Reacting to People Who Notice You in Street Photography
If you take candid pictures of people in public places, eventually someone will notice and react.
I think there are ways to make it less likely that people will notice you. But for the type of street photography that I do, that is relatively close, that’s not really an option.
Putting some thought into this and thinking about how you want to react in these instances is a good idea in my opinion. I don’t want to react or do something in the heat of the moment that I would regret later, so having an idea in mind of how I want to compose myself has been helpful.
Confrontation in Street Photography Happens
The reality is that if you do street photography, people will notice your presence and will notice when you take photos. It comes with the territory. I think you should get comfortable with this.
It gets easier to accept the more street photography you do, so practice, practice, practice.
What to Do
Having an idea in mind of how you want to respond when people react to you is helpful. For me, I think I tend to freeze or go blank when faced with tension or confrontation. But by thinking it through, responding is a bit more automatic. It also keeps me from having some sort of knee-jerk reaction that I may regret later.
Here are some of the things I do or have seen other street photographers do when faced with someone reacting to be photographed.
Walk Away without Making Eye Contact
This is usually what I do, is just walk away and don’t make eye contact. If you make eye contact, the person is more likely to ask what you’re up to. I’m not opposed to having conversations with people about it on the street. I’ve had some interesting conversations this way. But sometimes I just want to keep photographing and not be slowed down. Or I’m just feeling reserved that day.
The majority of the time, this works, and that’s the end of the interaction.
Act as if You Didn’t Take a Photo and Fiddle with Your Camera
The most prominent street photographer I’ve seen do this is Garry Winogrand. He would constantly fidget with his camera and make it look like he was adjusting his settings and composition. You can see this in action at the start of this video:
I’ve also seen photographers act like they’re taking video. They angle the camera up, act like they’re taking a photo or video, then bring the camera back down as if they’re checking the results - but that’s when they’re actually taking photos. I think this is a great way to photograph on the street in appropriate situations because it allows you to be right in front of people taking their photos, and they think you’re taking photos of whatever is behind them.
I haven’t tried this technique much, but I want to practice it so I can better sell it whenever the time is right. I need to work on my acting chops for this because if I tried it without practicing I think I would look guilty.
Smile, Say Thanks, Wave
I believe I picked this one up from my boy Eric Kim.
It doesn’t get much easier than this, and it’s a very simple way to react. There really is no performance involved on my part, which helps me act natural and congruent.
Smiling disarms people because it communicates friendliness. Sometimes I don’t have much energy, or I’m not in the mood to really interact with people on the street. But people are going to be confused as to what you’re doing, and doing this can help to disarm a situation.
I lean more towards doing this when people have clearly noticed me taking photos in their direction. Otherwise, I default to not making eye contact and walking.
Make Small Talk
This is another option for when people clearly notice you taking photos.
Having a conversation is great when I’m feeling chatty. I’ve met a lot of interesting characters out on the street. Most people are pretty friendly and have interesting things to share.
Know How You Want to React Beforehand
My reminder to myself is that I need to think about how I want to act when someone responds to me taking photos around them or of them. That way, I don’t lose my cool and react in a way that I would regret later.
Over the years of doing street photography, I’ve had a couple of bad reactions, but the majority of people I’ve interacted with are friendly.
