do this if the camera/lens is autofocus capable I always set the focus distance manually, that way I have some control over what's going to be in focus.

Shot from the hip! (Yesterday 12 Feb 2022)​

Fujifilm X-H1, Fujinon XF 18mm f1.4 lens
Classic Chrome film simulation
Yokohama, Japan - February, 2022​

 

[agentlossing]

If you go further back than HCB, and I mean way back, there was already street photography being done with much bigger cameras, and these were often shot from the hip, surreptitiously. In fact, some were designed to seem like they were pointing straight ahead, but actually had a hidden lens on the side. So hip-shooting, or a form of it, is actually a lot older than raising a miniature camera to your eye. The book Bystander (history of street photography) goes into pretty good detail about this.

Of course, we look to HCB for a lot of etiquette because, well, he was French. Who better to teach us etiquette? Realistically, though, it was purely the small size of the early Leicas that made HCB raise the camera to his eye, they were harder to accurately point and shoot without framing (like my Ricoh GR, which is even smaller), plus he was anal about composition. I say, if you're okay with the more haphazard framing you get shooting from the hip, you can probably capture more fast-moving, close or dynamic candid subjects than HCB did, and that can be a style. In that case, rules schmules.

 

[zuiko85]

With most digital cameras having articulated screens it would seem shooting them from waist level, kind of like a TLR would be an option. Personally I think a 4x5 press camera is the way to go street shooting. Trouble is I don’t smoke and would look silly in a fedora so the other necessary accoutrements to this style would be missing. I suppose one could hide a small digital camera in the bellows with the lens hidden behind a series filter holder and small wireless triggered flash attached to a big flash dish.
Do you think many folks would notice if you weren’t changing out film holders or pulling the dark slides? That could give away the subterfuge.

 

[boojum]

Yes, I can and have shot waist level with an old Sony A7M II and can do it also with the A7M III. I have a lovely photo of a grouchy woman "of a certain age" in the garden at Giverny. She looks like she was weaned on a dill pickle, poor soul. To look so unhappy in such a pleasant place. Better her than me.

 

[luuca]

I do it often and I don't feel ashamed

all the time prefocused

 

[olakiril]

There are 3 reasons to shoot from the hip:

1. I am afraid there is no way I can get the approval of the people that I want to photograph
2. I will influence the photograph if they notice I take pictures of them
3. I am after that low-level pov

I am also embarrassed shooting from the hip because I feel everyone assumes 1.

 

[raydm6]

I don't practice it though I have thought about doing it with or without a WLF. I don't think it's cheating and I rather like the technique and vantage points.

Interesting article about Mark Cohen:

Mark Cohen: the photographer who literally shoots from the hip (from The Guardian):

"If you have your camera up to your eye, you can't keep track of what's going on," says photographer Mark Cohen. "By holding my camera down here" – he gestures to his waist – "I can suddenly take pictures." Cohen has a peculiar style of shooting: he does it secretly, and always at hip level. Working like a sniper, he gets close, snaps low, then moves away before anyone has the chance to bristle. "There's no conversation," he says. "I'm not interested in having to explain myself. I'm just using people on the street in the most transitory way."

Seems like he has a Gilden-esque approach which has its dangers:

Cohen likes to keep his wits about him while he walks, and finds that holding the camera low allows him to be extra watchful for antagonists. But his furtive shooting technique has always been laced with danger. One of his images is of a man, angered by the invasion of his personal space, swinging a punch at Cohen (Man Flinching, 1969). "That type of interaction took a psychological toll over the years," he says. "I made a lot of nifty pictures by being that close to people. But after a while, I went to a wider lens. 28mm. Then 35mm. Now I'm at 50mm, so I feel very safe."

 

[sojournerphoto]

I don't practice it though I have thought about doing it with or without a WLF. I don't think it's cheating and I rather like the technique and vantage points.

Interesting article about Mark Cohen:

Mark Cohen: the photographer who literally shoots from the hip (from The Guardian):



Seems like he has a Gilden-esque approach which has its dangers:

It’s interesting that his, very honest, appraisal, ‘I’m just using people in the street and in the most transitory way’ is likely to create its own antagonism. I suspect HCB was similar in point of view.

Equally, I’m not sure there’s an easy way around it - you can’t carry an ‘empathy flag’.

shoot from the hip - yep, but hardly ever get anything worthwhile. And yes it does feel shifty- but that’s the empathy thing again.

 

[Richard G]

Fred Herzog shot 35mm Kodachromes. He often shot from the hip, not wanting the raising of the camera to affect what was in front of him. How he kept the camera level is what beats me.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

It’s interesting that his, very honest, appraisal, ‘I’m just using people in the street and in the most transitory way’ is likely to create its own antagonism. I suspect HCB was similar in point of view.

Equally, I’m not sure there’s an easy way around it - you can’t carry an ‘empathy flag’.

shoot from the hip - yep, but hardly ever get anything worthwhile. And yes it does feel shifty- but that’s the empathy thing again.

I was a little confused by your post until I looked at your signature links. Now I get it.

All the best,
Mike

 

[Dogman]

Sure, I shoot from the hip. It's easier today with small, quiet cameras using AF and zone focusing has been a perfectly valid method for years.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Hip??? is the masked Hipsta. 😛
Remember Lomography and its rules? Take is from the hip and don’t think, were amongst those rules, I believe.
I liked results…

Some are saying Winogrand was doing it, but it was never shown of him doing it and ex his students told he was not welcoming it.
Which makes sense. Think about it, Leica was not cheap for him, nor for many of us who have paid for one of the best in camera optics.
So you paid huge money for Leica, including expensive framelines module in vf/RF or huge money for not even Leica made bright lines finder and then… you are acting like a looser, not hipsta, because true hipsta is using fsu junk with outdated film.

What honest people do these days? They buy Ricoh GR which has screen on the back. It is tiny and allows to shot from any angle, it just how flex are you.
And for those who can’t have guts camera with screen titling is made.

But ya, many with money and no guts holding Leica. They could barely used it on the street, by doing hip-sta, but they are willing to take parallax affected images of foliage and boring landscapes 😎

 

[ptpdprinter]

I am not all that interested in wasting a roll of film to see if I accidentally get something good shooting from the hip. Besides, I would probably have to crop the negative when printing, and that's a non-starter.

Seems like I remember some famous guy who cut a hole in his overcoat and shot film in the subway by snaking a cable release down his sleeve.

Edit: It was Walker Evans.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/259978

 

[Ambro51]

Going with a very small camera, no one at all notices

 

[Timmyjoe]

I'm a "hip shooting is cheating" believer. Unless you're in a very dangerous situation and you are trying to get the picture that is going to have life saving consequences for society. Otherwise, I think it's cheating.

If you want to make an image of something, own it, take responsibility for your decision to capture a moment. Don't sneak a picture so nobody knows you did it.

Just my 2¢ worth.

Best,
-Tim

 

[ptpdprinter]

I'm a "hip shooting is cheating" believer.

Cheating? If there is cheating, then there must be rules. Who is making the rules? Who died and left them in charge?