Every now and again, you just have to walk around familiar grounds. I was watching a video the yesterday of a New York City photographer by the name of Bruce Gilden about street photography, his processes and reasoning about being a complete jerk about it.
Whether you are or not, this is a good short clip of how one person makes his living in one of the greatest cities in North America.
So I went downtown and tried my own hand at this, needless to say, I am not as rude or mean as he is. I took a different approach and made sure to be polite and courteous that way the people I photograph would want their picture taken. It is also nice to ask their side of the story. One of the men I met came on hard times after his veteran benefits ran out, the good sir Thomas is the fine garb was just happy to be drinking a cold soda on during the day. Most people wouldn’t give these people a second glance, sometimes it is polite to ask, and if that doesn’t work, a little bribery never hurts either. However the course is, the goal is to expect the shots to be phenomenal. All you can do is hope for the best.
