Of all the myriad types of photography, the one I struggle with most is people.
It does not matter who they are. Friends, family or strangers, the effort of getting them to pose for me just sends my heart palpitating, and I start panicking. This, in turn, means I rush, don't check my settings, etc, and generally get terrible images.
Usually, I get around this by "sniping". Using a long lens so that I don't have to directly deal with the subject. While this has its place, the need to get up close and interact directly with those I am photographing is also an important skill.
We have had a number of talks this year on people who have done "portrait 100" projects. In this, you go up to a total stranger and ask to take their portrait, and at the same time get a bit of background bio. While the resulting photo may not be up to Annie Leibovitz's standard, anyone doing this should be applauded just for attempting it.
For me, I cannot think of anything more terrifying. As my wife will tell you, I have a habit of "catastrophising" where I imagine more and more scenarios where things may go horribly wrong. (This is why I insist on arriving at airports 4 hours before departure)My fear with photographing strangers ranges from the simple no from the subject, to naked aggression and physical attack.
However, many people do it, so as a therapy, I sometimes try and force myself to try it. When I went to Japan, that was my plan. I even had business cards printed out to hand out. I mean, Japanese people are polite, and I had the added advantage of knowing I would never bump into them again. What could go wrong?
In the end, I took one photo like that...and then reverted to type, much to my eternal disgust.
Today I had another opportunity. I have a long-term project on the go that involves recording places and events in my local village. There is one event I really wanted to record that created a challenge.
Every year, the village hosts a huge rock festival called Download. I wanted to add this, but because I did not have a ticket to go in directly, how was I going to do it?
In past years, the village would become awash with festival goers, but in recent years, the site has become more self-contained, which means that without a ticket, access would be limited. Therefore, I came up with a cunning plan. I would go to the roads outside and take images of people coming to the festival dressed in their heavy metal get-up. This would kill two birds at once. I would get the images I needed and also practice my portrait techniques.
Initially, this went well. I got a few shots, but I decided to get some shots from the road of the site itself. An important point. I was at no time was I trespassing onto the festival site itself, but I was always on the public roads outside it. (I travelled by bike)
On my travels, I noticed a temporary crossing across the road, which allowed festival goers to cross from the campsite to the festival. Seeing an opportunity, I parked my bike and started taking some shots.
This is where it all started going downhill...
The law of the land
Like all such events, Download employs groups of private marshals and site security. Most of these are zero hour workers, who, whenever I passed them, looked as totally bored and were given the essential jobs of stopping festival goers from parking in private driveways, etc. Maybe this was the issue. Let's face it, festival security is not exactly the chosen career path for high-fliers. I mean, not many get the chance to mull between brain surgery and event security.
Anyway, I had just parked my bike by the side of the road and had taken a few shots of festival goers passing by, when one of them clocked me. He came over and asked me whether I had permission to take photographs and to stop doing it. What annoyed me was the aggressive attitude and how it was phrased. He came barrelling over and accused me of doing something illegal, and for a while, I thought he was going to manhandle me.
Generally, I shy away from confrontation, and I really don't want to upset anyone. If anyone came up to me I asked me not to take an image of them, that's fine, but what really pisses me off is someone telling me what I can and cannot do based on their personal belief rather than the law. As photographers, it is an unfortunate necessity to know the law of the land on where you can and where you cannot take photos. Even then, most photographers err on the side of caution and follow both the legal and moral rules. So when some guy comes barrelling up to you and accuses you of doing something illegal, it is very annoying.
The law, when it comes to photography, is clear. On public land, such as a road (apart from some specific restrictions, such as MOD land), there is no restriction on what images you can take. Now there are complications in terms of using such images for commercial purposes, but that's it. So basically, he had no right to tell me what I could and could not take images of.
This is the 3rd time I've had this issue. The 1st was on the road leading up to Ratcliffe power station, and the second was in Birmingham outside the Rotunda. Apart from the wrongness of it, the rule is applied inconsistently. A full-sized camera is somehow considered some sort of threat, while someone with a mobile is not, even though many mobile phone takes bigger and more detailed images.. If I had stood there with a phone, no one would have batted an eyelid.
Their 2nd complaint was somehow that I was impinging on the festival goers' personal privacy. Apart from the fact that such a thing did not exist (on a public road), this was a festival. 6 billion images will be taken and shared on social media. My timeline is spammed with millions of images of festival goers. My images are drops in a giant digital ocean. Ironically, if I had a ticket to go in, I assume I would have had carte blanche to take as many images as I liked, so diminishing his argument a fair bit.
Anyway, after a few sharp words, one steward attempted to moderate and defuse it. He asked me why I was taking the images, and I explained I was putting a video together for the village (I might have also suggested this was sanctioned by the parish councils, which is a bit of a white lie), and they backed off, and I moved on. He also suggested that next time, I contact the organisers for permission. It's not the worst idea, but again, it suggests that I needed permission in the 1st place.
I should have perhaps followed someone else's suggestion that I wear a high-vis jacket and where my Melbourne photography club lanyard around my neck. In hindsight, I should have got a lanyard made up saying official photographer and just announced that I was sent there to take photos for someone official.
The demon photographer
Unfortunately, people who follow the hobby of photography seem to have been demonised in recent years. As I said, most photographers are like me. Keen to follow the law, both written and moral and generally just want to get on practising their hobby. They are a threat to no one. While taking a mobile phone picture is considered acceptable, as soon as a normal camera is brought out, there is almost palpable fear that somehow we are about to steal part of someone's soul.
I get really irritated when people suggest that, as photographers, we should only take images of landscapes and inanimate objects, so we do not antagonise people. I understand people have rights and concerns, and I, like so many like, spend a lot of time ensuring we respect them.
However, I, as a photographer, also have rights, and such rights cannot be curtailed by someone who feels he has power because he is wearing a lanyard.
All my purpose was, was to record an event for others to enjoy, and I came away angry and demeaned for no fault of my own, and it is certainly not going to help in my quest to take stranger portraits.
However, unless we stand up to such treatment, people will assume that they have the right to treat you like that
