Street Portraits

Today’s article makes a for a nice continuum from my thoughts on Shutter Therapy. A browse through that article and previous ones (on robinwong.blogspot.com) will show that there is inevitably a portrait or two, usually of strangers. In this article, I share my thoughts on shooting street portraits and also share some of my favourite photographs.

Unlike Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York fame or Bruce Gilden’s terror-spreading serialized projects, I have no specific purpose or final objective in mind when photographing strangers on the street. I am not trying to weave any sort global narrative, I shoot simply for the fun of it, and I enjoy shooting portraits. That’s reason enough to get me to return to the streets of KL week after week, and with no strings attached – allowing me the freedom to choose who I shoot and how I shoot them.

However, the bigger question here is not the underlying motivation but the execution – to put it plainly, how do you approach strangers? I choose my subjects carefully, and I don’t just attack random people’s private space. I don’t stop someone who is walking, or obstruct people or activities taking place on the street. Since the purpose here is to get close in an unoffending manner, I look for people who are standing around waiting for something or someone, or comfortably sitting down somewhere. I’m careful not to disrupt those who are working or avoid causing trouble or situations where my presence maybe unwelcome. This works best when the people you want to shoot are in a comfortable position, and body language cues and being able to read them are your best friend here. This is something that gets better with time and experience, along with the ability to anticipate and predict if the subject will agree to being photographed. I cannot repeat enough that if the person is busy, doing something important, doesn’t look happy, or obviously not in the mood to engage in a conversation with a stranger, give it a pass.

While a challenge drove me to start shooting close up portraits, I’ve kept at it because of the excitement and experience of interacting with someone who is completely alien to me. To say I am nervous, is an understatement but I have learned that a sincere little smile, and polite conversation can go a long way. Breaking the ice is not easy and it’s a slow process. I start by establishing my presence within the peripheral vision of the subject, and then make my way closer to them, slowly but surely. All along, I observe the subject’s response to me entering their comfort zone and eventually breaching their personal space. People will always react when you get so close, but if all the signals I read are positive, I ask if I can photograph them. 90% of the time, the answer is a solid YES.

Of course, I do engage in conversation before the request, but I keep it brief and quick. Sometimes, it’s just a universal nod to see if they’re ok with the photo being taken and no words are exchanged (hard to misinterpret a stranger, with camera in hand looking at you). In rare circumstances, I’ve had fairly long conversations which can be an experience in itself.

This doesn’t mean I don’t get rejected, it happens and is unavoidable. So what? Just smile politely, and move on. For every one rejection there are dozens of opportunities waiting elsewhere. The trick here is to stay positive and remain positive, not just mentally but physically as well. Your facial expression, and how you present yourself is key in getting a positive response. People’s initial reaction to you is largely based on your physical appearance and person, especially since you are a total stranger to them.

Several famous photographers have stated that street portraits have more character  if the subjects weren’t smiling in such a familiar manner. I disagree. A smile is natural, pleasant and we all smile when we see each other, especially friends and family. There is magic in the human smile that helps build connections and bridges. Animals have other forms of greeting, but for humans, nothing is quite as universal as a smile. Why exclude something that is so exclusively human, when you are shooting humans?

Once I’ve successfully obtained permission to shoot these portrait, I don’t usually have time for too many attempts. It makes for an awkward setting if you’re standing around shooting something like 25+ photos of someone you just met, so its important to make each shot count. Whatever I choose to do, I always ensure my subject is comfortable. For starters, this means maintaining at least an arm’s length, and respecting their boundaries of personal space. I don’t just whip my camera inches away from their nose with a fisheye or ultra wide angle lens. While I acknowledge you get different perspectives and results that way, those methods and results are not for me. I’m not looking for the shock value or grittiness that is too often portrayed in modern street photography. I’m more concerned with capture the beauty and unique character, in my view, of each stranger I meet on the street.

Now that I’ve covered my approach and etiquette for street portraits, let’s look at my general camera setup for street portraits:

• Single-AF: I select my focus point manually and place it over the subject’s nearest eye.
• Aperture Priority: I adjust F-stops manually, normally wide open between f1.8 and f2.8.
• ISO: As low as possible, normally ISO200-400
• Exposure Compensation: I use this to make adjustments in real time as I look at the exposure through the electronic viewfinder or live view screen.

• Medium Telephoto Lens. I find 85mm-100mm (35mm equivalent) to be ideal. Anything shorter than 50mm will produce unflattering distortion when shooting close-up and anything longer than 100mm defeats the purpose, as you need to stand  quite far away and it isn’t the same experience.

My favourite lens for tight street portraits is the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 (90mm in 35mm format). This allows me to stand about 2 meters away from my subject and get head and shoulder shots (or in extreme cases simply headshots if working space is limited). This focal length provides me with a few crucial benefits: It gives me a compressed background perspective, allowing me to avoid messy distractions, and to capture flattering profiles of the subjects face with minimal distortion and perspective exaggeration. The wide aperture of f1.8 allows me to take advantage of the shallow depth of field to isolate the subject further and to control the amount of bokeh I want.

To wrap up, here are some (hopefully interesting) facts about my street portraits:

• Malaysia and the street of KL is comprised of mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians . In my experience, Indians tend to be the friendliest and most approachable people, followed by the Malay and Chinese.
• I’ve shot a number of non-Malaysians as my subjects. Many are blue-collar foreign workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, or even from Saudi Arabia. I’ve found that foreigners are generally quite friendly.
• The ratio of men to women in my shots is about 10:1. I’ve found it easier to shoot men on the streets. They tend be less self-conscious about their appearance, and don’t worry as much about their hair and makeup. This is possibly why women tend to turn down my request to photograph.
• Black & White works well for street portraits. They help reduce any distraction due to color and help pull your attention back to their facial expressions.
• When I am seriously inclined to shoot street portraits, I avoid big groups. While I generally shoot with a group of 4 people or less, I prefer to shoot alone when I have a specific shotlist in mind. Sadly, it’s unwise to be alone on the streets in KL these days and safety is a growing concern.
• Unless you shoot at night, these images tend to be shoot with abundant ambient light. So your choice of camera should not matter too much. If anything, something as open-ended as street photography is the place to leave gear obsession behind.

• That being said, I’ve found that people react better to smaller cameras. I have used an Olympus E-520 and E-5 (both DSLR sized cameras), as well as a Sony A350 and Sony A57, and the most frequently asked question was “are you from the media?”. People are automatically more cautious of you and suspect an an agenda when they see a d-SLR sized camera. This has almost never happened when I’ve used a Micro Four Thirds system.

I recommend you guys give this a try the next time you are out photographing in the city and for those of you who have, what have your experiences with approaching people been like, and are there any useful techniques that you found work quite well, whether dealing with people or the photography itself.

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