Street Photography Nerves: How I Deal with It
I’ve dealt with being nervous while doing street photography here and there. For me, it’s not a constant feeling; it’s usually when I’m just starting out for the day or when I’m in a situation where I want to take photos but it’s going to be painfully obvious that I’m doing so.
Over the years, I’ve found that the more I do street photography, the more manageable any nerves become. I’ve experienced it enough times now that I know the feeling will pass.
Here are my thoughts on feeling nervous when doing street photography and some things I do to feel more at ease.
Every Street Photographer Deals with Nerves
I think it’s a good idea to remind myself every once in a while that every street photographer probably deals with feeling nervous at some point or another. Not like I have hard data on this or anything obviously, but I think it’s a pretty safe assumption.
Knowing this makes me feel less down on myself. It’s normal to feel nervous when doing street photography. Keeping this in the back of my mind helps me so that nerves don’t hold me back from doing street photography.
Sometimes Fear Is Warranted in Street Photography
The fear response serves a purpose - to get humans out of dangerous situations. Fight or flight and all that.
I think in the majority of situations on the street, feeling the need to flee the scene for safety doesn’t serve us. Because the majority of the time, we’re pretty safe for the most part.
That said, there are legitimate situations you can find yourself in when doing street photography that are not safe. In those cases, feeling fear may help.
Dealing with Fear in Street Photography
Of course, there’s no way to 100% eliminate any nerves, fear, or anxiety when doing street photography. That’s just not how our brains work.
But there are some things that help me ease nerves in regards to street photography. Some help me to warm up when starting a session. Others help to keep in the back of my mind so it doesn’t become an excuse for not doing street photography.
Start Off Slow
If you’re just getting started in street photography or maybe coming back from a hiatus, I think easing into it slowly is a good idea. Wade into the shallow end before you go into the deep end.
In practice, here’s what I mean. Walk around and get a feel for where you’re photographing first before taking any pictures. Start taking pictures slowly and then ramp up your rhythm as you go.
Go out for short sessions. You can plan ahead of time that you’re just going to photograph for half an hour or an hour or whatever. Knowing that the session isn’t going to go on forever can ease your mind, I think.
Take Cityscape Pictures
Street photography and cityscape photography go hand in hand. I think of street photography of mostly having people directly included in photos. With cityscape photography, people are implied in them because you’re seeing human-built environments, often without explicitly seeing people themselves.
It makes sense for street photographers to take cityscape photos. Especially if you live in a slower-paced, smaller city. That’s because there are fewer opportunities to take pictures that include people in smaller cities. In some smaller cities, if you waited around for people to show up, you’d practically be waiting forever.
To get to the point at hand, taking cityscape photos is a great way for street photographers to get started. It gives you the opportunity to take pictures in urban environments and get comfortable doing so. It’s less nerve-racking than street photography, because there are no people in it and you have time to slow down and compose your shots.
Starting off a street photography session also helps to get warmed up.
These are some photographers who do cityscapes:
Try a Longer Lens
Using a longer focal length lens for street photography puts more distance between you and subjects. I think the thought of getting close to people and having them notice you taking photos is where most fear comes from in street photography, and this can help to ease that tension.
For me, using a longer lens is something I gravitate more towards depending on the location. If I’m photographing in a smaller city where things are more spread out, I think it makes more sense.
You do have to keep in mind that the field of view is going to be different from using a wide-angle lens. I prefer 28mm and 35mm lenses for street photography because the photos they create make the viewer feel like they’re in the scene, as if they were there on the street themselves. With longer lenses, that feel definitely changes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; I think you have to decide that for yourself because these things are very subjective.
For me, when I think of longer focal lengths for street photography, the maximum I’ve really gone is 50mm. I would try up to 85mm, and I think I could make that work. But I wouldn’t use a really long telephoto lens. I’ve seen street photos from photographers who used 200mm and longer lenses, and the compression just looks really out of place for street photography, in my opinion. It makes it look like wildlife photography, and the people are the wildlife. Very strange.
Do Abstract Street Photography
To add to the previous point about using a longer focal length lens, one thing that allows you to do that is to create more abstract street photography. You can do things like incorporate silhouettes, show parts of people rather than up-close photos of their faces, and photograph through things like glass, mirrors, and reflections.
Saul Leiter is the photographer who comes to mind when I think about this style.
Have Patience with Yourself
Easier said than done, but I think you should give yourself time. It takes time to get better at creating good street photos. It also takes time to feel comfortable on the street.
Being patient with myself has certainly helped me be more motivated to go out and do street photography.
Explore Other Types of Photography
There’s plenty of crossover between street photography and other types of photography, like photojournalism, documentary photography, cityscapes, urban landscapes, portraiture (street portraits in particular, obviously), and the list goes on.
I say try it all. I personally like doing cityscapes in addition to street photography.
If, in trying some other type of photography, you may find that your calling is something other than street photography. You should do what makes you happy.
The More You Do Street Photography, the Less Fear You Have
The more I’ve photographed in the streets, the more comfortable I feel with it. Shrinks would call this exposure therapy, I believe.
So I say go out and make street photography part of your everyday life.
