Street Mode: ON

Jasmeet Singh6

Street photography is the art of  capturing  a frame which portrays a moment from lives of people in their everyday environment. Many photographers tend to feature the people directly, while others indirectly address  their stories.

There are many technicalities that go into shooting on the streets but the best shot is the one that gets the observer experience the scenario first-hand just as the photographer.

From a photographer’s POV, perfect framing and time are the key factors to capture that intangible moment, because once the moment is gone, you will only be left saying DAMN!!

Jasmeet Singh

 

Blend in, give yourself some time in the environment to acclimatize,  you will realise that it is the easiest genre of photography. but most importantly, follow your instinct!

When you are on the streets, you need to be convincing enough to people that you are there with good intentions.

You should keep in mind that you are not hurting anyone’s sentiments while taking their picture. Stay humble and make them feel that you belong among them. If you offend anybody, apologize immediately.

Occasionally, if you  find a great subject, to go on about you should interact with the subject in the local language to make him a bit more comfortable.Then maybe, you can even ask him to pose. Don’t forget to show them the pictures you took(their happiness is really gets to you!)

You must avoid going way too close to people, as you point your camera in your subject’s face (this makes most people self conscious and you might lose a candid moment)

Pranjal Srivastava 2

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
― Ted Grant

To address the problem of the era, a lot of  people are always in the dilemma of choosing to shoot between  B&W or Colour. I try clicking portraits in black and white since it brings about more drama and highlights the emotions and per se,  the soul. But it is always preferred to take street shots in color to point out the diversity and ccolorful walls come handy for such compositions.

Slow down, take  your time, allow yourself to be wildly diverted from your plan. People are the soul of the place; don’t forget to meet them and enjoy their company as you explore a place.

Rohan Agarwal 5

Being a beginner one should not think much about the equipment. We mostly  blame the lens or the camera for not getting a perfect shot.

The uncertainity of the click , the perception and focus required to seek out one face among many, getting all the intricacies correct and then there is unreliability ie, what you see in reality and how rays passing through your lens converge and interfere to reveal your vision.Jasmeet Singh 1

The difference between the two, the perceived stillness….

An alternative reality

maybe a mirror

Or is it  just all in the mind?

Can it be quantized?

The answer lies in every picture you’ve captured, missed and regretted upon.

And with each new photograph, you face a new question :

Am I just a voyeur intruding  the privacy of a few and taking their lives for granted? Or am I trying to fight the elusiveness of truth and what it means to be a human from another’s perspective?

Rohan Agarwal 1

~ Rohan Agarwal, for MTTN.

[photos by Rohan Agarwal, Pranjal Srivastava, Jasmeet Singh]

 

 

[ Rohan AKA Fotuwaala, is a first year engineering student at MIT, Manipal. He is immensely passionate about photgraphy among other things and you can follow his amazing work on instagram @fotuwaala for more! ]

 

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