Photowalk 15 - At Last Some People!

If you've looked at my images, you'll notice that there are very few (if any?) of people. OK, I take photo's of friends and family, but I am nervous about approaching strangers and asking if it's OK to shoot them (with my camera). So, inspired by Ipanemics street photography, I headed down to the beach, early one morning, and set myself the challenge.

This was my first "victim", who was more than happy enough for me to take a few frames. To be honest, I was so chuffed that he said yes that any ideas about composition and light went out of the window. His face is in shadow, I've chopped his legs off, dear me. It was a start.

These guys were more than happy enough for me to photograph them - but the Sun was very bright, so at least I got the angle in the right ball-park, but it meant that they were facing away from me.....

A common feature of all these Photographs is that everyone is squinting. Not good. The Sun was very bright, and low, and I didn't yet feel confident in asking people to pose, or move around.

This guy was great. We sat and talked for almost an hour, with me taking the occasional frame. It taught me that the best way to start is with a conversation - start up a dialogue, then you can work out if they're going to play along. He had some fantastic stories, and at last I started to relax a little so I could think about composition.

Few! I'm glad I took the challenge - one refusal, not bad, and it's given me the confidence to approach people as I'm out and about.

The biggest mistake I made was not taking enough photo's. Normally I'll sit down at the PC and expect a hit rate of about 10% at best - for every 10 shots I take, I'll use 1, but with this set I just didn't have that option, because I had been too nervous to keep on shooting, trying different angles etc. Next time I will, I'll go wide, portrait, landscape, different shadows, then in for the close-ups.

It was a very nerve-wracking task, but I'd recommend it to anyone. Start off with old people, they love to talk!

Cheers, Rob.

Comments

[Scott]

Well done! Love the last portrait. I think you may have spent more time in your one shoot than I have altogether in shooting street portraits. :) Except for one of the old people I stopped. Old people love to talk. :)

Glad you did it, Rob. Well done.