Street Photography With the Leica M9 and GoPro HD 960 in Los Angeles

Wow, the shutter sound is quite noticeable; but probably because the camera/mic is right on top of the camera.

What about the results?

That was actually kinda cool. I like that you interacted with the people, very fluid, you have obviously had practice. It’s amazing too that you got right in front of a couple people and they didn’t even notice. I think the woman cook is the best but they all turned out nice and crisp too, no blur. That cam was a great idea. Can’t wait to see 85mm do his too.

Hey nice video, I prefer to shoot in busier places but nice to see you get some shots in quite places and no one complaining.

Nice post

Barry

Hi Eric,

Would you say your pictures are street PORTRAITS ? In my opinion, street photography is when something HAPPENS and your lens catches it. Something like the decisive moment. Making street portraits can get easy and boring while street photography -trying to catch the decisive moment during the action- is a real thrill…

My favourite is the guy that looked like he was stretching on the corner!

loving it! more more more!

Very nice experience, impressive! Thanks for sharing!

Love it, love it, love it. Seeing this video and how people react has really helped boost my confidence. I just recently started photography, and street photography instantly peeked my interest but I’ve been very nervous about approaching people and have taken very few photos of people so far. But this along with 85mm’s blog on 500px have really helped with my courage. I hope to be snapping more street photos very soon. Thanks Kim. Hope to see more like this in the near future.

Well done Eric! I like your stile and how instinctive you are! I think in street photos the instinct come first; then technical staffs! we can see it at photos results! what do you think? tk to share it! cheers!

Great video. Looks so easy when you do it but I find it so hard.

Eric, thanks so much for shooting this, it was great to see how you work.

As a lover of the art, one thing I want to be sure of is that it’s a durable, respectable, respectful art. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot and seeing this crystalized it in my head. It takes confidence to approach people. You’ve got that, and you’re getting some good shots, but you talk about looking past people or moving on just as they notice. The evolution, I think, is to let the connection happen. Permission doesn’t have to be verbal, it’s negotiated in body language and through the eyes.

I love what David Allen Harvey (Magnum, Nat. Geo., Burn) has to say on this in this old blog post, simply titled “eye contact“. The comments are really worth reading too. I found it hard to put into practice but I think the first step is the boldness to approach; the second is having the courage not to be guarded. Let them in. Let yourself out.

For the benefit of other people in the comments here, I’ve clipped a few choice quotes – just the stuff that stuck with me:

After starting with a genuine interest in the subject matter, I think you have to share your humanity with the people you want to photograph, and allow yourself to be a bit vulnerable.

Being photographed is an act of generosity and trust. The subject is vulnerable in front of the camera, and often sharing intimacy with the photographer.

We should give back emotionally or else we risk letting our subjects feel cheated.

Think of the number of times you’ve been walking out on the trail or sitting at a bar or in a coffee house, book store, what have you…and you find yourself in a conversation with a complete stranger. It happened rather naturally and pleasantly, right. It’s relatively easy to do.

I just try to take that natural way of communicating with others now when I have my camera. They’re often interested to see if I am a “professional” photographer. What kind of photography I do. Most of the time when I express an interest in what they are doing they are more than happy to allow me to photograph them. If it goes smoothly we get together again…and again!

It’s not quite as rich, but the theme came up again in this post about negotiating on instinct.

And finally, here’s how it all comes together — some advice from Robert Write from the L•Camera forum:

Go somewhere crowded and just stand for a while in the mass. Look around you. Every time you see “something” say “CLICK” to yourself. Get used to your instantaneous response to something else. In other words, it is ok to be interested. Now, without moving, keep looking at everything around you, and when you see something happen, or usually when you see something ABOUT to happen get the camera up to your face and frame. Forget that you are too far away and it is not going to work, get the camera UP in anticipation. Pretty soon you notice no one cares.

So now move the feet! If you see something about to happen get the camera UP! Frame! Maybe pause. Count how long in your head it is until someone reacts to you. Usually it is about 3 full seconds. Internally to you, because you had anticipated the action, it is longer.

In other words, there is a SPACE inside that time that you can exist in that no one is aware of but you. That is the time you have to get the first picture. Sometimes that will be all you have, the action will dissolve. So keep moving. Smile, nod if you need to acknowledge someone. Stop to answer a question. Maybe you end up in a great conversation that leads elsewhere. Life is FUN! this is just an expression of your love of life. Being interested and paying attention is adding, not subtracting to the richness of life. We don’t TAKE away a picture, we ADD our appreciation. We show our love.

You have to get the camera UP and frame. But don’t forget to BE there as a person and look everyone in the eye and acknowledge them because you appreciate them. Smiling is good – after all you are not doing anything wrong. And you are under no obligation to make “good” pictures. You probably will not know till later whether or not it was “good.” The point is trying. You judge later.

“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.”
— Paul Strand

Peace.