This article was incredibly relevant to me because I am someone who loves street photography. I have always loved walking around with my camera and photographing the everyday lives of everyday people and being able to capture something from that, that's not so everyday. This also resonates with me because after I graduate I am heading in to the photojournalism workforce and these are thing I will really need to know as a photographer for a newspaper.
This article has sort put me at ease as far as being nervous about taking pictures of people on the street for two reasons. One, I am not the only one who sometimes feels a little weird about photographing strangers. And two, it is completely okay to do so and more often than not people are okay with it. The advice the author gave about how to conduct yourself when making photographs on the street was really helpful as well because it is one of those things that no one ever really tells you, you have to kind of figure it out on your own and I for one was not doing it right. The fact that he advised us to be more obvious than sneaky was something that I had been doing wrong because I was always afraid of people seeing a camera being pointed at them and freezing up and ruining the moment. But he makes a good point about people getting more uncomfortable if they think you are being shady.
This article really informed me a lot about how to conduct myself as I go out in to the world and try to do my job as a photojournalist. I believe that it has given me things to think about and practice that will improve my skills and craft.
2 comments:
I don't have the experience you have with street photography but i also found it interesting that the author advised photographers to approach their subjects and ask for permission or let them know they took their picture. One thing i thought of while reading this article was the popular Facebook page turn book "Humans of New York". The photographer goes around New York City capturing people of all walks of life doing anything and everything. He almost always stops and asks the people a few questions in order to post a caption with his picture and provide a small bit of insight into this person's life. The photographer, Brandon I believe his name is, follows the guidelines of the article almost exactly. In some of his captions he includes the conversation he has with people that reveal that he sometimes snaps a picture of a compelling moment and then asks his subject if he can include them in his Facebook page.
After reading your response, my immediate thought was how closely it related to Humans of New York, just as Paige mentioned. What I find most interesting about Brandon is that he had no concrete job lined up in New York before he moved there to take these photos. He was simply just interested in everyday people, just as you are, and made it is goal to get to know as many as he could. He mentions on his website that his mom was not happy about this career path, but he has made a very successful living by following all of the suggestions we read in "Street Photography Tips for the Modern World." Another thing that makes his work so interesting is how giving his subjects are. He never takes photos without their permission, yet he gets very emotional photos and stories from people on the street. Whether it be a businessman on his way to work, a homeless man living on the street, or a women walking in the park with her child, each one touches the viewer. He has taken 5,000 portraits of people living in New York and is constantly updating his site.
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