Street Portraits… a great guide

Street photography is about the spontaneous capture of people living and doing the normal everyday things in their lives. Connecting with those people and capturing them in their environment is great fun and is a great way to express yourself.

Street portraiture takes this one step further. It is about engaging directly with your subject. You are building a rapport with them as portrait subjects. This requires communication skills that that the street photographer rarely employs. Portraiture involves asking your subject to pose in the street for you. They must respond, positively, to you. You have to help them to present themselves naturally to the camera. These are great skills. But you also need to do all that quickly. In the street you will lose your subject very quickly if you do not get the job done fast. Its a lot to think about.

In this great video Clay Enos, shows how he does street portraiture using simple techniques and a very simple paper backdrop. However, the gem in this video is how he uses his communication skills. I learned a lot… I am sure you will find it useful. Enjoy!

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