by Alex Russell
For the past couple weeks I’ve taken to the streets with my new digital SLR, trying to figure out a good way to do street photography. I’ve always been interested in photography, and I’ve always documented in words the people and world around me. Street photography seems like a perfect fit. But, of course there is some awkwardness to get over.
I found a video of Garry Winogrand and realize that the awkwardness never goes away when people see the camera and what matters is how you deal with it. Take a look at what he does:
It must be a strange scene to walk into. There’s a guy with a video camera, and then some dude with thick glasses snapping a Leica in your face. You can see the people Winogrand photographs are more confused than anything else. I understand the importance of close proximity, but this seems taken to the extreme. I’m surprised he can capture candidness with his method—waiting until people are close and then snapping away, only to turn and act unselfconsciously like nothing just happened.
But the guy is a master for good reason. For decades he took amazing pictures, and he didn’t do it with a telephoto lens and he didn’t do it by hiding his camera. He was there, right there with his subjects. He was part of the scene, and he had a great time. Really, though, how could you get angry if you saw a guy like Winogrand walking the streets flatfooted, snapping away? Most people probably didn’t take him seriously, and on the street it doesn’t matter. Look at the shots he sold for thousands of dollars and filled books with.
I’m concluding I’ll just have to jump in and get cozy. I just hope I can catch a few lucky shots until I get a sense of how to do this thing called photography. Fortunately, as with writing, there are plenty of masters who have left behind great work to learn from. And I’ve managed to meet a few people around town who are willing to help me get started. I’m having a great time.
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