Alan,
Thanks for sharing your images with us. It occurs to me that the great majority of your pictures (if not all) are taken from a seated position. I can understand that you were stuffed into a small crowded room with the singers and that one must necessarily be seated while shooting from an automobile.
But it begs the question as to whether (you as) the photographer (have) has physical limitations that lead to this predilection.
???
r
No reason other than circumstance. I didn't recall being seated the whole time while I was shooting the singers, and looking back on the full set (this is 80 out of 114) I'm pretty sure I wasn't. I also don't hold the camera to my face when I shoot which means that I could be standing and shooting from chest, belly or hip height. I think quite a few of these must have been taken sitting with the camera at eye level 12 to 16 inches from my face. The main difference you would see between those pix and ones taken standing up would be in the framing which would naturally be looser if the LCD is harder or impossible to see. The main variable that you tend not to pick up on is that there is about a 2.5 foot vertical range in which I might be holding the camera.
The great thing about shooting this way is that it breaks with people's conception of being photographed. I've even done portrait sessions with the camera on a tripod, taken 15 or 20 shots, and then had people ask me when I am going to start shooting. No flash of course! I'm visibly pressing the shutter release all the while, but I am also looking at them and talking to them at the same time. I haven't totally figured out how to translate this to the street and a situation where people don't know that anything is coming.
Actually these two are sort of the same thing on the street:
<http://photo.elay.org/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Day&id=030401_10_01j>
<http://photo.elay.org/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Day&id=030401_10_01l>
I was leaned against a storefront for these. This guy was quite close, and looking straight at me, but had no idea I was taking his picture. I was just somebody with a camera he saw on his way to work. I think it suffers from the lack of real connection, though.
The same thing goes for most of my pedestrian street photos. I usually either figure out a way to hold the camera and walk without swinging my arms or else plant myself and hold the camera below my head level. I'll have to try taking a lawn chair down to the corner and taking pictures. That would be one way of starting conversations!
Shots from the car can be difficult to differentiate, particularly if the pictures are sharp. Also in the city driving can be mind-bogglingly leisurely. I probably only think so because I've got something good to do while everyone else is *stuck in traffic*. Anyway 12 out of 49 pictures in the Astoria set were taken standing up.
The last warm day I was driving along with my window down, photographing when I happened to pull up directly across from a cop with his window down. I think we both thought I shouldn't be taking pictures but didn't really know how to deal with it. He looked at me and said, "Hello!" I said, "Hello!" back. Then the traffic started to move and we were unable to continue our conversation. I thought, "Whew!" And that was that.
-- Alan P. Hayes Meaning and Form: Writing, Editing and Document Design Pittsfield, Massachusetts
New photographs at <http://photo.elay.org/albums.php> <http://photo.elay.org/view_album.php?set_albumName=Astoria> <http://photo.elay.org/view_album.php?set_albumName=thesingers>
