A couple Saturdays ago I woke up, turned on my ipad and checked some of the blogs I follow to see what people were up too. I got inspired by Claire Atkinson’s Blog on Urban Photography I decided I was going to go out on my first urban photographic adventure.
For some reason I feel weird when taking photos of strangers. When ever I take a photo of a stranger they are usually performing an activity that warrants a photo, for example a juggler at a festival. So as soon as I got out of my car and had my camera ready, I was going to take a photo of the first person I saw. Luckily for me that person was on a bike and riding fairly quickly. Next I was approached by a homeless man. He asked for a dollar, I gave him one then asked if I could take his picture but he said ” no way man…. Im too famous” hahaha. After I got my toes a little wet, it was time to go swimming. I entered a shop that was filled with beautiful mexican inspired art.
As I turn to my left a man sat at a desk working on some of the art so I quickly took a photo of him and smiled. I figured if he didn’t want me to take his photo he would have said something.
After exiting the store I walked through a bazaar.
After I left the bazaar, I was on my way walking through the town. One method that I found exciting was stopping at a store entrance and taking a quick photo. The only problem with this method is the fact that I didn’t have time to properly expose the images and I was going from really bright conditions to really dark.
I spent a good hour or so walking around the town, taking pictures of whatever seemed interesting.
And for my favorite picture I took that day…….
On thing that made this shot special was the fact that he knew I was there. I was about 75 feet from him and he took notice of me as soon I stepped on to the platform. I couldn’t resist this shot. I used one of the large concrete pillar to hide myself as I swapped out my 30mm 1.4f for a manual focus 135mm 2.8f (the longest telephoto I had with me). I waited a little bit for him to lose interest in me, then I swung around the pillar and took about ten quick shots.
Lessons Learned from this Adventure:
- If a homeless man/women asks you for money, ask if you can take his/her picture before you give them cash
- Be ready to shoot quick
- Look all over for photo opportunities
- If taking pictures of interiors and there’s no time to properly expose the image, make sure your shutter speed is no lower than 1/60th
ChrisKennedy.photo 