Street photographer Eric Kim wanted to capture what it’s like to roam around on the streets and shoot photographs of complete strangers (without their permission), so he mounted a GoPro HD 960 video camera to the top of his Leica M9 and then walked the streets of LA. You can see some of the resulting photos over on Kim’s blog.
Photographer and blogger Thomas Hawk has an ongoing project called $2 Portraits in which he gives $2 to people on the street in exchange for a portrait:
[...] I am going to offer $2 to anyone who asks me for money in exchange for their portrait. While I’m taking their portrait I’m going to ask their name and try to learn a little bit about them. I plan on doing this for the rest of my life — assuming that I can afford to.
To make things easier I’m putting $2 in reserve money in a special place in my wallet so that even if I don’t have change I will always have the $2 to hand over.
In part I’m undertaking this project because I realize that I’ve been avoiding people asking me for money. My biggest motivation behind this project however is simply that I think human interaction is a good thing. I’m not doing this to exploit homeless people or show how hard and bad life can be. I’m doing this because I want to celebrate other human beings as human beings and I think that this commercial transaction gives us an opportunity to engage and interact on a more human level… and I also think that I can take a pretty decent portrait.
You can see all of the portraits Hawk has taken so far in his $2 Portraits Flickr set, where he also shares the story behind each photo. If you’d like to start doing the same thing, he also has a Flickr group where people can share their own $2 photographs.
$2 Portraits (via ALTFoto)
Magnum street photographer Bruce Gilden shoots his candid portraits on sidewalks by walking right up to strangers and sticking his camera and flash up into their faces, as seen in the “walking NYC streets” video we featured last year. In the behind-the-scenes video above, British Journal of Photography editor Olivier Laurent follows Gilden around as he shoots a project in Derby, England.
(via Photoxels)
If you think the expression on these people’s faces don’t look like ordinary street portraits, it’s because they’re actually looking at themselves in a mirror. Moa Karlberg captured these unique candid portraits of strangers by using a one-way mirror, capturing what it looks like when people look at reflections of themselves.
Read more…
What does it take to shoot portraits of random strangers on a sidewalk? Photographer Clay Enos, known for his portraits for the movie Watchmen, walks us through his process for capturing impromptu portraits of passers-by on a white backdrop.
One takeaway is that it pays to be outgoing and social, since your conversation skills can do a lot towards making subjects feel at ease.
(via f stoppers)
Joe Wigfall is a photo enthusiast and street photographer that won WNYC’s Street Shots Challenge back in 2008. This is the same contest that created the behind-the-scenes video featuring Bruce Gilden that became pretty popular on YouTube. As you’ll see, Wigfall’s approach towards street photograph is quite different from Gilden’s get-up-in-your-face approach.
Joe Wigfall can see with his hands. Never lifting his camera to his eye, he shoots hundreds of photos during his lunch hour or walking to the train after work. A true artist, Joe brings a bit of himself into each of his photographs.
You can follow Wigfall’s work through his Flickr stream. Other interview videos are available through WNYC’s Street Shots page.
Richard Renaldi has an interesting approach to street photography: he asks complete strangers to touch one another. The resulting interactions are documented in his project Touching Strangers.
Renaldi tells us,
I am a New York city based photographer who began a life long relationship with photography back in high school in 1984. I few years ago I became interested in the dynamics of group portraiture and this led me to the project you see here. The premise of this work is simple: I meet two or more people on the street who are strangers to each other, and to me. I ask them if they will pose for a photograph together with the stipulation that they must touch each other in some manner. Frequently, I instruct or coach the subjects how to touch. Just as often, I let their tentative physical exploration play out before my camera with no interference. Though these situations involve orchestrated collaborations between subject and photographer, the emotions captured are both genuine and honest. Touching Strangers encourages viewers to think about how we relate physically to one another, and to entertain the possibility that there is unlimited potential for new relationships with almost everybody passing by.
To see more of Renaldi’s work, check out his website.
(via Photojojo)
Image credits: Photographs by Richard Renaldi and used with permission
This fascinating video shows how Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden does his street photography in New York City. If you’ve ever wondered what kind of person it takes to capture closeup shots of people in a place like NYC, this video may be very interesting to you. He’s the complete opposite of someone who stands on the other side of the street, using a telephoto to “get close”.
(via Reddit)
Here is a quick look at some interesting photography projects that present a manipulated view of reality, along with thoughts on how they were done and how you can accomplish the same thing.
This project, created over a four year period starting in 2005, gives an interesting glimpse at what Los Angeles would look like if people and their vehicles instantly disappeared off the face of their earth.
There’s are a few ways you could accomplish this.
First, you can stack neutral density filters on your lens to enable extremely long exposure times. The long exposure would cause everything that moves (i.e. people and cars) to disappear from the scene.
However, it doesn’t look like Logue employed this technique, since the clouds in his photographs are clear and well defined. You would also expect trees in long exposure photographs to be soft and blurred, since the leaves are constantly moving.
A second option is to take a very large number of photographs, and then use an image editor to combine only the portions that don’t contain any people or cars. Doing this at a time when the road is least busy would obviously be easiest if editing by hand, though Logue has quite a few shots from busy hours of the day. Photo editors like Photoshop or Enfuse can also help you automatically stack images and filter out non-constants.
Visit the project page to see the rest of the photographs and/or to buy the book.
Japanese photographer Masataka Nakano spent 11 years shooting photographs of Tokyo devoid of people.
This project is unlike the other three in that no clever image manipulation was done. Nakano visited ordinarily busy locations during times of low activity (i.e. major holidays), and patiently waited for just the right time to make each of his photographs.
You can also purchase his paperback book on Amazon.
At first, many of Peter Funch’s New York City street scenes seem ordinary. Then, as you look closer, you begin to realize that in each one, there’s something eerily similar with everyone in the scene. Perhaps everyone is holding a manila envelope, or is smoking, or is running, or is looking in the same direction, or is yawning, or is homeless.
You get the idea.
The amazing thing is, these photographs weren’t staged, but rather manipulated.
Funch took each of these photographs two weeks at a time, found people in the frames who had something in common, and stitched the photographs together using an image editor.
While the first two steps (shooting and selecting) are time consuming, the third step (stitching) is what’s difficult. The idea is similar to what we outlined in our “cloning yourself” tutorial, but rather than having a static background that you can easily mask over, stitching this type of photograph might require a pixel by pixel degree of care, since people are constantly walking around in the frame.
You can tell that this stitching is the technique used by Funch by observing that in some of the photographs, the lighting is different for various people in the frame.
It’s somewhat mind-boggling compared to the first two, but still doable.
Check out the rest of the photographs in the series in this gallery.
Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad shot his orderly conduct series of photographs in three locations: London, Amsterdam, and Toyko. The idea is identical to what Funch did in NYC.
Most of Hashemi-Nezhad’s photographs are easier to accomplish than Funch’s for a couple of reasons.
First, many of them are taken indoors, where the lighting conditions don’t change. This makes it much harder to detect image editing, since there aren’t lighting difference between people in the indoor scenes.
The sparseness of many of the scenes also makes for easier editing. Many of Funch’s photographs were taken up close with people moving around in the frame and overlapping one another. Many of Hashemi-Nezhad’s photographs have minimal overlap between people, and constant backgrounds. This makes it much easier and less time consuming to stitch the photographs together.
For the rest of the Orderly Conduct photographs, you visit his website here.
Hopefully you saw something new in this post that you hadn’t seen before, and that it inspired you to experiment with some new ideas.
If you have any comments on this kind of project, please leave a comment! We’d also love to hear from you if you have links to other similar projects!
Editor’s note: When I first came across the following post by Jessyel Ty Gonzalez of dailysnap, I loved it so much that I asked him if we could republish it on PetaPixel.
Hopefully some of you will find his advice useful in your street photography endeavors. Jessyel will be contributing more posts to PetaPixel in the future, so stay tuned!
Also, be sure to check out PetaPixel’s interview with Jessyel.
Lately, I’ve been interested in approaching people and asking if I can take their photo. Additionally, I like to strike up some sort of conversation (I’ve been especially interested in what people do for a living). It’s challenging at times, but rewarding when a complete stranger opens up to you (especially in these rough economic times) and allows you to take their picture.
I’ve featured some of these shots on my photoblog, and have received a few emails lately from people asking for general tips on street photography. I’m obviously no expert, but will share some of the things I’ve learned over the last few years. I won’t be writing about its legality, how it differs from photo-journalism, about the art or technical aspects of it (you don’t have to shoot in black and white – seriously!), or meant to have any definitive rights and wrongs. These are just my opinions and experiences (and the lessons I’ve learned from them).
Looking back to my first street photography experiences a few years ago, I treated these shooting sessions like I was a private detective or something – being sneaky about it all. Not sure if it was my introverted nature or fear of rejection (more on that later), but I always felt like I was doing something wrong (some sort of guilt complex). Who was I to take photos of complete strangers while they weren’t aware of it?
This all culminated into some sneaky behavior that I quickly realized would never allow me to grow as a (street) photographer, and that the shots themselves would never reach any true potential.
So what was I doing? For one, I would shoot with a telephoto lens. The mindset was that at 300mm, I could shoot from far away and never be ‘caught’. I thought I was a genius. It actually worked for a while too, but the shots just weren’t turning out all that great. I quickly found out that street photography almost demanded I be a participant, and not just an observer (if that makes any sense).
Additionally, people who saw me with a huge camera (I would apply a battery grip to my SLR as well) and a huge telephoto lens would be suspicious of my behavior. In this post-9/11 environment and paparazzi-like appearance, you can’t blame people for thinking this. In the end – even though I was far away – I managed to invade their personal space, and everyone around my radius was walking on eggshells and any spontaneity went out the window.
Don’t look like a photographer per se. I’ve learned to not take too much equipment, dress normally, and keep the camera bag small and inconspicuous. This means bringing only one camera (no added accessories) and one lens (or carry another in a small camera bag). You’ll seem less threatening than before. To me, you almost want to create the illusion that you’re a tourist – people realize you have a camera, but don’t care as to why you have that camera.
I know I said I wouldn’t talk about technical aspects, but I will say this to those that are fuming that I said no telephotos – as with all other types of photography, you use your equipment to get the best shot possible based on your situation. Using a telephoto lens because you don’t want to get ‘caught’ or get up-close during a street photo is not taking full advantage of your equipment. Apart from this, the compression from a telephoto may work great on landscape or wildlife shot, but not so much with a street one (at least in my experience). In the end, if you like your results and feel a telephoto presents you with the best possible shot, more power to you.
What seems to work best for me are wide-angles and a 50mm prime lens. Not sure why, but there’s something about a 50mm with street photography that just works (could be because the focal length is about the same as the human eye). A wide-angle works great when I want more of the environment to show in a portrait. Regardless of what you shoot with, use it because it will help get you the shot in an aesthetic manner – not because of sneakiness.
Apart from trying to be far away from people, I would try a lot of other sneaky things to not get caught. I would put the camera beneath my arm trying to conceal it (the cops peg you as a perv right away). If people noticed I was taking a picture of them, I would pretend that I was shooting something that was behind them. If I was confronted, I would tell people that I was a photo student on an assignment (sort of true at the time, but I used the line to my advantage – not the right thing to do).
You’ve noticed I’ve said I didn’t want to get ‘caught’. This was the definitive aspect in my getting better with street photography – knowing that in the end, I was doing nothing wrong. When I would stop by the side of the road with my tripod to take a picture of a landscape, nobody questioned me. When I would whip out my macro lens to take photos of flowers, nobody questioned me there as well. People generally understand the reasons of why we take photographs – whether it be art, documenting, knowing a culture, beauty, freezing a moment in time, etc. – people understand this. However, it’s a lot more difficult being in front of the camera than behind it (most photographers understand this). I had to put myself in people’s shoes and understand the hesitation and even paranoia of being in a complete stranger’s photograph. This was key.
In the end, I’ve come to learn that being honest is the best element in street photography. If people question me, I tell them exactly why I’m taking their picture. I usually start off with a specific feature/reason of why I chose them over the hundreds of other people around: I dig your look; I like how your red clothing stands out; your afro is awesome; etc. Then I explain that I’m a photographer interested in capturing my city and its people (which is why I’m into street photography). Oh, and be nice. Don’t be aggressive. Smile.
If you talk with confidence and truth, most people see this. You’ll be amazed at how much people will let you in when you have the right intentions, are nice, and are smiling (just being a generally kind person). Some would say this goes without saying, but I see many photographers who go into a shot as if the subject owes them something; acting rude or unappreciative (just because you know why you’re capturing something doesn’t mean everyone else does). Again, kindness, smiling, and being honest will yield more positive results than not.
Another thing that helped me was realizing that I didn’t always have to take shots of people that weren’t aware I was taking them in the first place. That is, it was okay to ask before I took a shot. The recent series of street portraits I’ve taken have involved me approaching people and asking them for their picture before I press the shutter. This is a great way to ease yourself into shots later. However, some photographers don’t like this approach and prefer the candids; the spontaneity of a scene happening before your eyes that isn’t tarnished by people knowing you’re taking their photograph.
Regardless of which shooting approach you take, I feel it’s perfectly fine to shoot first, then ask later. Some argue about the ethical aspects of this type of photography – privacy, the elements of voyeurism, and taking advantage of a situation. I’ll be honest with you – if I see a scene before me that warrants a photograph in my mind and eyes, I’m taking it first, then asking for permission later. Some may think that’s wrong, but this is my approach as an artist (whatever the heck that means). You will never truly recreate a candid/spontaneous scene you just saw if you ask first, then take the shot.
The photo above was taken in Los Angeles. I was driving down a one-way street and saw this man carrying some bags, struggling to walk, and he was wearing a beautiful coat and hat against a black wall. He breathed heavy with every step of his cane, and I thought it was a great scene to capture. I literally stopped the car, took my camera out of its bag (wasn’t shooting that day, but always like having my camera near) and tried to shoot. Memory card full. Dammit! I quickly deleted a shot, but by the time I looked up, he was nearing out of frame and the cars behind me were honking. I took one frame. And just like that, he was around the corner and gone. I never had a chance to meet him, to ask him for permission, or worse – never showed him the shot. I made a few turns trying to find him and never did. Some would argue I should have never taken the shot in the first place, and others would say I should never have publicly shown it since I didn’t get his permission.
Sometimes the scene before you warrants a shot. Shoot first, ask later. However, I always try to meet up with the individual(s) after a shot is taken – regardless of whether or not they knew I had even taken one – and ask them for permission. This means permission to show it in my portfolio, on my blog, etc. Sometimes they ask if I’m making any money off of them. Again, be honest. I approach street photography to simply capture scenes and people; I don’t like to sell prints of these events (just a personal choice). Regardless, I feel it’s an obligation to ask for permission to use a shot.
Whether you asked first or took the shot then asked later, you’re going to get people that just don’t get why you’re wanting to take their picture. You’re going to get rejected. A lot. In a way, the fear of getting ‘caught’ and the fear of rejection are probably the reasons why street photography is so difficult at the beginning. Nobody wants to get rejected for any reason – especially when you’re going into something with good intentions. Sometimes it just kills me when I get shot down – not so much personally, but because I really wanted to take their photograph (for whatever reason). Apart from being able to actually capture a great moment, getting rejected is the most difficult thing for me to swallow right now.
If someone doesn’t want you to take their picture, respect that. I’ve seen photographers who don’t and will continue to take photos, and only make the individual(s) more irate. To a degree, that’s giving the rest of us a bad name/reputation.
However, what happens when you take a picture first, then ask and are shot down? I’ve had instances where I take the picture, show the person, and ask if I can feature this in my portfolio/blog. They say no. As much as it kills me, it’s something I respect as well. If they ask for me to delete the shot, I’ll do so in front of them. It’s tough, but again, I try to respect people’s decisions. I’ve often wondered if it’s the right thing to do, especially since it’s perfectly legal to take a stranger’s photo and publicly showcase it (unless you’re making money off of it), but it’s my current stance and what I’ll keep practicing. Who knows if it will change in the future.
Anyway, at first, I would take this rejection personally. What was I doing wrong? Is it my face? My actions? Why don’t they get this is art to me? Whatever. Like most things in life, you’re going to get better at something if you keep at it. I wish I had better advise as to ways to get better with this, but it’s not easy and it varies person to person. You just have to grow some cajones – getting over your fears. That’s not easy. You will be rejected, and you will have people question your photo motives. This is just something you have to live and deal with. There are many different types of people in this world, and sometimes you’ll lose some. Just the way it is.
However, sometimes you’ll be stopped by cops/security saying you’re not allowed to shoot (usually because of “security purposes”). Do not allow this to happen. Yes, I said I wouldn’t talk about the legality of street photography, but know your local laws and rights regarding it. I always carry this form (PDF) around to show to any officer/guard in case I’m stopped to prove I’m not doing anything wrong. You may still be hassled, but it’s better than doing nothing.
As mentioned, being honest and not being sneaky are going to yield you better shooting opportunities. However, there are a few other things I’ve found that can be helpful. For one, shooting with digital is a great way to get the subject involved. Although I prefer to shoot with film, the immediacy of digital (and being able to show shots off of the LCD screen) is beneficial, especially to those who are harassing you or don’t speak the same language. Whether they let you take/use their shot or are giving you a hard time, allowing people to see themselves on the LCD screen is a huge boost (especially if it’s a decent shot).
I also hand out business cards to those that I photograph. I tell them to email or give me a call and I’ll send them a digital file or print. If someone doesn’t have email (or phone), I make arrangements to get them prints of their shot. I don’t do this all the time, but it’s something I try to keep up with. I’ve found a combination of the above has resulted in people rarely saying no to a photograph nowadays.
I constantly get emails on my street photography regarding paying people and photographing the homeless. I’ll keep this short – I have no problem paying people for my shots if it warrants it (Thomas Hawk has a great $2 portrait project) and believe it’s okay to photograph homeless people (applying the same rules from above). Some people think it’s morally/ethically wrong to do either, but this article isn’t really about that. Do what you think is right. I’ll leave it at that.
Like real life, a little common sense will go a long way in photography. Putting yourself in other people’s shoes also helps. Let’s say you’re at the park and you see a cool shot with a child in the scene. If you’re a parent and you see some stranger taking photos of your kid, it’s going to come off creepy. You may mean no harm, but it comes off as questionable behavior.
Being observant of your surroundings is also big. Having expensive equipment in an unsafe area while you’re shooting can lead to trouble. I’ve gotten myself into a few fights and chases (where I was the one being chased) over my gear. Know your limitations and trust your intuition. In those situations, I knew I was going too far to get a shot, and it resulted in me almost getting shot. If you’re into documenting some more ‘dangerous’ situations, that’s a whole other article in and of itself, but again – common sense, and try to feel out the people you’re photographing before you hit the shutter.
Some tricks I’ve learned over time have included using gaffers tape to cover up any logos on my equipment. This also includes the ‘red ring’ around Canon L lenses, unstitching logos away from my camera backpacks, and bringing other people/shooters with me when going to questionable areas. Simple things.
I seem to have a lot of issues with my compositions in street photography. These meets with strangers are usually really quick interactions. If I didn’t make an especially good personal connection to start, I really only have a few seconds to take a shot, tops. Shoot for any longer and the subject starts to get a little restless, especially if they’re busy and need to head elsewhere (and just the general nervousness they must feel). You’ll see this in the photographs.
The shot below is a prime example of what not to do. The shot was originally just of the man (I liked his beard) but he wanted his dog in the shot and called it over. I ended up cutting off most of their bodies out of the frame, had a crooked background, and there’s some light on his shirt that bothers me. For whatever reason, sometimes I don’t seem to do well in these situations in regards to composition. Bad photographer? Maybe, but I just need to be aware of this and keep practicing (and not let time get to me so much). Be aware of backgrounds (having a street pole growing out of someone’s head ruins a shot very quickly), be aware of lighting and surroundings, and don’t cut off body parts. Easier said than done, but just realize time is of the essence here with most shots, unless you’ve captured their attention and time and can snap off more than a frame or two.
Which leads me to this point – when you ask if you can take someone’s picture, don’t ask your subject(s) to pose in a specific way. Sometimes it will be okay depending on their nature or surrounding, but I generally don’t believe in doing so. Half the time, people just pose themselves and do their thing. The other half ask me, “What should I do?” Sometimes I’ll direct them to some better lighting, but usually tell them – do whatever you want to do. I can push them a bit by trying to see the type of person they are (well, you’re a biker – what does a biker look like in his photos?) or just ask them, How are you? How are you feeling right now? Depending on what they reply, I ask them to try and show that emotion in the photograph. Doesn’t always work, but it’s better than asking for a specific pose (the shots come off looking… odd).
Reading some of this back, I realize I’m just babbling now; time to close this puppy out. Overall, I would say street photography experiences will differ from person to person. Some will love the thrill, others will hate it and never try it again. Practice will make perfect (well, not perfect, but you get what I’m saying). I’ve been able to carve out some ‘rules’ for myself that seem to work well. However, there’s much to learn. I’ve realized the rules don’t apply everywhere or with everyone. Doing street photography in Denver was much different than doing it in San Francisco. Or its Chinatown. Or in a crowded city versus a rural area. Or where people don’t speak the same language or have vastly different economic circumstances. This is part of the challenge I enjoy, and the point of why I do street photography – to capture different people in this world of ours in a natural setting. I apply the above lessons to get myself a better chance at getting my shot, but always try to push myself and not stay in a ‘safety bubble’ because every person is different, and you want to capture that in your photographs. Now go out and shoot!
