Discussions on Street Photography
Denver is definitely an interesting place full of many kinds of people. When I walking through trying to do some street photography I decided to stop in the park and just grab some shots of people walking around. A little after I sat down to people watch I noticed a gentleman setting up with two lawn chairs and a table. The table had a sign on it offering to have a conversation on anything. I decided to sit down and see what he had to say.
He left the topic completely up to me and I honestly struggled to come up with anything but he said he preferred something we might disagree on or something that would lead to some discourse. After sitting and thinking for a few minutes I decided to discuss what I was there for; street photography.
I began the discussion by grabbing his opinions on street photography in general and had to explain what I meant by street photography. In my mind street photography is just walking around a semi-busy area such as a city or area where people generally populate and take photos of everyday life and activities. I gave the examples of people having conversations, walking their dog, or going on a bike ride.
While we were discussing the basics of street photography I thought about how it could be debated so I turned the conversation towards privacy. Privacy seems to be a huge thing now-a-days so it was an easy topic to begin on. Obviously street photography is done mostly in scenarios where one has no expectation of privacy. Public areas are free reign for photography so the privacy of street photography seems fairly clear. The only concern that came to us then was embarrassing things or situations people wouldn’t want to be photographed in. Examples of this would be someone picking their nose, someone crying in an obviously tense scene, or someone falling off their bike. This comes down to the photographers sense of morals and limits because I’m sure there are people out there who would have no problem capturing these images.
Street photography does truly come down to the photographers common sense or morals. It’s common in higher level street photography that someone wouldn’t be nervous to take a photo directly in someone’s face without their permission. While personally I don’t think I would ever do it I do understand where certain photographers get this idea from as it could produce a more candid photo.
Next topic we covered was the confrontation possibility. Obviously some people are very against the idea of their photo being taken let alone it being taken without their permission or knowledge. I’m lucky in the sense that no one has every came at me like that but I do know of a few close scenarios I was in.
Both of these stories take place in Seattle’s International District and luckily didn’t result in any issues. The first possible confrontation was a group of young men who were just walking together. None of them but one noticed me and none of them ending up approaching me but it was a poor sense of judgment because it’s clear in the photo that the one that noticed me did not want to be in this photo. The person I was with also commented after the fact that he would not have pointed a camera in their direction. Luckily I believe because one of their people had a camera that I got out of this without being approached because maybe he understood what I was doing.
The next story was also just walking around the district as well and was shot across the street; I’m sure this is the only reason I wasn’t approached. It’s not as obvious that I was caught in this next photo but after taking it it was very clear that I was being watched from that point on and the pair were talking about what I was doing clearly. Normally in these scenarios I’m more happy with the photo because the subject is looking directly at me but this photo wasn’t to my quality standard at all. Even after a slight edit it is still not clear that they were the subject. It really is a risk reward balance in street photography as you don’t want it turning into a massive issue.
That brings up the question of what to do when you run into a confrontation. I’m sure that many street photographers have different ideas of how to handle it and I’m also sure that some are more successful than others. For me personally I would try to explain calmly to the person what I was doing and show them the photo that I had taken, hopefully it would be a flattering positive picture. If this doesn’t work I would offer to delete the photo directly in front of them. This also leans into safety when chasing street photos; it makes the most sense to stay in crowded places even if a photo would be better in a hidden alley. Crowded places also allow you to blend in more so you’re more discreet when taking a photo. I would also recommend using a smaller camera. Even though using my Sony a7r with 35mm Sigma lens would produce amazing high quality photos the setup is massive and sticks out that I’m doing something not normal. When I’m doing street photography now I try to blend in with my Fuji x100s as it’s tiny but still produces similar photos to my a7r.
That’s all me and the gentleman in downtown Denver talked about but afterwards I did think about how street photography affects confidence of the photographer. It makes you realize that you can not get every photo and not every photo you think looks great will be that way. It also solidifies you as a photographer because you’re out in the public more often. The more you identify as a photographer the more likely you are to work towards a better craft along with feeling better about your shots. Another thing that being out more often works towards is developing a style. I’m sure that some photographers do this consciously but I’ve noticed that my style has developed unconsciously as I just take more photos.
That’s all I have to say on these topics but I’d love to know your thoughts on the topic of street photography, privacy, and confrontation. Leave me a comment on the contact page or reach out to me on Instagram or Twitter both linked in the footer.