Last Thursday I went on a street photography workshop run by Photography Course London - it was fab. The day started with a review of the history of street photography and some tips on staying safe and legal - then we were out on the street!
Luke the tutor gave us lots of hints and tips and succeeded in making me see things / people / places in a different way. In particular, I began to notice things I just wouldn't have noticed before, like people's faces lighting up as they entered little patches of sunlight.
This guy was beautifully framed by the shadow
We also looked at the possibility of developing series of images - I saw an awful lot of people with mobiles!
Another possible theme was people through steamy windows - I took a few, this was one of my favourites
And this one with the legs - had a bit of a play in Photoshop here too
Some pictures have more of a story than others
and I wonder where people's journeys will take them?
In amongst taking all the photographs I have been pondering the ethical issues of street photography. Should you ask permission? I have sometimes, but the downside can be that subjects may start to pose rather than look natural. Most of the photos I took on Thursday were of subjects walking towards me. Sometimes they were aware I was taking their picture, sometimes not, it certainly didn't seem appropriate to stop them in their tracks and ask them if they minded. Maybe intention is a key issue? Is there any intention to exploit in any way? absolutely not! The final question I asked myself was would I mind if someone took photos of me and put them on their blog? I really don't think I would unless the photos seemed disrespectful in some way , which I hope none of mine are. Anyway I'm going for it!