Aaron wrote: > Even better...showing them the prints later, the drummer says, "How the > hell did you get that shot of me without being beside me?" I told him > it was magic. > > I've always found that in that kind of situation, people start to mug if > they know you're photographing them.
One of my standard tricks, especially with the Leica, is to fiddle with it as you're talking--just play with it, occasionally looking through the viewfinder at your foot or the ceiling. You can then almost literally take pictures of people right in front of their faces, with them looking straight at you, and they don't realize you've taken their picture. Just be very casual as if you're still playing, and be quick. It also helps if you don't squint through the viewfinder. People for some reason assume that you can't take a picture if your face is away from the camera and you're looking at them. I think Garry Winograd used to go whole years without ever looking through the finder. <g> Another trick is to make yourself invisible. You do this by staying in the same place. When you first arrive at a spot, people will look at you because you're something new. But hang out there looking bored shitless for twenty minutes, and poof! You utterly disappear. You can then shoot as much as you want and almost nobody will give you a second look. Another even more obvious trick is to wait for some smartass to yell, "Wanna take my picture?" I usually respond by saying hell yes, I'll take your picture! The guy then mugs while you take a few shots of him. Then you say, "Hey, thanks, man!" but keep shooting. Now everybody around you has seen you shooting and thinks nothing of the fact that you still are. You can stand in the middle of a crowd and photograph without attracting anyone's notice. One of Elliot Erwitt's tricks is to put a 200mm lens on his camera and pose his wife or kid fifteen feet in front of him. He then shoots past them at whatever it is he really wants to photograph. Probably the best way to shoot strangers is just to start shooting. If you can work through your initial self-consciousness and shoot off a roll, you tend to get engrossed in the work and just keep shooting. You're comfortable, so people in front of you aren't worried. On the other hand, in D.C. all the bike messengers gather at Dupont Circle fountain at the end of their shifts. I once got an assignment to shoot some pictures of all of them and all their bikes and nearly got my ass kicked by about four different people. But then, everybody knows bike messengers are totally nuts. --Mike - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
