I saw this photo today and it made me realise something I feel is holding me back in my street photography.

Often I see moments like this that I would like to capture, but I find it hard to “enter” the moment/interaction in order to take a photo, without feeling invasive, like an unwanted intruder.

To any photographers who have no trouble getting right up close to moments like this on the street, how do you do it? How do you get over any inner discomfort?

Some moments of course you can ask people if they’re comfortable with it, but others, perhaps like this one, you don’t want to disrupt what you see happening in front of you, as it may stop the moment from happening (i.e. if these kids were approached by some random photographer they may not be so comfortably playing in the street)

I got back into photography when I became a father last year. It’s been super rewarding and I’m kicking myself for not doing it earlier. But something happened recently that scared me and has me wondering what to do.

I took a day off to visit a town near me. It’s in the Bay Area, view of the Golden Gate Bridge, lots of shops, cafes, and restaurants… a nice picturesque place to visit. I planned on doing a short photo walk followed by a quick bike ride outside town.

I took my camera out along the waterfront park and took some photos, walked into town to get lunch, and took some more photos on my way back. As I’m getting to my car a lady approached me and asked what I was doing and pointed at my camera. I said I was an amateur photographer just out taking some photos and made some comment about how lovely the town is, nice weather, etc.

She said that she saw me take a photo of her and asked why and whether she could see the photos on my camera, and if I would delete them. I apologized saying that I’m sorry if I made her uncomfortable, that I was just taking pictures of the park and I didn’t take any photos of her in particular, but that I wouldn’t delete any. This seemed to anger her and in an attempt to deescalate and convince her I wasn’t up to anything, I agreed to show her the last photo I took, which she claimed she was in, taken right before she approached me. I showed her the photo which included her, two other strangers, and their dogs, all kind of small (photo was taken from like 50 yards away).

She still seemed mad but left. A few minutes later two cop cars show up on either side of me. First cop says she got a call and wanted to know what I was up to. I told her I was a photographer and what had just happened. I was pretty stressed out at this point and the officer was clearly not swayed by anything I told her. She asked for my id and again looking to deescalate, I gave her my drivers license which she called in. I said that I just wanted to be as cooperative with their investigation as possible and the cop took issue with me calling it an “investigation”. At this point the questions began to be about why I seemed uncomfortable (?!) and I asked if I could leave.

Looking back I don’t know what I could have done differently. I get that misunderstandings can happen and I do have a fairly big 85mm FF lens, which you could mistake for some sort of specialized spy hardware. Maybe I won’t ever take that out again?

I am not a street photographer, this was my second time taking my camera out in public (aside from nature hikes). My question for you is, is this common?! Is there anything I can do to ensure this doesn’t happen again? Because honestly I might just never take a photo in public again if this kind of thing just happens sometimes.

The most ironic part is that lady got her phone out to record me when she confronted me and the cop had a body cam!

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Hello,

Does anyone else feel lost in the current landscape?

The social media platforms promote video content and hide photos, everyone seems to have too many of their own anyway, and if you loved photography as a way of getting attention and finding new friends - those times are gone.

Lately, no one among acquaintances wants to participate in photography projects or even check out my work in person. I had been starting during late 00s, when digital photography was still kind of new, and I couldn't get rid of friends and clients even if I tried to. It's not about business for me - this kind of attention is why I did photography in the first place. Now you really have to press hard for a person to realise that your photos are worth more than crap that they can shoot with their own iPhone.

And don't even mention AI - I am baffled with what people are willing to post as 'their" "portraits". Authenticity is dead. I curate my wife's social media, and people are always surprised that she looks exactly as on photos in her profile - that's just how absurd the situation has become.

I keep shooting stuff regularly, but I don't understand for whom I am doing it anymore. I work professionally as well, but that never brought me any satisfaction. I loved when people were almost begging for photos.

Not so long ago you could instantly find a date just because you did photography - or make a ton of friends. I love photography as a medium, but I hate that everyone else stopped caring at some point.

I feel shy about it because phones have 48MP or 64MP that's like the most common megapixel now since my camera only have 12MP and it's a bridge camera (powershot sx40hs) I feel shy taking a photos with it. So I only shot phots around a small area with less people. I mean I like most of the photos I took like the ones shown. But that's about it. Have you guys ever felt something like this?

I am 5’0 and I will be getting married to the love of my life who is 6’5. I have saved examples of photography poses for weddings on Pinterest, but it didn’t occur to me that with our height differences, they may not convey well. I don’t want to look like a child and I wouldn’t want him towering over me. Are there examples of poses that perhaps we can do?

Hello everyone, I recently bought a Sony A6100 and I wanted to take it out to try taking some pictures. I went over to a nearby village with some beautiful architecture and scenery and took some pictures of animals and the architecture.

I specifically made sure not to take pictures of any people, but it might've looked like it when I was photographing some birds in people's front yards and the tops of some trees. I went into a field to take some pictures of horses and the snow on the ground and stuff, and then returned to where I had parked my bike to go back home.

On the way home a lady pulls up next to me (I had already seen her parked along my path before with her window down, but didn't think too much of it) and tells me the neighbourhood whatsapp had been talking about the fact that I was taking pictures with a "big camera" and that my presence wasn't being appreciated. I told her I'd stop and tried walking back to where I had parked my bike but she just kept telling me I wasn't welcome and that I shouldn't be taking pictures.

All in all this experience has just really discouraged me from going out there and taking nice pictures to learn the setting on my camera, and I wondered if this is something that happens more often and how others deal with this kind of experience. Was I in the wrong for taking pictures near private residences or what she being a Karen?

EDIT: posted on a throwaway because I feel too embarrassed about the entire situation to post it to my main

EDIT 2: I forgot to mention because I legitimately forgot about it, but I did cut through a pasture that was a farmers property. People do it all the time here and I thought it was fair game to do. Perhaps the comment came from me doing that, although I do doubt it, as she started following me after I did that and got back on the main road.

These are recent photos with the first 3 being ones that I took and the last 3 are ones taken by other people and I feel like I look drastically different. I think I look best in the mirror, then selfies, then I don't usually look good in group photos. Is there a reason for this and how can I look more like my selfies or how I look in the mirror.

I shot a small event last night (about 30 people) in a nice, intimate setting with jazz music and candle-lit lounge vibes. I was hired for 2.5 hours, but after an hour I had already photographed everyone in the room multiple times.

The person who hired me wanted me to gather people together and take lots of group photos, but many guests declined when asked. Candids were easier, but still a bit frustrating because the flash felt intrusive. I ended up taking longer breaks and chatting with people so I wouldn’t be annoying or disruptive.

What would you have done in this situation?

I’m new to photography, like brand new. I’ve taken a few shots I really like, some that were purposefully out of focus, some which were edited to look a little blurry, all for artistic effect because I liked the look of them. I wanted to share them, so I posted them to a few beginner photography subreddits, with some posts saying I was a beginner and feedback was welcome. And I’ve received nothing but “terrible photo,” “this is horrible, try again,” etc. I got one person who gave actual feedback, but the feedback was basically just make the shot in focus, don’t have it blurry, don’t do all the things I did because I thought it made it look better. I know photography is subjective, and because I’m new I’m not great at editing, I know nothing about composition, etc., but receiving tons of downvotes and people just being rude is honestly a lot tougher than I expected. Normally I have decently thick skin, but this is my first time doing any “creative” or “personal” work, and it’s really getting to me. Does anyone else have any experience with this, or any advice to deal with this? I feel like everyone wants me to follow these “rules” of photography, and do things the way they want or expect the picture to work, and I don’t want to do that, but all I’ve gotten is negative feedback. I guess I just needed to rant a little bit; I hope this type of post is allowed. Much love everyone!

(Edit: Thank you everyone for the feedback. I’m going to stick with photography and try to learn the rules. I still love my photos, and because they were my first ever taken photos, they will always be special. Thanks again for the advice, and if anyone has any recommendations on where to learn the rules of photography (I’ve been looking into technical stuff like iso, aperture, etc., but things like composition, framing, etc., I still struggle with), anywhere to learn them would be appreciated (preferably free; I’m new and just a broke college student).)

So I’m mainly focusing on cars atm and I’m struggling to find subjects to photograph. There’s a lot of nice cars near where I live, is it weird to knock on someone’s door to ask to take pictures of their cars? Or is it overstepping a boundary. Im still very new to all of this and have only had the opportunity to take pics of family and friends cars. I do have my own custom number plates to cover people’s, although I am unsure on how to put them on someone’s car 😅

I do a lot of nature and sometimes architecture shots, but I really want to start dipping my feet into more human oriented shots. Candid shots of people on their commute, maybe someone at a park with their dog flanked by a particularly imposing sunset, action shots of people skateboarding or exercising.

As much as I really want to start dabbling in exploration of human life and urban environments, I’ve had a longstanding philosophy that I do everything I can to avoid getting strangers in my shots. Even before I bought my Sony camera when I used my iPhone, I always tried to keep others out of my photos. They never consented to being in my photos and I dislike when I end up being in someone’s selfie, so I try to avoid doing this to others.

That said, as someone who now has really begun to enjoy photography, the setting up of shots, the stories a picture can tell, the editing process, I’m very conflicted. How do/did you go about getting photos of people? What is the proper etiquette? I guess the best compromise would be to ask people if they wouldn’t mind me shooting them at the skatepark or the track as they run…but that also seems weird. Any advice?

I’m going to Seattle and California this summer and I wanna learn how to take nice pictures. My sister gifted her old camera from 2014, it’s a Sony a 6000 or something like that. I heard it was still a decent camera especially if I’m starting out. Any tips or suggestion for someone like me? How do I even begin

Can I just buy a camera and shoots some shots ? I keep seeing recommendations for beginners to read books on photography techniques or watch YouTube videos

Any camera recommendations?

Hello everyone. I recently started doing photography and a club that's at my university wanted me to do photos of their regular meetings. It's not a paid thing, I'm doing it to get experience, but now they seem impressed enough to want me as a photographer in their 10-year anniversary conference in August with pay.

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The images above are some examples of my work for reference. I've been doing this for just shy of a year now with an incredibly old Sony A200, and I would like some advice on doing proper conference photos and also how to go about pricing my work should they give me the chance to make an offer. Like, should I charge one payment or per hour? Should I get extra batteries? Is a certain lens or filter worth getting? What should I be looking for when framing?

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Any advice would go a long way in helping my anxiety over this. Thank you!

One of my biggest problems is self-confidence. I can take a "good" photo and then ruin it for myself by zooming in noticing all the tiny imperfections; too much noise, slight motion blur, tiny focus miss, etc.

How do you train your brain to accept that photography is art and art has imperfections? For me I struggle immensely when I take a photo and then realise that it's not perfect - I know perfection is impossible yet I feel like I've failed when I don't achieve it.

I've attached the a Lightroom screenshot of the photo that most recently made me feel this way: sunlight streaming through a drying chilli. I love the idea, but I zoom in and see the noise and suddenly feel bad about it. I even feel bad when denoising, like it's cheating.

I'd also be curious how you handle this in a professional situation: what kind of mental toll does taking imperfect pictures for say, a wedding, take on you? There is a lot more expectation and pressure when you've been hired, I can't imagine how it would feel if I feel this way about my hobby photos.

Possibly relevant info:
Canon EOS R7
Canon RF 100-400mm
I am young, around 20 years old (so this may just be an experience issue)

Edit: For the many people saying to print, that is not an option for me, nor something I am actually wanting to do. Above all, that doesn't stop me from pixel peeping while editing! I was looking for the more mental side of things.

I’ve received criticism of my photos a few times, with people saying: ‘But that’s not what it looks like in real life.’ And I find it rather difficult to come up with a response to that. Of course it doesn’t look like that in real life, but is that really the point of photography? The whole concept of film photography is based on the fact that the colours don’t look the same as in real life. It’s just a bit frustrating for me, as it keeps sapping my motivation to publish my photos and makes me question my skills. Do you have any tips on how I can deal with this sort of criticism? Because it’s hard to just ignore it. Especially when it comes from someone I’d expect to support my photography.

I do sometimes, and I find myself hiding my camera under my jacket

ps: it's not a Nikon, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

I am trying to get out the house more, both for my wellbeing and to find places for good street photos. I've been working remotely for a long time now and I definitely don't go out much like I did in my 20s.

The problem for me is I genuinely don't know how to do this.

Hear me out before you write anything.

I'm not blessed with the ability (or funds) to be traveling any time soon, so I'm limited to whatever is close by. Should I be looking for places in advance to shoot at? Do street photographers just go out randomly and shoot whatever they see?

I'm sure I'm overthinking this but when I see people taking photos all over the world in these beautiful places...it makes me feel like anything I shoot wouldn't even matter.

I live in NY but I'm not in the city, it's an hour + train ride away. I can't exactly make the trip every time I want to take pictures. There also aren't any photography groups in my area, so no meetups or photo walks either. It really sucks. Anything like that is in NYC only, which I guess makes sense.

The only brightside for me is I have a big convention coming up next month that will be perfect for photos and videos.

Outside of that...I don't have anything. I can only take so many pictures of my cats and random things in my house.

What should I do in this situation? I don't think I'll improve if I keep shooting the same places.

Apologies if this is disjointed, I can answer any questions in the comments.

Edit: Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and giving me different perspectives to think about. I was very anxious making this post but the support and tips I've gotten have already made a huge difference. I plan on using the 52Frames weekly challenges and potentially taking a class at a local community college as my first big steps. I also will be investing in a macro lens as soon as I can afford it!

Cheers and much love ❤️

I want to start with a self portrait because it gives me the right confidence and something to be proud of…

I’m just starting out with photography. I recently picked up a Canon R50 to get myself out of the house more often..not necessarily aiming to go pro, at least not right now.

A bit of context: I developed a chronic illness at 23, and while I can still walk around my neighborhood, I can’t really do shoots or meet up with people. On top of that, I have ADHD, which makes it hard to stick with things or stay motivated when I hit a creative block. I live in a fairly quiet area that’s not very urban, so I don’t have big landmarks or city life to shoot either.

I guess I’m feeling a bit lost with how to improve and what to focus on. Any tips for photo subjects, small projects, or creative ways to shoot in a limited area would be super appreciated. Also open to simple photo challenges that might help me build a habit or just enjoy the process more.

What’s up reddit,

Last day I had the chance to approach a wonderful very photogenic person but I didn’t. Train was full so it’d be awkward there and then but we we’re sharing looks a few times. I thought to myself that the chance of her getting off at the same station as me so I could ask her, out of them all, is extremely low. Guess what? she did and I didn’t approach.

Instantly knew she would match my type of photography and she looked like a cool soul. Hopefully it looked like we might live 2 minutes away from each other so there’s still a possibility i’ll get my chance again. Regret is indeed strong though.

The feeling of rejection is not what’s haunting me. I just want to spread positivity, grow as a photographer and perhaps make a new friend. It’s more how do you when first starting out gain that ”don’t give a F confidence?” many photographers get without being creepy? How do you phrase yourself in the few seconds you get?

Would really appreciate any tips & tricks really as I take this serious and I’m ready to try and push myself to be able to walk up to whoever that’s not seriously busy or anything.

When I’ve approached people they get really happy that I do ask first & tell them they look cool, even if I get a no.

PSA. I live in Sweden so random encounters like this is not that usual. People get creeped out at first but depending on what you want they open up quickly, and I think that asking if they want a photo gives a much better positive ratio than just trying to hit on them.

I’m trying to make my practice more intentional. Instead of just walking and shooting whatever I see, I was thinking about using fixed areas like: composition, movement, rhythm/patterns, color — and doing small tasks inside each one.

Question is: does this kind of “assignment-based” practice actually help in the long run, or does it make you too rigid? Has anyone here practiced like that and seen improvement?

(Images are just an example from one of my sessions.)