permission

3 Tips To Conquer Your Fear of Shooting Street Portraits

Last November I shot a campaign for Samsung’s NX20 camera using a video camera strapped to my head to record the footage of me shooting street portraits in Chicago with permission. It was a project that was intensive: I shot for 2 days straight from 5am-noon on little sleep.

The thing I loved most about the project is that although I certainly didn’t take photos that made it into my portfolio — it forced me to step outside of my comfort zone and interact with lots of people on the streets in a short period of time. The fact that the video was being played live in Amsterdam while I was shooting did give me healthy pressure which ended up being a great learning experience.

Should You Ask For Permission When Shooting Street Photography?

Currently the video that I shot with my Leica M9 and GoPro HD 960 has been getting quite popular on the web, and has been creating some interesting discussions on what street photography is/isn’t. In this video I discuss my definition of street photography and whether you should ask for permission when shooting street photography.

Also make sure to check out the articles How to Shoot Street Photography with Permission with Danny Santos and The Street Portraiture Project of Fulton Street by Chris Sorensen.

I welcome everyone to participate in the discussion and please leave a comment below! How would you define street photography, and do you think you should ask for permission or not–and why? Looking forward to everyone’s thoughts :)

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Ask For Permission When Shooting Street Photography

"God Bless America" - Gena. Click to read more.

Photo Credit

When it comes to street photography, it is essential to capture candid moments of everyday life. This is what sets the genre of “street photography” differently from all the other types of photography out there. Although there are many talented photographers out there who specialize in capturing posed street portraits, I would classify those images as more of a subsect of “posed street portraiture” than “street photography” proper. In this post I will outline my thoughts why you shouldn’t ask for permission when shooting street photography.

If You Want Greatness Stop Asking For Permission

From my friend Roseann Marquez’s Facebook account. Link to her twitter.

Makes me think of one of my favorite quotes: “It is better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.” That is one of the few things that I have learned in life, which is that people are always so afraid of the negative consequences that they rarely think of the positive outcomes that could come out of breaking out of one’s shell. Fear is one of the things that prevents men (and women alike) from truly achieving what they are capable of. Is failure what scares people, or the fear of failure? Although failing is a disheartening feeling, it does not kill the individual. Rather, it empowers the individual to continue to strive for greatness until it is actually achieved.

So never fall into complacency. Strive for greatness. And like Nike famously puts it, “Just do it.”