- Dress like a local. Wear quiet shoes and subdued clothing.
- Be aware of local customs and traditions. As an example in some countries you may find yourself in a heap of trouble if you take a picture of a girl or woman, without getting prior permission from her husband/brother/father etc. Do some research and if in doubt and following the chain of command ask very politely if it is permitted.
- Carry as little gear as possible.
- On the sidewalk walk near the curb and shoot in towards the building. The attention of most pedestrians is directed ahead of them and to the shop windows.
- Sit still long enough and you'll disappear into the scenery. Try to move only when your subject isn't looking in your direction.
- Try to avoid jerking the camera up to grab the shot. A rapid movement will quite often cause people to instinctively look your way, even if they only catch you in their peripheral vision, because they are looking for "the lion in the tall grass". 🙄 Instead raise and lower the camera in one fluid movement of moderate speed.
- Look past your subject, like you are focusing on something behind or beyond them and continue to do so even if they spot you, especially AFTER you have released the shutter or your subject has moved out of frame. If the person persists in trying to figure out what I was doing, I will simply advance the film, raise the camera again and take another shot or two, pretending like I am taking additional shots of the same thing. Sometimes I have even given the appearance of being slightly annoyed, because THEY walked into MY shot or will even politely ask them if they coud slide over a few feet after I have taken the initial shot, so I can get a clear picture! It's total BS and you have to be something of an actor. 😛
- Avoid giving the appearance that you are sneaking a shot. Just take it and you will arouse less suspicion.
- Understand people's private space. Depending on the terrain this can be a bubble anywhere from a few feet to several yards in diameter. Interestingly a 50mm will often allow you to take a traditionally framed shot without intruding on said space and drawing attention.
- Smile and be charming if you are spotted.:angel: Keep it simple and honest. Say 'thanks' and move along, before you get drawn in to an extended conversation. It's how you deal with the aftermath that is important and will keep you out of trouble.
I hate to say it, but it is nearly unavoidable to at times appear rude or intrusive to someone while conducting street-photography. Unfortunately that's part of the lot of being a practitioner of this craft and you're just going to have to learn to live with it.
There are other approaches, but they depend heavily on your personality and presence.
Gary Winogrand had a very large personality and was a physically imposing figure. People would ask him why he had just taken their picture and Winogrand would boom very theatrically: "It's not YOUR picture, it's MYYY picture!" and get a way with it.🙂
HCB would supposedly act just like the stereotypical, abrasive Frenchman and blow you off. That is if he reacted at all.🙄
- Politely tell them you are an artist, instead of a photographer. Artists are notoriously poor and usually arouse sympathetic feelings among people, unless you are dressed like an anarchist. 🙄 Photographers are almost always perceived as wanting to make money from their pictures (even amateurs). They are considered intrusive and more often than not disliked by the general public, because our image has been soiled by the paparazzi.😡
- Sometimes it's to your advantage to dress the part of a photographer. If I'm shooting at a demonstration, street fair etc. I will sometimes openly carry three cameras and just shoot point-blank.
At a demonstration I will sometimes take along a light photographers vest (that I can stow in my bag if needed), so the cops can instantly differentiate me from the demonstrators if things get a little heated...
People expect to be photographed at such events and will often mistake you for the press or a working shooter and leave you alone.
- Preset focus and exposure. Use scale focusing. In my experience you rarely get more than 1-3 seconds to fiddle with the settings before you are noticed.
- Use a quiet camera that doesn't sound like every SLR you hear on TV or in the movies. We've been conditioned to that sound and react to it accordingly. A Leica M does not make a recognizable shutter sound to 99% of the population, so it doesn't register as "That was a camera going off and I've just been photographed"
- Use a TLR with a waist-level viewfinder.
HL
