street photography tips

[rweakins]

This kind of drivel is completely hyperbolic and unfair. It's spoken like a person who has never been outside his own comfort zone and views people in the rest of the world as savages.

There is danger all over the world, and even the United States has more than its share of it. Street smarts are necessary in any urban locale; nonetheless, even in the darkest of them, there are people who genuinely want to share something of themselves with individuals who exhibit a level of respect. If you go into any place thinking of the residents as "The Other," then you're likely to appear hostile, and hostility may be directed back at you. However, if you try to make friends with people, walls tend to come down, and doors tend to open. Common sense and caution in combination with courtesy and respect can go a long way. It really helps to see other people as fellow human beings, no matter where they live.

carlgo's virulent and paranoid attitude is the stuff of hate mongering. I detest it.

i can definitely say my attitude is nowhere near that of thinking of the residents as "the Other". what you said about making friends with people tends to bring down walls is so true. i've seen that everywhere i've gone. if you respect the culture and people you are around they will respect you and usually show a genuine interest in the differences in your culture and theirs.

i'm hoping us giving soccer camps for two weeks will be a perfect way for us to bridge the gap between our two cultures and provide opportunity for those walls to come down.

 

[iTiki]

@ rweakins

We eagerly await your safe return. Please don't let us down.

 

[carlgo]

you're ridiculous. i'm in no way going to photograph poor people or going to change the political system of the country. I'm going to teach soccer camps at a soccer complex in joburg and going to FanFest to watch the games and mingle with people from all over the world. while doing this i plan on taking pictures....not of poor shanty town natives but of fans and people who come to the camps. i'm not stupid i know what type of lenses the pros use and that they are on the field ( i shoot sports for my university's paper...from the field ). Nonetheless we all know the longer lens just gets you closer i.e 70-200.

i've been in parts of the world just as dangerous as joburg.. kabul, rio de janiero, caracas. i've been around the crime and violence so i do know what i'm getting into.

i'm just glad you know so much about all of this

You just proved you have beaten the odds and that the law of averages is now very much your enemy. You have the time and money to be slumming in all of these places all around the world and you are asking for advice on an Apple forum...?

 

[Phrasikleia]

You just proved you have beaten the odds and that the law of averages is now very much your enemy. You have the time and money to be slumming in all of these places all around the world and you are asking for advice on an Apple forum...?

Please take your jealousy and bitterness elsewhere. The OP is asking for photographic advice in what is one of the best photography forums on the internet. This thread may offer slim evidence of this forum's merits, but I can assure you that a lot of people get a lot of great advice here.

 

[pdxflint]

You just proved you have beaten the odds and that the law of averages is now very much your enemy. You have the time and money to be slumming in all of these places all around the world and you are asking for advice on an Apple forum...?

You've just made the short list of the most self-righteous, arrogant and rude posters in this forum, and top the list of "most paranoid." Maybe you should read what you write before clicking "submit." Well intentioned advice seldom drops into the category of sarcastic, narrow-minded ranting (as your first post did,) so I doubt it was well-intentioned advice. Of course, I wouldn't doubt that, with an attitude like yours, you might find yourself an easy target for anyone in another country. I'm with Phrasiklea - just take your attitude somewhere else...

 

[carlgo]

i can definitely say my attitude is nowhere near that of thinking of the residents as "the Other". what you said about making friends with people tends to bring down walls is so true. i've seen that everywhere i've gone. if you respect the culture and people you are around they will respect you and usually show a genuine interest in the differences in your culture and theirs.

i'm hoping us giving soccer camps for two weeks will be a perfect way for us to bridge the gap between our two cultures and provide opportunity for those walls to come down.

So, you are going to hold a soccer clinic that will bring down walls between "the two cultures". You are going to take photos there and go to a World Cup match.

Well, damn. I got all worried for you about going into one of the world's most dangerous areas. We all did. And then you were wanting to know if a 200mm lens would be ok as you were going to a Gold Cup game.

Actually, the whole thread you started is pretty clever. It sucked us in with newbie-sounding questions that alarmed us, got quite a few replies advising you to be careful. You kept it going with answers of innocence, like you were really not getting it.

I write my tough love answer, hoping to head off a tragedy to you and others, and get called a bigot and paranoid! Hey, thanks a lot.

Then, oh, you have faced danger all over the world, you are holding a soccer clinic for kids at some facility, you are taking photos of them and not of World Cup players a mile away in a huge stadium, you are promoting world peace through soccer and will bring down the walls that divide people.

Whew! Sucked me in! I bow to your humanity, all of it that is real anyway.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

at the game i'll use a 70-200 f4L.... if they let me bring it in. i will be getting a 24-70 f2.8 soon and i think that will probably be my "walking around" lens while i'm in the streets.

Great choices in lenses - but they scream "rob me"!

One of the reasons I am a big fan of the Micro 4/3 format... small, light in weight, and they don't scream "money" when shown about...

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

And correct me if Im wrong but from what I've seen, people get scared easier when they see a pro grade lens pointing at them then a smaller diameter lens.

You have a strong point there. My people pics changed when I got my Olympus Pen EP-1. Less intimidating; but also having the camera away from the face allows for closer interaction with the subjects IMHO...

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

i can definitely say my attitude is nowhere near that of thinking of the residents as "the Other". what you said about making friends with people tends to bring down walls is so true. i've seen that everywhere i've gone. if you respect the culture and people you are around they will respect you and usually show a genuine interest in the differences in your culture and theirs.

i'm hoping us giving soccer camps for two weeks will be a perfect way for us to bridge the gap between our two cultures and provide opportunity for those walls to come down.

Some times going with blinders on is not a bad thing. Remember my 1st trip to SF back in like '96 with my ex...

On our second day there in SF the concierge was waiting to here about our travels - given our 1st day out! LOL Wore my ex out out by all the walking on that trip. He could not believe that we walked through the SoMa area!

Been back that way a few times since then, more as an observer... then a photographer...

Look forward to your pics... just keep it on the DL and you will do well I think

 

[rweakins]

@ rweakins

We eagerly await your safe return. Please don't let us down.

thanks

So, you are going to hold a soccer clinic that will bring down walls between "the two cultures". You are going to take photos there and go to a World Cup match.

Well, damn. I got all worried for you about going into one of the world's most dangerous areas. We all did. And then you were wanting to know if a 200mm lens would be ok as you were going to a Gold Cup game.

Actually, the whole thread you started is pretty clever. It sucked us in with newbie-sounding questions that alarmed us, got quite a few replies advising you to be careful. You kept it going with answers of innocence, like you were really not getting it.

I write my tough love answer, hoping to head off a tragedy to you and others, and get called a bigot and paranoid! Hey, thanks a lot.

Then, oh, you have faced danger all over the world, you are holding a soccer clinic for kids at some facility, you are taking photos of them and not of World Cup players a mile away in a huge stadium, you are promoting world peace through soccer and will bring down the walls that divide people.

Whew! Sucked me in! I bow to your humanity, all of it that is real anyway.

i never asked anything about if a 200mm lens would suffice for a taking pictures in a world cup stadium. i actually just asked for some general street photography tips.

the soccer camps are during the midmorning and afternoon and are not magically going to bring down the walls between the cultures but they will bring down the walls between my group and some of the locals as we will be able to interact and get to know each other. that being said the games are all afternoon/night games so during these times i'll be in the FanFest areas and then for Brazil v N Korea we will be at the game....

You just proved you have beaten the odds and that the law of averages is now very much your enemy. You have the time and money to be slumming in all of these places all around the world and you are asking for advice on an Apple forum...?

i have found this forum to be helpful several times before and was hoping that it would be once again but this thread has fallen short. just fyi this trip to joburg is the only one out of the ones mentioned that i've had to pay a penny for out of pocket. and i'm a college student so i do have a lot of time to travel and i know once i graduate i won't have as much time.
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just out of curiousity how many people posting on this thread have stayed in a city like joburg or caracas or kabul?

 

[Phrasikleia]

just out of curiousity how many people posting on this thread have stayed in a city like joburg or caracas or kabul?

Does New York count? That and some sketchy parts of Los Angeles have given me my biggest scares, but I've also had some wild rides through the Middle East and Albania. I did a little bit of street photography in the latter and did feel very self conscious when I had the DSLR in plain view (it amounted to about six months of salary for the average Albanian), but my project was actually to photograph archaeological sites and museums there. As I said before, in my experience, courtesy and respect go a long way, but street photography is not my specialty, so I don't have too much to offer in the way of practical advice.

 

[telecomm]

You just proved you have beaten the odds and that the law of averages is now very much your enemy.

No one need fear the law of averages.

(It's a common error in statistical reasoning, also known as the gambler's fallacy.)