For the final day of my road trip to London Town (which was on Tuesday; it’s now Saturday and I still haven’t gathered my brain together properly) I decided to have a day off from shooting. Instead of booking a subject or two to shoot with I put one lens on my camera (the Nikon 50mm f1.8, because it was raining and I didn’t want to have to worry about getting water in the 55-200mm) and went for a wander around central London.
What did I learn? Street shooting is really not easy.
Still, I enjoyed the experience. If nothing else it’s taught me that I need to learn some patience, and that interesting things will come, if you just wait for them, as this man did whilst I was standing in Leicester Square, wondering where to go next.
So, where next? Well, after my trip I’ve got a bunch of shoots to edit, as well as one that I shot the Wednesday before going away. And of course once I’ve done that I’ll get the pictures up on Flickr for all to see. Most importantly of all, though, I’ve got to keep shooting. Shooting every day for four days, even if it was just a case of doing visual pushups to keep my eye fresh, meant that I got better and better at making the images I produced fit the vision I had in my head when I pressed the shutter release.
I can do this. I have proved that to myself. Now all I have to do is go on believing it.
Did you ask any of the subjects before or after shooting them? I guess if it’s in public there’s no obligation to, but I wonder if it’s better to avoid any possible aggro!
No, I didn’t ask. I was far enough away from most subjects to avoid getting seen, let alone asking.
In the past, I’ve asked some people, but I’m never really happy with what comes out; maybe that’s because I’m rushing to get the shot and leave them alone. The shots are rarely what I want them to be.
That said, two quotes of Jay Maisel’s come to mind:
and
Sometimes, you get nailed whilst you’re making a shot. Sometimes the very act of being noticed makes for a better picture and sometimes it makes things hard work. There are ways to get around angry subjects though. Arnold Newman, when someone yelled "I didn’t give you permission to take my picture," replied with "Well, now you’re immortal."
Fair enough, and the results you’ve posted above certainly show it pays dividends. The top shot in particular…
I guess it’s the sort of thing you’ve posted about before – putting your balls on the line and going for it. As it were.