QUICK TIP - WORK THE SCENE!

My quick tip for today is ‘work the scene’. I love to watch other street photographers working the streets and all too often someone sees a good potential shot, takes it, then saunters off, only to miss several more opportunities in the same scene.

Take these pictures I shot in Liverpool this weekend, for example. I saw the guy emerging from the door carrying the mannequin, didn’t hesitate (I gave myself full marks for this), then thought I should stick around and see what happens.

Fortunately, another guy came out with another mannequin, then the original guy came out with more . . . and so on. Then one of the mannequins’ heads fell off and rolled down the road. Buy this time, both guys were aware of my presence and were giggling (not to mention the other five on my street photography workshop!). It became a hilarious scenario. But it would have been so easy to just walk away after that first shot. So, instead of having one good ‘moment’ I have a good selection from which to choose my favourite.

When faced with this situation, you often have a little bit of extra time. Always get your first shot, without hesitation, then stop to think. What might happen next? Where could I position myself? Where’s the best light? What’s the best background? Do I need to change my settings? Is there a better angle / perspective? Think about all the options so that you can really squeeze every bit of street photography potential out of the situation.

We call this ‘working the scene’ and it’s a tried and trusted street photography approach. It often (not not always) pays dividends and I urge you to give it a try when you’re next out shooting the streets.

Below are some of the pictures from my sequence. I guess there could have been more but I was on a workshop, demonstrating the technique and I didn’t want this to become ‘my’ shot. Which is your favourite?