I'm not the center of the universe!!?!

"To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." 

Bertrand Russell

The thought of photographing strangers on the street has always terrified me.  I have looked at professional travel photography with awe, thinking that I'll never have the confidence to photograph people that I don't know.  Steve McCurry's 'Afghan Girl' is always the portrait that springs to mind when I think of such photographs and how far I am from being that kind of photographer.

So when I saw a tweet from Digital Photographer magazine asking if anyone wanted a street photography tutorial, I jumped at the chance.  As I was waiting for Carlo (my tutor from The Round Peg) and Claire from DP magazine to turn up, the realisation of becoming a London Street Photographer for the afternoon dawned on me and I thought about doing a runner!!

When Carlo and Claire arrived, they were so nice I couldn't think about leaving (also they had wedged me in, so I would have had to leap frog one of them!). We spent the first half an hour discussing some of the theoretical side, such as the legal position and image rights.  In short (and having trained as a lawyer, this does not come easily to me) it seems (another lawyer favourite: never commit to anything) photographing people on the street is permitted as long as it is not for an excluded reason, such as for commercial photography purposes or it amounts to harassment.  There is a great article on Siromo Photo's website here that summarises the law.  Although from a bit of research it seems that the UK courts are taking a slightly more relaxed stance to the European Courts, and so we may see a shift in the UK towards furthering an individual's right to privacy.

Carlo gave me loads of other great tips (which you'll have to go on his course to discover!), but the main ones were really to smile and not to think that everyone is looking at me.  He pointed out that I am not the center of the universe (errr what!?!) and that most people hadn't even noticed me taking their portrait.

There was one situation where the people being photographed got a little angry (see the picture of the nice man putting his finger up at me!) but generally people were more amused than anything.  The people that noticed that I was photographing them, smiled or gave me quizzical looks; some thought they were in my way, so quickly moved.  I had a great time as a street photographer.  It is easy to capture relaxed and interesting photographs in London as there is such variety in people, places and attitudes.  

I got to put my training into action at the Balham Street Festival.... more to come on that in the future blogs....