Super-busy streets for lazy portraits

Phantomas

Phantomas

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For someone slightly held back about upclose street-portrait shooting, like me, maybe a good idea would be to go to a very busy, heavy people traffic area, I mean the type where people will just sweep you away unless you claim your ground, stand in the middle of crowd current and shoot away. The main shopping drag in Amsterdam is a place like that, I don't know why I never tried it, always opting for observing from the side and trying to catch a moment in a stealth mode, but more often than not from too far (or, gulp, from behind)... Maybe just standing in the middle of a flowing crowd and not worrying about the camera because you're pointing at noone and everyone at once could work? Can such attempt have any photographic merit, unless you're Bruce Gilden? Cheap trick? What kind of lens would be good? 50 to long? 35 just right? Even set on hyperfocal and shoot up and down because someone 's face/torso will always be in front of the camera?
Experiences trying similar approach?

I guess I'll just take my camera into a moving crowd next time and find out.
 
28mm preferred on 35 mm film or full size sensor, zone focused at around 1-2-3m; f/11 and GO shoot random pics on Amsterdam streets, some will be nice.

But a Zebra could do this. So where is your human mind's input? Your composition skill, your art impact then?

And is it not a good sign that you realize you are not ready to shoot street, except evasively from the back ... So find the inner strength for it or get off the street.

My 3 cents worth ...
 
uhligfd said:
And is it not a good sign that you realize you are not ready to shoot street, except evasively from the back ... So find the inner strength for it or get off the street.
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Harsh, but realistic advise! I reccomend anyone who is shy about street photography to try this to break the shyness:

Find a busy street with photographic possibilities; determine the direction in which traffic is flowing; WALK IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND SHOOT PICTURES.
 
99% of people won't react at all when having their picture taken, so you're pretty "safe" and no need to be shy about it! If they ask you anything or whatever just smile and be on your way. Mustn't be afraid of people.
 
Thanks people.

foggi - your shots are EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Very nice.

I guess what I mean is (to stress it) really upclose shots of people, camera in their face almost. I do manage to capture general street scenes, but would like to get more of people's faces filling the frame rather than full body/torso shots. That requires more than not being shy. That is almost getting into people's personal space. I doubt that in isolated settings people won't react to that.

Of course the sense of morality will take over and other suggestion will come, to which my answer is yes, I do often make contact with people before making a shot and those usually turn out great, especially when having a background story. I will continue to do this. But such shots require investment - time and conversation with people. Not a huge investment and pleasant even, but I don't always feel like having half an hour conversation for every frame I shoot :eek: Still, would like to do more random passer-by upclose portraits. For this purpose I still can't find it comfortable to do to walk up to a stranger and point a camera half a meter away from their face. Foggi's photos serve as a perfect illustration to what I mean and the types of photos I'd like to get.

"Walk in the opposite direction and shoot" sound's like a plan I want to work on. I'm not really going to do it completely randomly and blindly, I just need to have faces that close to the lens without being an intruder.
 
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Phantomas said:
Thanks people.
For this purpose I still can't find it comfortable to do to walk up to a stranger and point a camera half a meter away from their face.
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I'm not quite sure why you would want to do this, anyway. What is your purpose and, perhaps more precisely, if photography is a means of communication what is it that you are trying to communicate to the viewer of your images? Random closeup shots of strangers in the street without any other information or background to inform the viewer doesn't seem very purposeful to me.
 
Leigh Youdale said:
Random closeup shots of strangers in the street without any other information or background to inform the viewer doesn't seem very purposeful to me.
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In such form that statement could cover the rest of my street photography, or dare I say street photography in general. Do we often have a background story for every street situation or random passer-by we shoot? I don't, I try to capture a moment, sometimes it has a story, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it's a geometrical composition, sometimes it's a scene, with a story about the situation, but not about characters that participate.

I'm not necessarily taking those to communicate to a "viewer". I'm interested in this for myself, to make a study into people's faces. Random people's faces. I'm sure there will be plenty that will tell a story just like that, without me talking to them.


PS: Familiar with this guy? Not everyone agrees with his work methods or ethics, but he does what he does and I definitely see the appeal in his photos. Do you think he has a background story for each individual in his shots? Yet they do manage to convey certain traits of the subject's character, don't they.
 
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There needs to be a point to street photography,financial,i.e. a professional asssignment or a personal project of importance.Otherwise youre just an idiot getting in everyones way and properly deserve the slap youre going to get,especially if you really chicken out and start shooting from the hip as some now consider valid in which case hope fully therll be a queue to break youre camera over your silly head:D.You take a picture of someone you take something with you from them,there is an inbalance only rectified by your work having some point and beauty .Good luck,try and maybe it will work for you,weve all been there,it still gives me the shivers but its worth it!.:)
 
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Phantomas said:
Maybe just standing in the middle of a flowing crowd and not worrying about the camera because you're pointing at noone and everyone at once could work?
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Looking at other comments you've made in subsequent posts, i have to wonder. It seems like it would be very difficult to do this sort of random (pointing at no one, yet everyone) approach while still managing to fill the frame with your subjects - at least with any sort of regularity.

And really, I don't think there is any way to get in people's faces for frame-filling shots without offending at least some of them.
 
taxi38 said:
There needs to be a point to street photography,financial,i.e. a professional asssignment or a personal project of importance.Otherwise youre just an idiot getting in everyones way and properly deserve the slap youre going to get,especially if you really chicken out and start shooting from the hip as some now consider valid in which case hope fully therll be a queue to break youre camera over your silly head:D.You take a picture of someone you take something with you from them,there is an inbalance only rectified by your work having some point and beauty .Good luck,try and maybe it will work for you,weve all been there,it still gives me the shivers but its worth it!.:)
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I like this opinion, I wish I had said it. Never quite understood the obsession with street shooting, especially hip shots.
 
Gumby said:
Long focal length lens???
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Well of course, but I don't think that's the approach our OP had in mind, considering that he asked about 35mm and 50mm FLs.

Of course, it might be interesting to watch someone use hyperfocal strategy with a 135.:)
 
Valid question tbarker , I guess you're right from technical perspective. Of course the camera pointing will not be completely random, it will just look like that to the crowd :) I do plan to be selective, but will have to see how that would work in practice (a little patience, need daylight and weekend).
My initial post was me thinking aloud. I understand that people would consider such shots absurd, pointless, rude, by the same measure as i consider shots of flowers, babies, fashion or even (a lot of) landscapes uninteresting. To me photography doesn't have to have financial or assigned projects as driving force. Having personal project is of course helpful. This is mine, at least to try, I can come always comeback with poor results and/or broken head, and then I'll change a subject or try a different approach.
 
There needs to be a point to street photography,financial,i.e. a professional asssignment or a personal project of importance.Otherwise youre just an idiot
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Codswallop!
 
When I read the original post my gut reaction was that 50mm would be too wide.
That said, I've never shot exactly in that style, but I think I might give it a try.
 
Phantomas said:
I
I'm not necessarily taking those to communicate to a "viewer". I'm interested in this for myself, to make a study into people's faces. Random people's faces.

Fair enough, and I guess most of do things for ourselves, even landscapes, but we probably also expect to engender some response or reaction from the viewer similar to our own when we took the photo.


PS: Familiar with this guy? Not everyone agrees with his work methods or ethics, but he does what he does and I definitely see the appeal in his photos. Do you think he has a background story for each individual in his shots? Yet they do manage to convey certain traits of the subject's character, don't they.
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Yes, I've seen his work and also video of him actually working the street. It is very random and "in your face" but given enough shots and enough people I guess you're going to end up with a proportion that hold some interest - maybe ones that even tell some sort of story. Each to his own I guess. I certainly could never work that way - the fact he's "famous" (or notorious) for it means that very few would.
To get back to your original questions, there might be cultural differences between New York and Amsterdam, or Istanbul or Kabul that would influence the manner in which you engage in street photography. I recently took quite a number of street photos in Paris at reasonably close quarters using a 25mm lens but none were really "face" shots and I wouldn't be comfortable trying that. I think you probably need to work up to it by maybe concentrating on subjects at 2-4 metres away and when results and confidence are at the right level try going in closer. Good Luck!
 
Phantomas said:
I understand that people would consider such shots absurd, pointless, rude, by the same measure as i consider shots of flowers, babies, fashion or even (a lot of) landscapes uninteresting. To me photography doesn't have to have financial or assigned projects as driving force. Having personal project is of course helpful.
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I'n not a big fan of street photography. But I do agree 100 percent with what you say here. You should explore photography in whatever way you like.
Maybe you'll end up with a black eye. Maybe you'll end up with some amazing images. There is, of course, only one way to find out.
I do wish you luck.
 
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