How to overcome fear of shooting street photography - SP journal #5 | 2+ Years on Steemit

2 days ago marked my 2 year anniversary on Steemit. I just wanted to thank everyone of you who made this the best time of my life. I got to know a lot of amazing people here whether through curating or sharing my personal stories. Still a long way to go for this platform, but I'm just happy to be a part of it. Now to today's topic.

For anyone who is starting in street photography this is probably the biggest challenge. Let's be honest, photographing total strangers on the streets can be intimidating and you never know how they'll react if they see you taking their photo. This fear often causes photographers to act sneaky, conceal their camera, "shoot from the heap" or without looking at the composition etc.

Here are a few tips that helped me along the way to feel more relaxed when out on the streets.

• Smile - people will be more relaxed around you if give out a happy vibe and don't look threatening :)
• Act like a tourist - Good advice regardless of street photography, but here it can especially help out. People are generally accustomed to tourists and their cameras so pretend to be one and "take" photos of everything
• "Make a video" - just walk around and pretend as if you are making a video, while actually taking photos of things you find interesting
• Go to more crowded places - you will stick out less when there's bunch of people around
• Avoid eye contact - If you prefer interacting with your subjects then ignore this advice. However, if you just want to make the photo and leave the scene, it's best to avoid eye contact. If someone sees you taking a photo of them, you can either give them a thumbs up to let them know you are OK with them noticing you, or you can just move the camera pretending to photograph something else and just move on. :)
• Use smaller camera with a silent shutter - If you point a big DSLR in someone's face, people may get scared. So get one of those smaller, mirrorless cameras with a leaf shutter or just use your phone.
• Don't overstay your welcome - if you stay too long shooting a particular scene, it may start to annoy people. Know your settings beforehand so you are able to make couple of photos and leave.

That's it, those are my tips to ease your life if you like street photography. Let me know if you try it out. :) As always, here are some recent photos, hope you enjoy.

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