Hunted down

August 05, 2003

I love taking pictures of strangers. There is a certain adrenaline rush I get from capturing people I don't know from a close distance.

I have several techniques I use when shooting strangers. Sometimes with my camera hanging from my shoulder I'll press the shutter while looking the other way. Other times I'll snap away while pretending to adjust my camera settings.

Earlier today I got too comfortable, let my guard down and got caught. A guy that was distributing flyers on a corner appeared to be too busy to notice anything else around him. At the precise moment I pressed down the shutter while the camera was raised to my face, he looked up and caught me cold turkey. My initial reaction was to walk away and to my surprise he chased me for about three blocks. I didn't run so when he finally caught up to me he was quite angry and asked me if I knew him.

Given the situation, I was able to remain calm and even though the guy was quite angry and confrontational I was able to apologize assertively. If you are in a public space then you are fair game, I kept thinking. I just hope that such reasoning doesn't get my ass kicked next time I get caught.

Below are related articles on techniques for street photography.

On shyness
In General