Street photography...

I guess street photography is one of those things that you get inspired to do at some point in time. Particularly, if you see the pictures of Bresson or Erwitt and find something great in them that appeals to you. Besides being an interesting topic, it is also very accessible to all of us. After all, we do live in civilisation and we often are in cities with streets bustling with activity. To go out there and take pictures is perhaps the easiest thing to do.

But there are several issues to deal with. How comfortable are you shooting strangers? I am not the most outgoing of persons and would classify myself as an introvert and consequently, I have a lot of trouble asking people whether I can take their picture. Also, I fear that they might not be very happy about me clicking their picture without their knowledge and that I might run into angry people who might want to know why I took their picture. This was the primary reason why I chose to use a zoom lens on my expeditions on the street. I did get a lot of candid pictures but more often than not, my subjects would be far off in the pictures or the pictures would be context-free portraits that kind of suck. Also, carrying a big lens is a pain particularly when you have to compose and click very fast. It also meant that people asked more questions regarding my purpose with the camera. With such a big lens, I think they assumed that I was a press photographer or something which is interesting. And I could not always explain my activities as art...

This is where the internet comes in. I started reading a lot on street photography and almost all of them suggest that my fears are unwarranted. And also, all of them say that one should use a non-descript camera, like a Leica (if you can afford one). Me, being a poor techie, who cannot imagine ever buying a rangefinder, though I do drool over them from time to time on amazon, have to settle with using an SLR with a petite lens. Using my D80 with an 50mm Ai lens, I have noticed a major difference in the way people react to my camera. They no more ask too many questions and more often than not, they are least bothered about my camera. I still would classify myself as a newbie in the street photography field but I discover something about myself and my skill doing it. Good practise, I would say...

Check out this link if you have time:
http://www.beyondphototips.com/2008/08/17/obvious-street-photography-tips/