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Honestly, I´m a bit wary about shooting small cameras "from the hip" in public places. Here´s an image (link to a Russian site, not mine) showing a type of behaviour that´s becoming a nuisance;I have recently been using a method of taking discreet shots where I stand facing away from the subject with my GRD2 held at hip level pointing behind me. I'm getting quite good at framing this way now.
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AhemHonestly, I´m a bit wary about shooting small cameras "from the hip" in public places. Here´s an image (link to a Russian site, not mine) showing a type of behaviour that´s becoming a nuisance;
I´m emphatically not doing it; no one here is, either. I just don´t want any busybody standing around getting the wrong idea and starting a row....:cussing:
Absolutely. If I saw somebody doing it, I´d have yelled out.Ahem
That guy needs a kick from a spike heel
Hard
grrrrrrrrr
Will, I assure you that I had no intention whatsoever to imply that anyone here, either you or any other poster, would do anything like this.I would like to say that there is a big difference between taking inappropriate images of someone unawares and what I'm trying to achieve, which is images of people unaffected by an awareness of being looked at or photographed.
To make sure people don't associate me with the kind of behavior on the Russian site I would like you to know that I showed the smoking man the image I had taken and asked if it was OK. He was fine about it and asked to have a look at some of the other images I had taken. He was interested because he was looking to buy a new camera!
Opinionated? That's an understatement! The whole piece is twaddle, written in one-line paragraphs by someone who seems functionally illiterate — as they say, writing reflects your capacity for thinking. There's not an original thought in the whole piece — and the photographs are all derivate as well, although a few of them are of some interest. A lot of them have grim, "bad bokeh" and would benefit having been taken with a small sensor camera with huge depth of field. The whole wretched piece is full of cliches from the 1950s — not really worth spending time writing about it more. I guess you can see that I'm not too fond of it. <grin>...Some say that secretly snapping is wrong, others (especially Weeks) essentially say it is required. Btw, Weeks is just a *tad* dogmatic about the tools the approach...shocking that an artist would be so opinionated ...
feeling your way through IS the way to go -- only you will know if it is right... life is most definitely an experiment!so I'm getting mixed signals here. Some say that secretly snapping is wrong, others (especially Weeks) essentially say it is required. Btw, Weeks is just a *tad* dogmatic about the tools the approach...shocking that an artist would be so opinionated
I'm just going to continue to feel my way through it I guess. In the end it only matters if I can look myself in the mirror (and at my shots). ...life is an experiment.
Quite so; how would any of us feel if we were being followed like this by a stranger? Indeed, how would we feel generally about being the subject of the photograph - on the wrong side of the lens, as it were? Intrustion of your personal space? Something like the idea that the camera steals part of your spirit? Worse from close up, or being spied upon from across the street with a tele lens?As regards Week's Manifesto One item there rather alarmed me, Weeks says he spent 40 minutes following an individual, on the street, at night.
I think that goes well beyond Street-Shooting and far, far, far into Stalkerazzi territory.
Personally, it's very much on a case by case basis. Some people I'd be fine with shooting me at a lot of times nad places, whereas other people I would feel more or less offended. For instance a relative of mine ticks me off just about each time with his completely insensitive lock on target splat bang flash in your face approach. Not amused, and I'm sure he's got one where my expressions clearly reads as such: delete or get a shin kicked.Quite so; how would any of us feel if we were being followed like this by a stranger? Indeed, how would we feel generally about being the subject of the photograph - on the wrong side of the lens, as it were? Intrustion of your personal space? Something like the idea that the camera steals part of your spirit? Worse from close up, or being spied upon from across the street with a tele lens?
I don't think I have ever been the subject; but I would feel uncomfortable about it, and I would feel even less comfortable than Jono actually doing it.
One other point I'd like to add to this discussion is that street photography is more than just random snaps of strangers living their lives in an urban environment. Just because someone happens to look 'interesting' doesn't necessarily mean a quick snap of them makes an interesting photo. I admire good street photographers (espec. Joel Meyerowitz and of course HCB) but go back and look at their work and you'll see what I mean. There is a 'punctum' in all their shots, they are not just random potshots or 'atmosphere'. I think the ease, economy and instant feedback of digital has led to an explosion of shots 'in the style of street photography' but without the wit and intelligence that made this style so enjoyable in the first place.
Stuff like this should never happen period. This is a respect for your fellow human being, Period. It has nothing to do with photography but being a pervert.Ahem
That guy needs a kick from a spike heel
Hard
grrrrrrrrr
I think you just described any street corner in the UK. It'd have to be a book of CCTV stills, but they'd have plenty to choose from, that's for sure.I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't a book deal waiting for someone who manages to strap one of those infrared-triggered-capture-the-deer-in-the-woods-at-night boxes to a lamp post and collect hundreds of photos of the humans that walk past it. <sarcasm>If you use this idea, please remember to mention me in the Acknowledgements of your book</sarcasm>