street photo? or staged?

[ampguy]

M6, 35/2 pre asph v4, would you say this is a candid, or staged street shot?

 

[Kiyatkin]

Why are you asking?

 

[ampguy]

because I am wondering if anyone can tell.

 

[Kiyatkin]

Could be staged or real to me.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

There's no way to tell. I've seen scenes like this a million times walking around on the streets, but it can easily be staged and often is for advertisements, etc.

 

[FrankS]

There is not much happening in the photo to be interesting, so it doesn't matter if it's staged or not.

 

[gm13]

Something about their expressions says staged to me.

 

[Pirate]

My guess is staged, only because, with a 35mm lens you have to get pretty close for them to be that big in the picture. Most (most..) people would look away or give you a dirty look for getting that up close and personal.

But, as stated, there's no real way to tell.

 

[gns]

Nobody can know, one way or the other. Ever. Unless you tell them.
Does whether it is staged or found make the photo any better or worse?

 

[ampguy]

staged is right, I thought more would initially weigh in with candid.

I walked by them, pre-visualizing this image, then politely asked if I could take a photo of them. They agreed and looked at me and smiled.

Then I said, no, just look normal, like you were before I approached you. please stop the smiling.

I waited for them to settle into position, then clicked at the decisive moment.

I think this shows how street shooting does not have to be rude and in peoples faces without asking for their permission first.


To be honest, they pretty much look the way they did before they noticed me.

 

[Kiyatkin]

From your story, I am not sure this means that the photo was staged. Just because you told them to go back to doing what they were doing. I've done that before many times and would not call the resulting pics staged. In any case though, this discussion has no purpose, I think.

 

[easyrider]

1. Why does it matter?

2. They may just be aware that they are having their pic taken and may have sitting there before the photog arrived.

In any case, who would care? It's the result that counts.

 

[gns]

Not sure what the point is.
Why do you think that simply observing and photographing is rude?

 

[xxloverxx]

I'd say it wasn't staged, they knew you were there but chose to ignore you.

 

[Turtle]

the woman's face suggested awareness, but as Chris said, such expressions can occur without them being aware.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

If folks notice I'm pointing a camera at them and go into the posed smile thing, I often just say to them, "Ignore me, I'm just an annoying photographer." Interestingly, they will usually do just that and go back to their conversation. People with cameras are so common these days, most people don't pay them much attention.

 

[bobbyrab]

It certainly hasn't lost any of it's drama.

 

[Sparrow]

It certainly hasn't lost any of it's drama.

😀 ....... that's so funny

 

[NathanJD]

they look self conscious and show no sign of really conversing. i assume they weren't talking at this point. the eye contact is all wrong for it to be a real moment in time. what seems to be written on their faces is that mixture of self consciousness, flattery, embarrassment, and that thought process that occurs when someone you don't know wants a photo.

 

[Sparrow]

how about this?


28A_0324 by sparrow rf, on Flickr