 | Portraits of Strangers? |
| Portraits of Strangers? |
Portraits of Strangers? | ||
| How do you get a complete stranger to pose for you? | ||
| Kristina Johnson (wired2theworld) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #1 Added: 2006-03-19 11:24:52 | |
| One thing I would like to be able to do more is get people in my photos. Not "posed" so much, but interesting portraits (for example, Bob's Indian flower vendor). But I struggle with shyness among strangers, with not wanting to offend people, with not wanting to make them feel like they are a specimen in a zoo. In some places, people have become so accustomed to tourists taking their picture that they ask for money. I don't want to participate in that. Many of you here have some wonderful shots with people in them. How do you do it? | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #2 Added: 2006-03-19 13:25:54 | |
| I've found a few things that work (some of the time). Sometimes I 'ask' permission. Sometimes I ambush people. Asking permission.... First, approach with a smile. Often I don't speak their language, but it's easy to get my message across by gesturing with my camera. I sort of raise the camera in their direction and make a questioning expression. Smiles and nods are all I need for a go-ahead. Then if my subject declines I give them a slightly disappointed smile and look for something/someone else close by to shoot. It's common for older people to turn me down. But there's usually a child around. I take the child's picture and then show the results to my 'victim'. Almost always they warm to the idea of having their picture taken. People like to see themselves in the screen. The flower vendor in my picture asked to have his picture taken and posed himself. I'm often dragged around the corner, to the back yard, inside the temple, ... to take pictures. Locals get caught up in the process. I've often had 'granny' brought out from the back room just so I could take her picture. BTW, if you take a look at Two Hours in Old Delhi - My Galleries - you will see shots that I got basically by going from one group of people to the next. Photographing one group aroused the interest of the next and created a lot of willing subjects. (I'm trying the link stuff here...) Before I switched to digital I shot very few 'people' pictures. Almost no portraits. It was uncomfortable to me to approach someone and ask permission to take their picture. Now with digital the process of taking the picture has become a social interaction. Some of my best moments when traveling have been those brief, non-verbal connections. I'll address the ambushing in another post. This one has gotten long. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #3 Added: 2006-03-19 13:26:33 | |
| Linking works.... ;o) | ||
| Kristina Johnson (wired2theworld) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #4 Added: 2006-03-19 13:42:23 | |
| I'm going on a short trip to Thailand in a couple of weeks and I'm going to really try to get more photos of people. Thanks for the advice. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #5 Added: 2006-03-19 13:56:19 | |
| Get away from the tourist areas. It's much, much easier to get people pictures in Ubon than Bangkok. Even walking a couple of blocks off the main thoroughfare can make a huge difference. | ||
| Kristina Johnson (wired2theworld) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #6 Added: 2006-03-19 14:37:55 | |
| This will be my 5th trip to Thailand. Unfortunately, we only have 8 nights, so it will be split between Bangkok (which I love) and Phuket (a place I've never been). At least in Phuket, we're not staying in a hyper-touristy area, so I hope to at least get some good nature shots. We'll see...there's always the next trip! | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #7 Added: 2006-03-19 16:12:43 | |
| Ambushing... I have a number of ongoing photo projects. One of them is 'sleepers'. I shoot people sleeping in public. Obviously I can't ask them, that would spoil the photo. If there is someone around who might be a friend then I'll usually walk over to them and show them the shot and generally we'll both get a good laugh at the trick I've pulled. I've never had anyone indicate offense. In general I prefer candids to posed shots. That means I need to grab a shot rather than ask permission. A long lens helps a lot here. Also an articulated LCD screen means that you can 'shoot from the hip' rather than obviously aim with the camera to your face. And there's hiding. Sit in an out of the way place in a market or at a temple and you can get some great candids. Again I'll generally show the shot to my 'victim'. I've never had anyone complain. If I get caught focusing on someone I sometimes will act as if I'm shooting something beyond them and wait for them to move out of the way. And the best trick I've used is when trekking in the Himalayas with a friend. We took turns 'walking point'. When the foremost person saw a potentially great people shot they would position themselves just to the side of the shot, turn towards the camera, and "pose". In addition they would usually discretely point the direction of the shot. Then the follower could set the shot up on the other person and swing to the desired subjects at the last minute. Don't think they ever saw me coming. ;o) Does ambushing people ever feel intrusive? Sometimes a little. But when it does I try to smooth things over with a bit of personal interaction, showing them the photo, thanking them. That's worked fine, so far. I am selective as to where I use these techniques. I'm a lot less likely to take candids in a Muslim country, especially shots of women. Places such as China and Bangladesh where one is stared at constantly, I'm less hesitant. | ||
| Adrian Warren (AdrianW) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #8 Added: 2006-03-25 15:20:28 | |
| My solution is more of a workaround - take landscape shots instead ;) Photographs of strangers mean nothing to me anyway, unless there's a good story alongside of course... | ||
| Christopher Kean (chriskean1) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #9 Added: 2006-04-11 00:38:54 | |
| It's a great question and depends to some extent on where you are trying to do it, and on who you are and who your subject is (a man approaching a woman, vice versa, etc.). Another issue is whether you want to pay for photos--I try very, very hard not to. First, let me say I agree largely with what earlier posters have said--the following includes a fair amount of reiteration. This is my first post here, and I am making it stupidly without having spent more than 20 minutes lurking, so bear with me. The East Africa and West Africa galleries on my website contain lots of portraits, mainly posed but some candid. Where I travel (lately mainly in Africa and the Middle East) I have found children are by far the most willing subjects, followed by young men, older men and then women. But there are exceptions: the farther south you go in Africa the easier it is to find women willing to sit for a portrait. And in the Persian Gulf countries, I found the South Asian guest workers constantly approaching me to take their pictures. It really depends on the place. I forget whether it was easier or harder in SE Asia, as it's been many years. Anyway, you can start by getting pictures of kids, showing the photos in the window to the kids (if you have digital), and then adults will usually begin to ask to be photographed. With any luck it will be a self-sustaining cascade--just try not to have it turn into a children's free-for-all, as this can be very disruptive and result in many tiny fingerprints on your lens. Obviously, getting to know people is a good way to get their confidence. If you have some time (but not enough to be invited over, have a meal, etc.), you can try just sitting near the folks you want to photograph until they take an interest (I sat for fifteen or twenty minutes being nonthreatening to a couple of women in Mozambique--the first two in the East Africa gallery--before they initiated a conversation, and I eventually got my photos). I normally don't mind posed shots, as they usually come out much better than my hip-level ones anyway, and I tend to feel guilty sneaking shots of people who would be offended if they knew (though I have done the "decoy tourist" trick per Bob's post). But a good way to get candid ones is to first get to the point where the person is OK with you taking his or her picture (via conversation, hiring them, offer of cigarettes, etc.) over an extended period. They will pose for the first few, but if you take the photos nonchalantly and don't make a big deal out of it, they will eventually stop posing and you can get your candid shots. Hope this helps. CK | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #10 Added: 2006-04-11 16:10:08 | |
| Good input. Good shots on your website. When do we get your input on the Workshop? | ||
| Christopher Kean (chriskean1) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #11 Added: 2006-04-12 02:05:28 | |
| Thanks--I have never belonged to this sort of site and am unfamiliar with the mechanics of commenting, etc. I had assumed it would be more of a thread-based, ask-and-answer sort of arrangement (from you-know-where), so I am a bit at sea. Am I supposed to just post some of my photos in the Workshop? And if I want to comment on some of the ones I see there, do I send comments directly to the authors or do I do it some other way? Am I able to respond to comments on my photos, or ask for clarification with regard to comments? (This may be all my fault for not lurking before posting.) I am leaving the country tomorrow for a couple of weeks, but plan to keep checking in while away. Thanks, and sorry for the threadjack. CK | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #12 Added: 2006-04-12 02:23:07 | |
| Looks like you already have several photos in your Image Pool. Just click on the one(s) that you want to introduce to the Workshop and 'Manage' them. Add them to a club gallery. Give the photo a title if you wish and write a bit of a note about it. It will then show up in the 'waiting to be critiqued' queue. As for critiquing/commenting on the photos of others go to the Workshop and click on the thumbnail of any image that interests you. If you have something to say then hit the 'Reply' icon in the bottom right. The comment/reply system is set up in a discussion format. Any member, including the photographer, can post and we are not limited to a single post per photo. It's like sitting around with a group of friends talking about a shot. We just don't have to all be in the room at the same time, or even on the same continent. Feel free to look at all the photos in the Workshop, not just the ones 'waiting'. You may have some salient thoughts about what has already been said. Feel free to agree or disagree with anything that has been said. We're all here to learn. | ||
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