FEAR
Overcome your fears and focus on the process, only it will guarantee you a good photo.
In Street Photography there is something you should not have: Fear. A lot of aspiring Street Photographers are struggling with the fact that they cannot point their camera towards a stranger in public. Since this is one of the main features in this genre of photography, you will have to get over it. If you cannot get rid of your fear, you may never become a good and solid Street Photographer. I would say that the fear is not really worth it; it’s an overreaction to fear the response of the person you are photographing. I very seldom get a response and have hardly ever experienced really frightening moments. The first thing you should do is forget everything you read about shooting in the streets. I’ve been a Street Photographer since 2014 for almost two years and I know what I’m talking about, there is no such thing as a person beating you in the face or someone smashing your camera. It’s not happening, whatever people are telling you. The best way to get over your fear is to try it out. Go out and start shooting people. The most important thing is really doing it and getting the experience and the feedback. You will see that it is not as bad as you think it will be. Street Photography has a lot to do with experience. You cannot get over your fear in one day. Your fear will fade away slowly over time. When I first shot people from a really close distance my heart really went mad. Now I can do it without feeling a difference in my heartbeat. You will be more relaxed and open to composition when you are able to approach people without fear. On the street you should be able to relax and concentrate on your kind of photography. This is very important and any distraction will hinder you taking really good shots. So get rid of your fear and enjoy the relaxed way of shooting people in public. Now I only get a faster heartbeat when I see something really exciting which I really want to capture, when I see something which would really make a killer shot. It’s more a kind of fear of losing the shot.
I want to say, that fear – is one of the biggest barriers you must conquer in order to make interesting street photographs. Personally, I never want to eradicate my fear of shooting street photography. Whenever I see a scene that suddenly makes my heart race, it is my body subconsciously telling me, that is an interesting shot, you must take it. Any photograph I am afraid to photograph is a telltale sign that it is an interesting scene worth being photographed. If it wasn’t– why would I feel afraid? So use your fear and harness it for the positive. You will never 100% conquer your fear of shooting street photography– but why would you want to? Fear is a thrilling emotion– that helps some of us who are adrenaline junkies. Fear in street photography is also what makes it hard. If it weren’t for the fear of shooting street photography– it wouldn’t be as challenging or fun. But don’t let the fear of shooting street photography get in your way. Know that you’re doing a good thing shooting street photography– you’re capturing beautiful moments, telling stories, and living life more fully.
For me, it takes a lot to ask to take a portrait of a stranger. It is also scarier than shooting candidly, because there is a chance that I might get rejected. This is because when you shoot candidly, your subject had no matter of say whether or not they are going to get photographed. The bigger issue with shooting candidly is whether or not they will get pissed off you at you or not. The part of making yourself vulnerable of shooting street portraits is that they have the option to either say “yes” or “no”. If they say “no”, then youre out of luck.