“Smile, engage, shoot”
Another subset of street photography is “street portraits”. This covers images taken with the permission of the subject, i.e. “Hi…can I take your photo?” …” Yes, ok”…Snap…”thanks”
My previous blog entry covered candid images, photographs taken without the awareness of the subject, capturing slices of life or decisive moments. This blog is same same but different in that permission is asked for and received before the image is taken. There may be a small element of set up, but certainly nothing excessive – the idea, or mine at least, is to capture people in their natural setting and have an element of eye contact and thereby engage you, the viewer.
Some may argue that eye contact isn’t absolutely necessary, and I would agree. However, this is my blog, my style and if I’m overcoming my shyness to ask for a shot, I want those eyes if possible! I am the first to admit that I am not a natural street photographer, I find the genre challenging – but rewarding.
My approach to this is, if I spot a potential subject, to try and use two of the most useful weapons in a street photographer’s arsenal – eye contact and a smile. From that, you can generally tell whether your target would be open to being photographed. If so, engage with them – just ask!
You can use some small talk, say hello, show them some of your images – anything to break the ice and develop some rapport. The result of that initial effort should show in the final image through a more genuine smile or more engaging eye contact. Some languages are universal – a smile, saying hi, showing some photographs, wiggling your camera about…make the effort and don’t use a language barrier as an excuse.
To dig a little deeper here, an element of human psychology comes into play. There is a school of thought around “mirror neurons” that, at a very simplistic level, suggests we are hard wired to mimic the behaviour we see in others. Essentially, if someone smiles at us we generally find it natural to smile back. Obviously not a 100% guarantee but this approach will certainly increase your chances of getting the shot. Smile, engage, shoot.
Another way to look at this is that we tend to avoid rejection, we actively seek ways to avoid the action of being rejected. That’s a big challenge in street portraiture and the “smile first” approach is one step towards increasing your chances of acceptance.
For the “engage” step, again this doesn’t always come naturally to all of us and it can be another example of stepping out from your comfort zone. There are several things you can do here, and I have listed some suggestions:
• A simple “hello” along with that smile
• Compliment your subject – but be genuine! Avoid the bull, people see through that
• Don’t rush, spend some time chatting – make your subject feel valued
• Explain what you do and why you’d like to take their image
• Be prepared for questions and have answers ready
Expected questions may be “Why me?” and “What do you want me to do?”. Those answers will vary on the individual and the setting – sometimes a beaming smile may be what you want, other times it may not be appropriate. Be prepared for the type of image you want to take – is it a “pure” portrait or do you want some context in terms of the immediate environment? I have posted examples below.
Depending on how you’ve done so far, you may have options when it comes to shooting – will it be a single portrait, or will you be able to take a series of shots? If you can take images while your subject is talking and animated, you may be able to capture some wonderful expressions or gestures.
Post shoot, it is a good idea to continue to engage with your subject – don’t just love them and leave them! Show them the images, give them an option to delete ones they don’t like – and offer to email them on at a later date.
There is certainly a lot to think about in street portraiture, both in the build up and in the actual shooting – this blog is really just designed to give you food for thought and some pointers to get started. In a short blog it would be impossible to give this subject the full attention it deserves.
Anyway, I do hope that this was of interest – feel free to like, comment, share! I have noted a couple of books that may be of interest should you wish to read more on street photography.
The Street Photographer's Manual
A vendor in Hoi An, Vietnam. I had bought some street food from him, engaged in basic conversation and then asked for a photograph - he was happy to oblige and I showed him the results afterwards. There was a degree of editing to darken the background, the availably light came from a lamp on his stall.
A stall holder in Paro market, Bhutan. Unlike the previous image, I wanted some background to add context - but I am unhappy with the green/black strap - this is a lesson on checking the composition properly and trying to avoid distracting elements in a shot.
A village boy in Laos, taken near the banks of the Mekong. The lack of smile was intentional here, it was just a “look into the lens” shot, with his mother and the outside of his home adding context.