Considering a change of direction -- Photographing people

[tbarker13]

I love good street photography but I don't do it well and don't see much done well. Most shots catch people in awkward positions and the meaning seems to me to only be in the photographers mind and not conveyed in the photo.

I get my greatest enjoyment photographing people in their environment face to face. No candid shooting, just straight forward images conveying what they are about. This style isn't for everyone but it works best for me.

You can see some in my gallery.

I use a similar, yet different, approach. I'm always looking for groups or individuals doing interesting stuff and then sort of attach myself to them.
Most recently, it was the local women's roller derby league. And next I'm starting in on a local burlesque performer who's working on a new costume, routine, etc for an upcoming festival.

I love shooting people, but find it so much easier when they can get used to me being there .

 

[Brian Legge]

HCSF is an interesting group. There are certainly some talented photographers there but I get the snse that there are even more people with an extremely narrow view of what street photography is about.

I have yet to post a picture there that is met with anything other than distain. When I've managed to get feedback though it has been pretty reasonable. It is a decent place to post if you have a thick skin and know the biases going in.

Edit: on reflection, my biggest frustration is the amount of feedback by people who view Gilden as the model of street photography and seem to believe aggression is a core element of good work.

 

[cz23]

Forcing me to do something different that did not came natural to me in the first place never worked. Of course, things may be different for you...

Thanks, Analog. It's not a question forcing. I feel inwardly drawn to this and would like to give it a try. But I agree that discomfort with a particular approach is usually a sign of caution to be heeded.

Steve and Bobby, thanks especially for your encouraging comments.

And thanks to everyone else. Some great ideas. I'm going to start with some street work--just free and easy wandering for now. Then I'll move into some themes, which I always find useful. My view is that photography in general benefits from a structured approach -- call it an idea or theme. But within that structure it is the openness to what comes that makes this hobby rewarding, at least for me. In that sense, I expect people photography won't be any different than any other photography.

No one mentioned photographing those you know, which seems another promising avenue. We tend to take casual snaps of people we are close to, but with more attention to form and content, I think we can make that type of shooting more rewarding. Sean Read has a good essay on this on his site.

John

 

[Mcary]

In my opinion, what's so great about "street photography" is that you when you set out with your camera you don't need an agenda beyond looking for interesting photographs. The world provides endless possibilities for great pictures, you just need your camera in hand, an open mind, keen senses and quick reflexes. That said, having a particular idea can give your shooting some structure and focus, if that is something that you require.

Agree
For me street photography is simply a way of spending a relaxing day wondering around looking for interesting people and moments and trying to snap a few decent frames. If that some how breaks some kind of sacred rule of street photography well that just too freak bad as I couldn't care less as to whither I'm following some narrowly defined criteria of the my way is the only way crowd.

 

[williams473]

Hi John,

Coming to this thread late, but this topic is near and dear to my heart. What you describe is perfectly natural - you feel uncomfortable with shooting strangers because it is an invasive act - and because yes, it is dangerous to invade people's space (public or not). You could end up running from an attacker, losing your camera, or taking some verbal abuse. There are perils involved. I got tossed in jail in Russia in 1996 for a few hours while my family scrambled to get my passport and some bail (bribe) money to get me out - makes for a good story anyway...

On the other hand, in pursuit of photos that you find valuable, it can be really very rewarding to make something out of the chaos on the street, especially when you get that "one" image that anchors the portfolio.

That said, I really feel no one can tell you what your limits are. For me, I'll do whatever I have to do to get the shot, but what "that" is greatly depends on what I'm shooting, bearing in mind that as an amateur, no one is buying what I'm doing.

In your situation, I read some good advice from others - namely starting to shoot in publicly accepted scenarios where many other cameras are present, and also working on a theme. But what really sets your work apart, as GSN pointed out, is that gray matter between your ears. If you can bring your own personal experience - the things you know best into focus for us, then you will do unique work. "Do what you know" and "It takes guts to do great work" are two phrases I used to keep on my darkroom wall, and phrases I live by in my shooting. Frank's "Americans" is a perfect example - the reason it IS seminal, is that Frank was a disallusioned drifter while working on it - coming to America with foreign eyes and seeing us with poetic eyes that the commerical shooters and photojournlists of the day were missing. In short - he shot HIS experience, his feelings... just because we work with what's in front of us doesn't make us journalists. I worked for a paper for 6 months - fun job, but creatively fulfilling it was not. Just find something/someone or group you are interested in, learn more about them than they know themselves, and start shooting - the "how" will take care of itself provided you can work your equipment 🙂

 

[lorriman]

Street isn't the only people photography, of course. Work and family and events can be fantastic. I don't really mean all those long lens, newspaper-style candids. I will often tell people, who I generally have at least been introduced to, to do things for me. And I'll usually ask them to not smile. I pose them in some kind of in-the-middle-of-doing-things pose. To avoid that candid look I make sure to use a wider angle lens, 60mm max, so that there is an intimate perspective, and maybe also get at least one individual if there are more than one to look at the camera, unsmilingly. Here are just a few examples of me breaking my own rules :

wedding prep

With family stuff I try to get as far away from snaps as possible by introducing as much atmosphere as posisble. That means usually b&w, no flash, allow dark shadows even for faces, higher contrast, reasonable splash of bokeh, as examples above but not to the point of turning everything in to a portrait.

 

[Vics]

I'm chiming in without reading any of the other replies, so forgive me for repeating anyone else's thoughts.
You're surely on the right track. I'll offer a couple of random words of encouragement. Don't forget to document your own family and friends. Take a look at the catalog from the "Family of Man" show, 1955. Strip your means of photo making to the barest minimum, in an effort to make the camera and photographer "disappear" from the pictures.
I'm right in the middle of this effort myself. Have fun!

 

[TaoPhoto]

The OP has got a lot of advice about street shooting in this thread, but that's not the only way to shoot people. Another way is to work with models, and place them in an environmental context (not a studio). This gives you the advantage of time, of working with available light, of understanding how people move and pose. There's nothing about street shooting that says you can't be applying and improving technique. Models help you do that.

Ask the kids working at your local coffeehouse, I've had good luck with that. Or jump onto http://www.modelmayhem.com where you'll find a lot of models just starting out and looking for opportunities to be photographed. (Actually, you'll also find a lot of oddballs there, too, but there are jewels in the sand pile.)

 

[starless]

I don't agree that concepts should precede photography. What I am saying is that most things which look good as a concept (on paper or in your mind) rarely translate into good photographs.

The beauty of photography to me is that it can transcend a concept on paper and work on a different and unique level.

If you go to any gallery that exhibits modern photographs you can see all those "images" with zero visual aesthetics, zero composition, and even less substance. One exhibition I saw was of random trees shot in a forest - completely meaningless, however accompanied by a 2-page artist statement explaining the concept.

About Frank's Americans, I don't believe he set off with the concrete idea to show the non-glamorous side of America and launch a critique against the so-called American Dream. Rather he set out to explore and see what he could find. And 760 rolls and 2 years later the images he took formed the concept of the book.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I highly recommend reading John Brownlow's Pink Headed Bug website especially the section about shyness. Here is a direct quote:

Here’s how I suggest you begin to lose your fear. Take four rolls of film and tell yourself that you are going to shoot those four rolls as if you had no fear. Just those four, no more. You are going to believe that you have a total right to be doing what you are doing, and that people are going to accept you. Now shoot those rolls, without worrying if the pictures are any good or not. That’s not what we’re working on here.

If you feel uncomfortable, tell yourself you can stop after four rolls, so the faster you shoot the sooner it will be over.

By the time you’ve finished you will hopefully have discovered something, namely that your own attitude conditions the reactions of those being photographed.