A lesson on Street Portraiture: Don't be shy.

Street portraiture is a fantastic form of photography that speaks very intimately about both the subject and the photographer...however it has two fundamental requirements:

a)That the photographer abandon all shyness and (politely) bother strangers for a photograph or five.
b)Said stranger is generous enough to allow a random person to photograph them up close without any prior preperation on their part.

As far as the photographer is concerned, the stranger may reject his (or her) advances and even react in nasty ways.

The stranger however has no idea who this person is and they could use the photographs for all sorts of unsavory business.

The point of this post is to illustrate the first step one needs to take in order to shoot street portraiture. From now on, we'll be touching on a different aspect of the technique every week. Until then, here are this week's examples.



I found this gentleman having a cigarette break on the stairs by a hotel around Tottenham Court Road. Possibly one of the friendliest people I've ever photographed.

He works as a hairdresser and showed a keen interest in photography as he'd taken some courses back in school.

It goes to show that if you're polite and approachable you can attract similar subjects. It doesn't hurt to ask.

I hadn't planned on getting a shot like this. After a minute or two of taking carefully composed shots I just put the KINOTRIGGER on autofire
and started to talk with him in ernest.

An accident, but a happy one.



This gentleman hails from Malawi and works as a law practitioner.

He couldn't of been more generous as I approached him while he waited for a bus on Tottenham Court Road. People from different cultural backgrounds tend to react in different ways to your efforts.

I usually strike a conversation as I take the pictures in order to create a bond and get dynamic poses rather than awkward smiles and lifeless posturing.

Whereas our previous subject kept eye contact most of the time, our Malawian friend here looked away as he filled me in on his life.

Or he was just looking out for his bus...



And sometimes awkward little smiles are just what you want...it all depends on the subject. This lady is also a hairdresser working around Tottenham Court Road.

They seem to be friendly people to approach.


These photos and more can be found on THIS Flickr set in a variety of sizes.
Until next time,

Happy hunting.