I discuss how to approach strangers, select subjects, and ensure a successful and meaningful interaction.

I also share my personal experiences and insights from my street portrait sessions, including a recent adventure at the 19th Annual Jazz Age Lawn Party in Governor's Island, New York.

From my encounters with fascinating individuals like professional skateboarders, unique characters in New Orleans, and even a chance meeting with a mayoral candidate in New York City, I share the stories behind the portraits and the connections I made.

If you're looking to step into the world of street portraits or simply want to enhance your skills, this episode is for you.

You can listen to the full episode on my website or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram at @StreetPortraitsbyLyn for more visual storytelling.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode or any questions you may have. Feel free to drop me a message on StreetPhotoStorytellers.com on the Substack platformand subscribe and stay updated on all my latest episodes.

Thank you for being part of our Street Photo Storytellers community. Let's continue to capture and share the stories of the streets together.

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Check out my street portraits from this year’s Jazz on the Lawn outing.

If anyone is around the NYC area tomorrow/Monday, Aug. 19, the Vivian Maier exhibit at Fotografiska New York will be $10 in celebration of World Photography Day.

No worries If you can't make it tomorrow, the show will be running until the end of Sept.

Fotografiska New York presents the first major retrospective in the United States of invisible artist Vivian Maier’s extraordinary work through September 29, 2024.

Of course, street photographers know Vivian Maier as a prolific photographer whose work was found after her death in boxes of undeveloped film cartridges.

Born in New York in 1926, Vivian Maier spent her early years in the Bronx. Throughout her time in New York City, Maier began to photograph the world around her and develop a visual language through the use of her camera, all while working as a nanny. Nearly a century later, Maier figures in the history of photography alongside the greatest masters of the twentieth century.

Here is a preview of the documentary that shares her life and work.

The Jazz Age Lawn Party returns to Governor’s Island, so we are heading there to photograph it.

What is it? Jazz Age Lawn Part is the world’s original and most authentic Prohibition-era-inspired gathering. The Jazz Age Lawn Party attracts thousands of time travelers each year, who come dressed in 1920s attire. It offers a unique, interactive opportunity to relive one of the most colorful and formative epochs in American history.

For those of us who love street portraits and street photography, the people in costumes are prime targets — who usually love being photographed.

We'll take the 11am ferry (free before noon or $4 after) from the Battery Maritime Building in Manhattan to Governors Island. There are jaw-dropping views of Lower Manhattan both while on the ferry and along the north and and west sides of the Island. Besides Gotham to the north, there are lots of other things to shoot on the Island, including Fort Jay, the island's Revolutionary War fort.

We'll meet up at 10:30am in order to get ourselves assembled and queue up for the 11am ferry.

Note that we're meeting up closer to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal; then we'll walk the very short distance to the Battery Marine Terminal together.

Plan your trip at: https://www.govisland.com/plan-your-visit/ferry

At the edge of a BP fuel station late one afternoon, I photographed the wrong person. By accident. What happened next thrust me into the dilemma faced by many street photographers - what happens when my rights are at odds with my subject's wishes.

What happened next was the kind of situation most street photographers hope to avoid and the decision we don't care to make.

It started as a typical afternoon shooting pictures for my Project 365, an exercise where photographers commit to taking picture a day. The BP oil spill story had just broken in the news, and I chose the topical story as my theme for the day's shoot. I pulled into a BP Station and started my establishing shots.

About 10 minutes into my shoot, while I was still looking for inspiration, a very angry man stormed up to me. 

"Am I in your pictures?" he demanded.

"I have no idea. I wasn't taking pictures of you," I laughed and kept moving.

He followed.

"I need to see if I am in any of your pictures and delete them if I am," he said, clearly getting more agitated.

"Look, I wasn't taking pictures of you. I wasn't paying attention to you. I really don't care if you are in the pictures or not," I replied. Now I was getting annoyed.

"No. I care!" He raised his voice and glared.

At that point, I was faced with a decision. Do I give in to his demands or hold to my right to take photographs, regardless of his wishes?

When does no mean no? Eric Kim's experience

I was reminded of this exchange after reading a Digital Photography School interview with street photographer Eric Kim and a couple comments that followed the article.

Eric recalls one of his scariest street photography encounters, which happened when he was shooting in Toronto:

"I took a photograph of what appeared to be a male aspiring Asian pop-star wearing nothing but skin-tight leather leggings and a leather vest. I took his photograph and kept on walking, and he turned around and asked me if I took his photograph. I told him I did, and he told me to delete the image. I looked at the image and thought it was quite interesting, so I refused. He then started getting violent and started shoving me in the chest, spitting while he was talking, and threatening to call the cops. I stood my ground and told him to go ahead and call the cops—as I was doing nothing wrong by shooting in public. He pretended to call the cops, and then stormed off afterwards."

I felt Eric's pain and understood his decisions. A couple people in the comments section raised interesting points, however.

PK said

"I’d be intensely peeved if this – or any – photographer took a photo of me without my permission and then refused to delete it after being requested to do so. I don’t care if you, as a photographer, find an image of me “interesting” – the subject could be in Witness protection, running from the law (or an number of reasons) – or, like me, running from an abusive ex-partner, who would kill me should he find me, and if that photo made it onto the ‘net, and if he happened to find it, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. People like Kim don’t think about things like that. They just care that the shot “looks interesting”. How about thinking about others for once?"

Alyacroft then responded

"I agree with pk. It’s one thing if you take a photo, someone requests you to delete it, and you do so, but to refuse to delete your photo just because it will benefit you? That is unethical. I think Kim’s photography is very interesting and while I wouldn’t get into people’s faces without permission, I think that’s not a terrible thing. I think that line is a little shakey, but permissible. But if he is asked to delete the photos, I believe he should do so. I think as human beings it is our duty to be kind and respectful to people. Too many people in the world are out for their own good and not for the good of others."

This is an interesting discussion. In a situation like this, the photographer is faced with at least three options: the photographer's right, the courteous choice, and the artistic imperative.

The Photographer's Right

Bert P. Krages, an attorney and photographer, published the often cited Photographer's Right - a one-page synopsis of your rights and remedies when stopped or confronted for photography. Here's the general rule: when you are on public property, you are legally allowed to photograph anything you want. Property owners can restrict you when you are on their property, and if you anticipate problems, it is prudent to ask. Krages says that you can also photograph any person when you are in a public place. In most instances, the law is on your side as a photographer. No one should be able to stop you, detain you, or confiscate your camera or pictures. That's the law.

The courteous choice

One of my instructors always counseled "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."  

Yes, the law might be on your side, but does that mean you should take every shot? Keep every shot? Display every shot? Of course, it depends. If I'm taking pictures in a public place and the subject sees the camera pointed at them, sometimes I just smile, motion to the camera. I give the universal "do you mind?" gesture. In many cases, they return the smile and continue with whatever they were doing. Some say no, and I move on. It's my right, but it's not a need. The law says I can, but there's not reason why I should. I'll respect the request.

The artistic imperative

"Morton!" Zeke would growl. "Here's an ethical dilemma for you."

Zeke was an editor I worked for early in my career. He was a gruff chain smoker who loved to regale us with stories of the good old days.

"Let's say you are on your way to work, and you happen upon an accident where someone is obviously obviously hurt. You have your camera. Here's your ethical dilemma... What speed film do you use?" Then he would roar in laughter.

The point, of course, was that as a photojournalist, you always take the shot. You worry about ethics and propriety later. But you take the shot. That is instinctive and uncompromising.

There are times when news value, artistic beauty, or the significance of the moment will lead you to snap the shot...and keep it. I call that the artistic imperative. It's about the work. How will you know? Like love, when it happens, you will know it. And you will know the law is on your side.

In that afternoon outside the BP station, I deleted the pictures. The angry subject trudged off muttering to himself. 

Why? Whatever made him that angry about being in my shot, I wasn't interested in finding out. He wasn't the intended subject, and there was nothing in the image worth fighting about. If I was on assignment for the Washington Post or some other publication, I might have felt differently. But on that day, it wasn't worth it.

I didn't like the picture anyway. Maybe that was the real reason. :-)

Inspiration

Read more: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/focus-on-street-photographer-eric-kim-in-your-face-with-a-smile#ixzz1lLRYOPKR

Street photography is one of the more accessible yet challenging forms of photography. As long as you have a camera, any camera, it’s available to you. 

We’ve been seeing it in some form or another for several decades now. But if you want to be good, you have to work at it. You have to decide which approach you want to take and how you will go about creating. Should you engage or not engage people. And how you will deal with them?

Josh Katz has not only thought about all these issues, he has also been sharing and teaching about them on his popular YouTube channel. He has an earnest charm when he teaches, which probably accounts for his popularity. His YouTube channel has 370,000 subscribers — which is almost the same population of my home town, New Orleans.

He has a lot of great insights for us, too.

Listen to the interview

After the interview, Josh and I kept talking…about ethics, technique, and more topics. I let the recorder continue to run. We got into some topics of ethics and more.

Here is the bonus interview

My talk continues by answering these questions as I share the elements of street photography.

This video is Part 2 to the mindset video I shared from the same presentation. Hopefully, this excerpt will give you some direction. And if you still have questions, you can ask me, and I'll try to respond in an upcoming post. For now, enjoy the Elements of Street Photography.

Then as I emerged, I saw a local TV reporter sticking a camera and microphone in everyone’s face as they came out of the station. If I only I had her nerve I thought. And then it occurred to me. I did have her nerve. When I was working!

That realization opened my eyes and led me to a new mindset that revolutionized my street photography. I had more confidence, chose better subjects, and had a much better experience shooting streets.

It was my focus on storytelling, and it is the focus of this new podcast. I want to share a lot of the lessons I learned…and have taught. I also plan on talking to accomplished street photographers to learn and be inspired by their work as well.

In this first episode, I will unpack the mindset that turned around my street photography. Let me know if it helps you. You can find me and the podcast at streetphotostorytellers.com.

If you resonated with this episode, go to Part 2, where I discuss the "how."

In Elements of Street Photography, I share how I go about identifying my stories. Between the two, you should be primed to follow along and participate!

And of course, don’t forget to subscribe!

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