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"In photography, creation is a quick business- an instant, a gush, a response - putting the camera up to the eye's line of fire, snatching with that economical little box whatever it was that surprised you, catching it in midair, without tricks, without letting it get away. You make a painting at the same time that you take a photo." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
Although street photography is not often our main medium at the Rhoads, it is something that we really enjoy especially when we travel. We have received several e mails and questions about it since our return home from Thailand. So I thought I would take a moment to share a little bit of what that experience was like and how we went about getting the shots that we did on the streets of Thailand.
Taking photos of people on the street isn't easy. If you are shy or timid, getting close to strangers and snapping the camera is probably not your idea of a great time. Given our temperaments, Chris being more introverted and me being more extraverted, I was much more excited about this type of imagery than Chris. Getting close and becoming part of the scene is a crucial part to getting the type of images that we want to capture when shooting street photography. We shot all of our Thailand images with our 35mm 1.4 lens or with our 16-35mm 2.8 lens. Shooting wide allows us to be a participant in the scene unraveling before us. It allows us to "be a part" rather than simply being back as an observer, and to us, this is crucial. When shooting street photography we always want to be a participant not a voyeur.
A lot of the questions we were asked revolved around "how" to get the shots that we got of people on the street. It should be mentioned that there are no clear set of rules and guidelines to exactly how street photography should be done, but I would be happy to share with you our personal approach. It can be assumed that when people step into a public space they do give up certain rights to privacy. However, we never want to take advantage of that as photographers. I prefer to take photos in a relational way. That doesn't mean we have to become best friends with each of our subjects, but learning a few words from the language, smiling a lot, taking a genuine interest in them, knowing cultural norms, and being polite makes photographing a stranger a much better experience for everyone.
One simple technique that we used since we were in a different country and not everyone speaks english, was to raise my camera up with a smile before taking the photo as a way of 'asking' if it was okay to photograph the person. There will always be those that don't want their photo taken, for those that fall into that category, we of course always want to honor their wishes. In our particular case I would say 92% of the time the people in Thailand welcomed having their photo taken. Thailand is considered "The Land of Smiles" so a smile goes a very long way here, and a simple smile was the door to many of my favorite images from the trip.
There are also certain times when you may be taking photographs of a scene on the street where many people are involved, it can be assumed that you need not ask permission of each individual person in the scene. However, the bulk of what I shot in Thailand on the street was more portrait driven so I tended to use the above approach most of the time.
A few street photography tips from the Rhoads:
1) Travel light and don't cause a scene. For us that meant that only one of us carried a camera at a time, we never wanted someone to feel like we were going "paparazzi" on them.
2) Honor & respect the people we photograph and don't be a voyeur. Don't be afraid to get in close.
3) For the type of street imagery we choose to capture, it is important that we are not sneaky. Don't hide your camera and "sneak" all your shots from a distance with your 70-200mm. Don't be a voyeur, be a participant.
I hope this helped answer some of your questions and shed some insight into how we got many of our shots in our Thailand images. We by no means are experts on the subject and there are no set guidelines and rules. This is just how we chose to go about it and what worked for us. We hope it can help a few of you out on your next adventure.
A few of street photographers who we dig:
Thoughts
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View Comments (18)
Wow. These images are beautiful. I love the colours. Thanks for the tips. Can't wait to hit the streets with a smile and my camera!
I loved the quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Another great photographer that shoots in that style is Jeff Ascough (http://www.jeffascough.com/).
The sunset and the street one is beautiful and I agree with a previous comment about the monks and the camera.
I love your photos!! The colors are fabulous.
sarah, thank you for sharing.
the one of the monk taking a photo of you is just priceless. i love that you can still see his big smile through his fingers and his happy squinty eye from the side. that pictures is so uplifting :))
I like the second to last image for it's depth and strong sense of place. Well done. The image of the scooters at sunset/sunrise is interesting too. Looks like something Nick Onken would shoot.
How fun! Thank you for posting more information on the art of "street photography." I actually just enrolled in a class called street photography, because I want to grow in that specific area! Which means I can't be shy anymore... :)
Thank you so much with sharing, I'm not a shy person at heart to take photos of people, but when I'm in another country I always tend to not get close-up and ask. Your tips will definitely help on my next trip. The photos are amazing! as I was scrolling through the post I was smiling - I love reading and viewing your blog it always makes me smile:)
i love it, thank you Sarah.
I'm going to go over to the Heavenly Village this week and practice some "street photography" for the first time...wish me luck!
Sarah, you know we've been blog stalking you for you a while. Your portraits from Thailand are so impressive and speak so much of your ability to relate to the people you photograph (even with language barriers) :-)
Nice post.
Have a look at the work of a great photographer, Raymond Depardon. I love his vision.
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&ALID=2K7O3R14JHU5&IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&CT=Album
haha. love these! I too really like the monk taking your picture :) And thanks for sharing!
Just beautiful.
HAHAH! My FAVORITE is the one of the monk taking a photo you YOU! :) That one made me chuckle out loud. Love all of these. The woman in the purple headband is just mesmerizing! Her smile pulled me in. What gorgeous photos, and people!
great post! with great images to go along! ;)
As always, a lovely post from a lovely couple. I adore the monks with the camera and the watercolor artist the most...thanks for sharing some thoughts on capturing humanity in their elements!
Thanks for the insight and tips. I've been following your work for 2 months and have been inspired by each and every post. Thanks again!
Beautiful post! Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm in love with these images. I like to do this same thing when I travel, but never got too many of the people because I was afraid to ask. Thanks for the info, I won't be afraid next time! Beautiful imagery.