When I shoot purely people ‘on the street’ I use a telephoto lens, a pretty big one, so they usually don’t even know I’m shooting them.
“Bob, you’re such a pussy” you say. “What kind of street photography is that?” “That’s not street photography. That’s just sneaking, no, skulking around taking pictures of people from a safe distance”. “You’re not involved”. “You’re not close enough”.
That’s what many photographers would say. ‘Wannabe’ and real street photographers alike.
But here’s why I do it that way. Because I am a pussy when it comes to putting a camera in somebody’s face. It’s such an intrusion; so rude; at least from that real ‘streety’ kind of shooting style.
I just can’t do it. It doesn’t seem right for me.
Then there are those who like to do ‘street portraits’. Google it. It seems the predominant method is for the photog to come up or otherwise approach a prospective subject and ask, “Can I take your picture?”. This is usually after a little bit of ice-breaking shmoozing. You see a lot of that. Problem there is, at least for me, the subjects usually have either a blank, “OK, take my picture” look on their face. Or, if it’s a nice shot, the subjects have that comfortable, “I love the camera” look on their faces.
But I see so many compelling and provocative faces in New York, or any city for that matter and to shoot them being natural, in their own private world, is at least as much of a challenge and maybe more.
The term I would give you, I just made this up, unless I didn’t, is I love to capture a face that is, ‘unconscious of itself’. The expressions and emotions are organic to that person at only that singular moment. It’s as natural a street portrait as you can get. Capturing the unconscious self or a stranger. What are you thinking? Why are you sad? Why are you laughing? I believe this style of street portraiture raises questions and involves the viewer with the subject in a very personal way. We each can see a little of ourselves in a stranger.
These are two of my favorite photos from street portrait shooting in Bryant Park, New York City. The lighting of the first young woman is really something special. And the look on her face is deeply introspective. I really love that shot. The second photo is just a really cool young black woman in New York City just being, really cool. What a face.
There are no rules in photography which means there are no rules in street photography either.
If you’d like to see my whole series of street portraiture you can see it under the ‘Portraits’ tab or to see them set to some really cool Miles Davis music, check out my youtube video here.
As always, please help me by browsing through my ebooks or photo galleries of beautiful New York City black and white photography. There you can select a gorgeous high-resolution print file that you can download for only $20 and print it anywhere yourself. And I’ll donate 20% of the purchase price from one of the global humanitarian charities that you can select on checkout.
Until next time, happy shooting.
Bob