Turning over a new leaf: People only!

Keith said:
This reflects my sentiments perfectly and I'll add that in my opinion people are actualy fairly easy to photograph. Their unpredictability makes them perfect subjects because often how the photo turns out is up to them and not so much the photographer. Not that I'm saying this is the rule!

Finding a pile of rubbish in the corner of a parking lot and turning it into an interesting photo takes imagination and good compositional skills.
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Completely agree with this.
 
back alley said:
it took forever for my friends to stop asking me...'why do you take pictures of people you don't know?'
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I don't have photographs of people I don't know, only people I did not know before I photographed them.

I feel that once I photograph someone, no matter how little time we interacted, they become a special person I will know forever through the photo.

Those rare instances when I meet someone I photographed in the past are a real treat. Sometimes I recognize them. Sometimes they recognize me. But I am always confident that I treated them with dignity and respect both in our previous interaction and the way I portrayed them in the photo.
 
Bob Michaels said:
I don't have photographs of people I don't know, only people I did not know before I photographed them.

I feel that once I photograph someone, no matter how little time we interacted, they become a special person I will know forever through the photo.

Those rare instances when I meet someone I photographed in the past are a real treat. Sometimes I recognize them. Sometimes they recognize me. But I am always confident that I treated them with dignity and respect both in our previous interaction and the way I portrayed them in the photo.
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And that is the kind of attitude that earns my utmost respect for any photographer.:)
 
back alley said:
it took forever for my friends to stop asking me...'why do you take pictures of people you don't know?'
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So I'm not the only one! Everyone I know won't leave me alone about it :D

I don't have photographs of people I don't know, only people I did not know before I photographed them.

I feel that once I photograph someone, no matter how little time we interacted, they become a special person I will know forever through the photo.

Those rare instances when I meet someone I photographed in the past are a real treat. Sometimes I recognize them. Sometimes they recognize me. But I am always confident that I treated them with dignity and respect both in our previous interaction and the way I portrayed them in the photo.
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Well said. I feel much the same way.

For me, seeing someone's face when you're taking the photo, and then seeing it once again after a certain period of time in the actual photo after you've developed and printed/scanned it creates a sense of familiarity, the same kind which is achieved when you meet the same person twice.
And with those captures that you think turned out well, the person in the photo ends up being on your mind while anticipating the result.

There are "strangers" whose faces and activities I still remember from photos taken years ago, even though I've not been able to meet them again.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I know someone after taking their photo, but it can certainly feel that way sometimes, with their facial expressions, clothing and whatever other clues that can be found within the photo "filling in the gaps" so to speak.

This is also one of the reasons why I prefer shooting film for this kind of stuff. Something is lost when you can immediately see the photo you just took. It becomes somewhat more forgettable, for me.

And to the OP: Good luck! I agree that the unpredictability of people alone goes a long way in making an interesting photo, but for me the challenge is in combining the people in a scene and their surroundings. Timing is everything, as they say.
 
Vic - Good for you! Go for it! The travel pictures I find I most enjoy coming back to are the ones with people as the main subject.
 
This is a side note, and not meant to sidetrack your thread.

I get lots of criticism that my pictures never have people in them, and I have recently tried to add people into the mix, and it is extremely difficult, for me.

Photographically, I see people as "ruining my picture", they are badly dressed, badly posed, blurry, they don't fit into the architecture well or the ambiance and they are uncontrollable, so an image with people in it is kind of a random shot that most likely is loaded with flaws.

I'll wander about or sit still, looking for a scene with people and with elegance or excitement or passion or . . . ? . . . and all I ever get is a snapshot.

Actually, this my roundabout way of saying that I admire photographers who can shoot people moving about in their daily lives and make them look spontaneous and artful at once.
 
Vic,

this attempt sounds like a diet. And as any diet that is only based on one ingredient, it usually is unhealthy. Maybe for a short period of time to do some "cleansing" but then you will need to eat you veggies:D. To do some mental cleansing this might be a good excercise but if you have already recognized that certain pictures you took don't speak to you, don't mean anything after the fact, then I think, there not too much cleansing necessary. Happy dieting...
 
Vic, lots of good insights here and in the end just relax, wander with awareness, be ready for moments that appear and just do what feels right.

I learned that Ara Guler a famous Turkish photographer first worked in theater doing stage scenery and many of his best photos were scenes of Istanbul with some people included.

So when I'm out wandering and shooting I often think I'm taking "people-scapes" without limits so I can shoot anything that interest me, even cats.
 
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