Actually very good questions.
Most, if not all images were shot with Leica M or Q and Fuji X-T2 cameras. Early posed shots were captured with a Canon 5D3 and 70-200, such as the cigar box guitarist plus I have one more of an old neighbor who showed me his Perfect Season Super Bowl Ring which I will post soon if I can find it in all the dust.
The 2 ladies:
On the Venice vaporetto the lady sat down in front of me right next to the window. She was not looking at me and I pretending to be looking at previous results and aiming my camera slightly off to the right and then when she looked out the window where the daylight lit up one side of her face-Bam I shot it with a Leica Q.
As for the Paris Metro shot the lady sat down in front of me just like the other one in Venice. Sometimes I wonder if I am a magnet for these women since I am older with gray hair and they might feel comfortable sitting near someone close to their age. In any event I basically wait for the person to look away from me and then raise the camera to my eye but point the camera NOT at them and then quickly capture a shot while they look involved in their own thoughts. I DO NOT chimp at that time. I either get it or not. Shot with a Leica M+35/1.4. That combination was used on the vast majority of my Paris shots although some were taken with the 21/1.4, or APO 50/2.0.
Also, let me make a comment on shooting strangers. It takes a practiced eye to get people in their own thoughts and also a basic understanding of human nature so one can almost anticipate actions or movements of individuals. Watch peoples expressions, see how they walk, see what they do with their eyes and hands, etc. It's the human expression I am looking for and nothing posed since to me those types of images often look too stiff and unnatural. Sometimes I have taken those types of images where I just liked the subject no matter what they gave me, but generally I try to avoid those types of captures.
Trust this answers your questions, but remember its not the gear, but my reactions to human conditions and expressions that matter most. I cannot shoot with others and get my best shots since this is a very personal type of shooting techniques that requires quick reflexes and solitude for my concentration.
There are always exceptions, but what I describe is the vast majority of what I do.:grin:
Thank you for your answer!
That was my thought, it had to be the innocent pointing at subject beside/long away, so the person become comfortable and “unhunted”, unnoticed. I’m not familiar with the Q, but the M and the X-T2, but in such situations foremost prefocused, where just looking at an M-lens show you the important distance, so one is by that ahead of the situation, by-wire is a non-visualizing game, so an M would be a perfect tool for that, in my head, unfortunately sold my M-E while it didn’t talk to me like my M6 did, and all the lenses went out too. With my GR I did a lot of close shots, mostly prefocused, but I do not connect that good anymore with my GR, miss a viewfinder. The Z7 is a bit too big for close-up situations, where a XF 18/2 is a state of the art on a X-E3, the wonderful XF16/1.4 might be too big for that, but one should give it a chance, while its just so..and the X-T3 is luckily still kept, while the son “stole” it.
Yes age is definitely an advantage, very disarming – the wolf has gone, and left is calmness and comfort..
I know exactly what you mean by feeling the psychological expression from people through ones fingertips, sense it, smell it, so to speak. And the unspoken interaction can be so immense rewarding. But it’s also a challenging game..
For my part it sometimes is very mood based, one has to be sort of mentally totally at your tip of your toes, willing to risk, willing to put yourself out in the game. Sometimes I can get out, not even getting a single proper “living-alive-shot” in the box, and it often only takes a few minutes to realize, today is not the day, the mood lacks, and better be heading home. But travelling is another thing, one is pre-tensed, pre-prepared, and the tension is often the game-changer, that gives you the kicks you from behind.
(on the other hand the words from my wife's mother, who was a painter, said, people think it's all about inspiration..but fact is, 95% its all hard work, and 5% inspiration - perhaps not quit right in photography, but there is a wisdom in it)
By the way, the officer at the bridge is just like an old Hollywood-masterpiece!, a super catch (how lucky is one allowed to be
)
Keep rolling….:thumbup: