{"id":4824,"date":"2011-11-14T03:52:57","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T11:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=4824"},"modified":"2011-11-14T03:53:32","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T11:53:32","slug":"10-things-sociology-has-taught-me-about-street-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/14\/10-things-sociology-has-taught-me-about-street-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things Sociology Has Taught Me About Street Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eric<\/a>
\n(Chicago, Eric Kim)<\/em><\/p>\n

I studied Sociology during my undergrad at UCLA. I loved learning all of the ways that people interacted, communicated, and collected in groups. It really opened up my eyes to the world around me. However little did I know that all these things I have learned in Sociology (and trained myself to see) would apply so much to street photography.<\/p>\n

Below are some things that I have learned about human nature and interaction \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which has helped me along my street photography journey in terms of building my courage and candidly taking photos of strangers. Hope these are as helpful to you as they were helpful to me!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1.People are more similar than dissimilar<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"We<\/a>
Eric Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am fortunate to travel and shoot street photography all around the world. Whenever I post videos of myself shooting street photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgetting up-close and personal, people often say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That would never work in my country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Although different countries view street photography in different ways, my experience has shown me that people react more similarly than dissimilarly when it comes to street photography.<\/p>\n

The key is to keep a smile on your face regardless of where you go and always thank the people for the photos you take. Sure you will always face some sort of opposition at times (people asking you to delete their photo, asking what you are doing, or even yelling at you) but most people are quite flattered to get their photos taken. 90% of the people I smile at and wave\/say hi to\u00e2\u20ac\u201dreturn the gesture.<\/p>\n

2. People are mostly non-confrontational<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Brian Soko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have ever watched the movie Fight Club<\/a>, there is a scene when Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) tells all of the members of Fight Club that they have to get into a fight with somebody. These willing participants then go about their everyday lives trying to purposefully provoke fights by spraying people with water, making fun of them, or even harassing them.<\/p>\n

In the movie, the participants had a very difficult time getting people to fight with them. It was that most people were pacifists and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to fight. However in order to get another random stranger to fight\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthese participants had to really push their buttons\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand hard.<\/p>\n

I see the same thing with street photography. I have never heard of a street photographer ever getting punched in the face or even worse\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgetting stabbed, shot, or dying. The worst things that has ever happened to me (and I shoot much closer compared to the average street photographer) is the following:<\/p>\n