Re: [Leica] Human Traffic

[Johnny Deadman <deadman@jukebox.demon.co.uk>]

on 26/4/00 1:58 AM, Dan Honemann at ddh@home.com wrote:

>  I'm eager to find out how you (and the other
> street shooters) go about getting such great photos.  Do you interact with
> your subjects at all, or do you just anonymously step up and shoot photos?
> Do you ask permission?

Most of the time I'm shooting so fast that not only do I not ask permission
but the subjects are completely unaware they were photographed, or perhaps
more precisely, that they were the subject of a photograph (since I don't
try to hide the fact that I'm carrying a camera and photograph openly). This
is sometimes even true of people who are staring into the lens.

What interaction there is is usually just a smile and a nod from me, usually
acknowledged with humour from whoever it is.

I am very, very rarely challenged or confronted by anyone. Maybe one shot
in, literally, a thousand. Actually, I can work it out. Since xmas, for
example, I have probably shot about 150-200 rolls on the street. That's at
least 6000 frames, all of it in public and none of it with permission.
During that time I've had the following incidents:

A homeless guy who was being interviewed by a TV crew jumped up and
threatened to headbutt me. This was completely my own fault and will not
happen again, as I now have a rule which I recommend to anyone shooting on
the street not to shoot ANY homeless (or mentally ill, or unpleasantly
drunk) person without their permission. Ethics/pragma whatever, it's a good
rule I think.

A guy who was on a bus that I was photographing got off and had a go at me.
He was non-violent but a bit threatening and had a big dog. He might have
been in the picture but he wasn't the subject, which I explained. Anyway, I
was relaxed and that's how he was eventually.

A cyclist yelled at me.

A homeless guy spotted me shooting some ten or eleven year olds in a bus
stop. He challenged me -- quite fairly, actually -- about what I was doing.
The only odd thing was that he pretended to be a plain-clothes police
officer, which he very clearly was not. When I explained what I was doing
('I'm a street photographer... I shoot everyone.. you don't need a permit')
he apologised, even though I told him I thought he had a perfect right to
ask me, which he did.

So that's 4 incidents in 6000 shots. Less than 1 in a 1000. And in every
case being reasonable and friendly and willing to talk and NOT being
intimidated defused the situation.

Most of the time I will shoot for four or five hours and not speak to
anyone. The key... the complete key... is confidence in what you are doing.
There is no way to get this, unless you are born with it, except by going
out there and shooting. I started HUMAN TRAFFIC last year knowing that I had
to break down my shyness about street shooting, which was crippling my
pictures. After about 50-60 rolls it started to go, and now I don't even
think about it. It's just not a factor.

I've said this before on the streetphoto list, where this stuff is discussed
all the time (http://www.topica.com/lists/streetphoto), that if you really
want to learn how to street shoot but feel shy or uncomfortable about it you
should try the following exercise. I did, and it worked for me.

Take four rolls of Tri-X rated at 400, one camera, one lens and one light
meter. No bag. Go to a busy street. Take a light reading and set the camera
as close to 1/125 @ f8 as you can and do not worry any more about the light
unless it changes radically. Also, try holding the camera in your hand with
the strap around your palm, rather than having it round your neck.

Now tell yourself that just for this afternoon (or morning) you are going to
pretend that you are not shy, and act accordingly. You are Garry Winogrand,
or HCB, or Superman, or whoever, and you are going to take pictures of
people openly. (I don't mean be stupid or arrogant or foolhardy, I just mean
be open about it). 

Now shoot those four rolls NOT WORRYING ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE PICTURES. I
am trying to reduce the areas of difficulty here. We are working on shyness,
right? Smile at people when you make eye contact. Don't worry about looking
foolish. You will. Imagine you have a clown nose on or something.

One rule, however. You will raise the camera to your eye. You will compose
and focus. (No zone focussing today. You can go back to that, and being shy,
tomorrow).

All you have to do is get through those four rolls, and this afternoon,
pretending that you are not shy.

Now go home and develop the Tri-X in Xtol 1:1 for 9 minutes. Do it that very
day or you will distort the feedback loop. Look at the pictures. Ask
yourself how you felt as you shot. Were you intimidated? Exhilerated? Was it
as bad as you thought? Better? Worse?

Like I say, an exercise worth trying if shyness on the street is an issue. I
guarantee you will learn something interesting about yourself. You may even
inadvertently take a good picture.


- --
Johnny Deadman

photos:      http://www.pinkheadedbug.com
music:       http://www.jukebox.demon.co.uk