On 3/12/06, keith_w <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > That one is a genuine perplexer, Frank! > > Good catch! > > Question: How come no-one in any of your street pictures ever looks at you?
Thanks for the nice words, Keith. As far as people not looking at me, you know, it's funny, but I was thinking about that on the weekend, at my photolab, looking at negs. The photo I chose for next week's PAW features a couple of typical Canadians (draw your own conclusions...<g>) watching an outdoor hockey game. I shot off about 4 or 5 of them, and for three of them, neither was looking at me. For 2 shots, one of them may have been looking at me (but it's hard to tell due to his mirrored sunglasses). I do know that neither of them said a thing to me, nor did they acknowledge my presence, even though I was standing about 5 feet from them, snapping away. They had to have known I was there... I know that most of my street photos the subject isn't looking at me - at least not when I snap. I think that if I have a choice of several frames taken of a scene, I'll often choose those frames that the subject's looking away - I have the feeling that it looks more "natural" that way. Sometimes I'm going out of my way to be "stealthy", shooting from the hip or with camera on my knee, not looking through the viewfinder. Other times, I'm taking one quick shot (as with this one), and moving along, so I doubt I'm even noticed. But a surprising number of times I've got camera up to face, I'm doing nothing stealthy, and they just pretend I'm not there. I'm guessing that at least a couple of things come into play. First of all, the vast majority of my shooting is done with my Leica CL, and that's such an unobtrusive little thing, it doesn't intimidate people. It's much smaller than any DSLR, but it's not so small as a digi-p&s, so I think most people know it's a film camera. It's obviously an older camera, looking much like a 10 or 15 year old 35mm p&s, and who takes serious photos with those? So, I think that's part of the equation. Another part of the equation is that I act natural. I'm not making a big deal about shooting, I'm not going out of my way to look like I'm being secretive, I'm just there. While I wouldn't say that it puts people at ease, I'd say that it doesn't make them uneasy. And, as I said, I think that I choose to shoot when they're looking away, or perhaps choose the neg where they're looking away. Anyway, thanks for the nice words, and thanks to everyone else who commented. It was a one-time fun grab, but I was pleased with it. I even cropped it some! <g> cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
