New street technique

[Biggles]

If people are to be photographed, they deserve at least the courtesy of the photographer being open about their actions.

I understand what you're saying, and while I completely agree with the expressed sentiment, I don't necessarily feel the need to practice it 100% of the time.

I don't photograph homeless people, and I wouldn't look to profit from a picture that painted any individual in a bad light- in any way. But otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, if you're out on the street, you've been fair game since the 1850s.

An interesting, surreptitious street photograph of four unidentifiable backs is something I'd post in an eyeblink.

 

[bobofish]

From time to time, maybe once a year usually during Christmas time, I whip out the ol' tuba and go to a street corner and play for a few hours. Of course I drop a hat in front of me, and I usually get a fair amount of cash, probablly due to the novelty of a tuba player honking on the street corner.

I've been meaning to bring a camera with me, because the people that stop and listen, or even the people that walk by can have some very very funny expressions. I've seen some funny things happen while I was playing.

Next time I'm bored, I'll do it, and post results.

 

[James Burton]

...Next time I'm bored, I'll do it, and post results.

Great. Would that be "Horn shoot'n" rather than "Hip shoot'n"?
or would you operate the camera with your feet?

James

 

[Frank Granovski]

He plants himself in a spot and waits.

I do this, but I also sneak up and peeka-boo from around a corner. Sometimes I just whip it out, snap then run. Being sneaky is my favourite, though.

 

[bobofish]

Frank,
Somehow I always picture you wearing a trenchcoat. Not just outside, but also at the computer.

 

[Sean Moran]

Thanks for your interesting replies, Folks.

RML - I have photographed both police and military personnel during this trip: Pumped-up border guards at the India-Pakistan border at Wagha and local cops near my hotel in Delhi. In both cases, treating them with the utmost politeness and having them pose in a macho fashion flattered their egoes in a mutually-beneficial way. I got my pix and they had their importance affirmed. Now in Delhi, the local police greet me warmly, shake my hand and call me "Professor" (a significant exaggeration). I have taken down the private addresses of some of them (now there's a role-reversal!), and will send on prints when I return to Ireland.

Manolo old bean, the food here is an order of magnitude better than the Indian meal we had in a Belfast restaurant recently. The only disappointment was today when, for the sake of variety, I tried a spaghetti bolognaise: incredibly salty. BTW have you printed any of your NI pix yet?

Kurt (Scarpia) - I think that both of our avatars are rather flattering depictions of ourselves. A Pentax KM snap and a bit of Gaussian blur has shown me in a very good light: I'm actually rougher looking than the pic shows - even though it was only taken last year.

The poorest denizen of the US or the UK is immeasurably richer than the poorest folks in these parts, so it's worth a try for beggars to target the 'Gora' visitor. The guide books all say don't give to beggars, but I can't always harden my heart and have given food and coins to these unfortunates. Tomorrow, I'm spending a few days working with the street children on an NGO project (teaching them Irish tin-whistle, bizarrely) but I don't think taht that will be enough to quieten my troubled conscience. The experience will (I hope) stop me following threads about "rigid-Summicron vs latest-Summicron" for example.

Still enjoying the street scene here. Today an elephant trundled down our road just as I ran out of film. Changing an M2 while running down the road after a "Haati", avoiding rickshaws, cows, itinerant traders, scooters etc etc gave the locals a laugh but lost me the picture. No matter. At least I have enough to eat.

Cheers,

Sean.

 

[RML]

RML - I have photographed both police and military personnel during this trip: Pumped-up border guards at the India-Pakistan border at Wagha and local cops near my hotel in Delhi. In both cases, treating them with the utmost politeness and having them pose in a macho fashion flattered their egoes in a mutually-beneficial way. I got my pix and they had their importance affirmed. Now in Delhi, the local police greet me warmly, shake my hand and call me "Professor" (a significant exaggeration). I have taken down the private addresses of some of them (now there's a role-reversal!), and will send on prints when I return to Ireland.

Good suggestion. I'll see if I have the guts to do so next time when I'm in Mongolia.

Still enjoying the street scene here. Today an elephant trundled down our road just as I ran out of film. Changing an M2 while running down the road after a "Haati", avoiding rickshaws, cows, itinerant traders, scooters etc etc gave the locals a laugh but lost me the picture. No matter. At least I have enough to eat.

You shouldn't be running after an elephant! You should ask to sit on one! That's what I did in Delhi. On Connaught Place there was an elephant with 1 mahut on top and another leading it. It was to far away to shoot so I ran over and asked if we (my wife, my kid and I) could sit on it and have short ride. Best 500 rupees I spent in India (about 10 euros in 2003).

 

[rich815]

As someone who lived in China for 5 years I can say that this technique simply does not work in most of Asia. Walk into any large square in a Chinese city and stand there and one person stops to look at you, then another, then a few more who are wondering what the first two are looking at, and so on and the next thing you know you got 20 people and the crowd growing. A Dutch friend and I, when living in Kunming, tried it just to see and sure enough within 10 minutes we must have had a few dozen people around. Good news is in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai they are used to western tourists finally and this happens less. Bad news is in any area you'd want to photograph that is off the beaten path the crowd simple grows if you stand still. I find in China anyway, that keeping on the move is what keeps the swarms off you and affords you the opportunities to stop when something is interesting, shoot and keep moving on.

Even better is avoid the places the tourists gather and you avoid where the touts gather. Much better photo ops off the beaten track. My best stuff was taken when I simply dove into the hutongs and got lost.

 

[jaapv]

From time to time, maybe once a year usually during Christmas time, I whip out the ol' tuba and go to a street corner and play for a few hours. Of course I drop a hat in front of me, and I usually get a fair amount of cash, probablly due to the novelty of a tuba player honking on the street corner.

I've been meaning to bring a camera with me, because the people that stop and listen, or even the people that walk by can have some very very funny expressions. I've seen some funny things happen while I was playing.

Next time I'm bored, I'll do it, and post results.

Do you fix the camera to the tuba? might give some vibration!