Street Photography Technique, Ethics, and FEAR! 

I still think you should call the show “The MoFongo Foto Show”! But in all seriousness...this was an interesting topic today. I’m of a different generation than you...20 years or so older than you. When I was 16-20, I was heavily into doing what is now known as street photoggraphy. I was putting together slide shows for my church Youth group or school projects set to music related to social or religious or political commentary back when it was safe to do so without getting one’s head chopped off. Those photos would include some homeless people, but I was looking at it from a different point of view at the time. I was into the character study...the person, their environment, their choices, their talents, their personality. As a rule, I would usually spend at least five minutes chatting them up, if it was a needy person, I’d offer to get them a sandwich and a drink, and I’d usually always ask if they would allow me to take a character study photo of them. Sometime those five minutes would become an hour and I’d leave a richer person for having gotten to know someone’s story. If I was refused, I would not take the photo. I’d say 85% of the time they would allow me to do so. This probably also led me to studying the Social Sciences and working with the disenfranchised and forgotten folks in my professional life for 20 + years. I was also lucky enough to be allowed to accompany a New York Daily News photographer(whose name unfortunately escapes me 45+ years later) on a few of his overnight photojournalism shifts. He was a friend of my father’s, who was an NYPD detective at the time. I learned a great deal about “the right moment” and being able to walk away if necessary. Thanks to him, I was able to grab a quick shot of Cassius Clay coming off of a flight at LaGuardia airport. My first celebrity shot! It was a different time then my friends....thanks for stirring up some memories for me. The two of you have come top mean a lot to me over the past year or two. Bendiciones!

Great shows. Thanks for the entertainment!

Thanks for video, guys! Always pleasure to hear you)

I've been eyeing a Ricoh GR on eBay for a while now. And then today I went and bought....a 100-200 for my GFX. One day, one day...

great conversation - too many times we hear the "you are not close enough" quote thrown around as the "true" street photography - only wide shots etc. when the usual gate keeping is a bad thing. with the phone there's a realization that its the actual too used to expose and call out people when people USED TO think that a normal camera taking the shot might be used for "strange reasons" - people watching the news and those videos of people being aggressive - might be that reason people see a phone out as a negative thing more.

What a load of bollocks. Stick to camera reviews…

Great street photography episode. I struggle with many of the things you spoke about when it comes to street photography. I’ll definitely try the tips you mentioned.

Robin Williams was an amazing actor and comic genius. On a different note....Omar, what you said about being hooked in the 1st 20 minutes. ..I'm still watching WandaVision even though it has gone really dark. Either of you watch it? Thoughts? I am still working on my street photography skills, so this was a good talk for me.

Great job guys!

Eyyyy, new episode! :)))

26:36 The instantaneous nature of smartphones and the ability to upload images to a myriad of social media sites, tweeting, etc...makes people nervous. Whereas, most would assume that images taken with a “traditional” looking camera would not be as instantaneous, just my thoughts.

I’m in the south Bronx. The only rule round here is careful who you shoot. Shoot the wrong person and bad stuff can happen. Other than that no kids no homeless. Great talk fellas subbed.

Moe the ex-marine. Wow. Didn’t know that. Love your guys chat. Thanks for the honest dialogue.

Great episode again. I think Brian is totally right in what he‘s saying about approach, techniques and comfortzone. In Germany sadly it gets tricky if you take photos of strangers at least if they are the main subject of the image. I came about a streetphotographer from Portugal you might not know yet. His name is Rui Palah. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7jmfO1VDblE.html Lots of his pictures are streetportraits but he has also narrative stuff. Best regards.

A guy once posted a series of photos of people on their phones - he was trying to make a point about modern couples ignoring each other and only looking at their devices. He made the mistake of photographing my sister and her husband who had spent the entire day walking around London on their first day out of the house in ages as a young married couple with kids. They sat down after hours of walking and spending quality time and he snapped them catching up with friends in a cafe and posted it online. He soon regretted it. It was the judgement not the photo.

This was a good discussion, thanks to the both of you

If Fujifilm cameras have a phone app to immediately copy photos to your phone, then you can at least save the JPG to your phone as a backup if someone makes you delete it from your camera.

My street photography gear is a Nikon A900 and Lumix ZS60. Both small, versatil, produce A+ pictures, and they have a big zoom... When weather is an issue I use my "old" (but still great) Nikon AW110.

Joshua Jack in the UK always says he has many duds from which he culls his best photos. He's one of my favorite street photographers... his use of vivid color at NIGHT so amazing.

And we love you too x

Aladdin was one of the first movies I saw in theaters and I loved Robin as a kid, I remember exactly where I was when I heard about his death. :(

Too many restrictions and issues. The only thing that will be left to photograph during street photography is the sky.

An amazing discussion! I love my X100V when I am just walking out shooting "street pictures". Have my eye on X70 to have the older sensor and slightly smaller body.

Had a very similar experience several years ago as Omar. It was at an outdoor festival, like a street fair, and vendor’s display of (something, I’ve LONG since forgotten) caught my eye. He glared and said I wasn’t being courteous by not asking. I was floored. It was the first and only time anyone deigned to imply I couldn’t use my camera in any way I chose. He said something about people stealing his creative ideas and I replied it was just a snapshot for me. We were both right, me more so but he would never know it.