Saturday was a glorious day here
in the city, so I decided to take my camera downtown and creep on people. And do
other things.
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| I also bought asparagus. |
I don’t have one of those fancy
zoom lens things, so in order to properly creep I had to get pretty close to my
subjects. I kept expecting someone to yell at me, or some law enforcement
professional to get up in my grill about privacy, but I guess I’m stealthy
enough to avoid such inconveniences.
But as an aside, does anyone know what the laws are regarding taking
photos of people in public places? In San Jose I was taking photos of some
pretty buildings and a cop stopped me, since apparently people live in those
buildings and there’s a chance I could catch a shot of exposed hiney in a
window or something. It’s a good thing he said something, since that was the
shot I was looking for. Additionally, a pool I worked at prohibited photos
because unconsenting bystanders could be caught in the background. So. Anyone?
There are a few things I actually
love about living in Edmonton, and the 104th Street market is one of
them. Farmers’ markets in general are pretty great for their selection of
locally produced goods and weird people to watch, but the 104th
Street market has the added appeal of being outside, downtown, on a street with
several restored historic buildings. The mixture of urban and rural, modern and
historic is downright nifty.
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| See? Urban - rural, today - yesterday. |
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A bit overblown... the sky was blue, FYI.
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| I think he wanted watermelon. |
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| I like it when things hold still. |
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| Meet. |
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| Greet. |
Later I headed over to the Works
festival, where I encountered another Edmonton thing I like: the
fountain/wading pool in front of City Hall. There, I discovered my camera has
the shutter speed capacity to catch water droplets in motion!
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| A bit dark, but you get the idea. |
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Probably my favourite of the day.
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Feel free to leave comments—good
or bad—especially if you know something about photography. I changed my
settings so you can now comment anonymously without logging in, AND you don’t
have to prove you’re human by repeating wonky non-words. I’m desperate for
validation, people!
Hey Kristen I liked your photos! You honestly have a natural eye for where to place your subjects (most people just put stuff in random places without any compositional guide). And your subjects are good too, very "decisive moment." Nice!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, about laws and what not, for both Canada and the U.S, you can basically do whatever you want. I take photos of random people all the time and it's not a problem. People may not like it but they'll rarely tell you otherwise.
As long as you're on a public street, anything is fair game. If, however, you are in a private building, or on private property, then you can't. No one, even rent-a-cop security guards, has jurisdiction in the public domain.
That said, if you're using your photos commercially, then you need a release form. But the vast majority of people do it for personal or artistic reasons which means you don't.
So overall, you're legally fine. Most people have no idea what the laws are and think they can boss you around and tell you not to take photos but they're usually wrong (as long as you're not on private property). If they tell you to delete the photo, that's actually AGAINST the law, as that is now your property.
I've been doing a lot of street and urban photography lately and I would say about 10% of people actually say something if you take their photo without permission -- not always negative.
Usually a smile, nod, and thank you goes a long way and defuses any tension, if there is any. I've had a few people get up in my grill about it but I just explain to them, who I am, what I'm doing, make a little joke, etc. Don't back down and get defensive; you're not doing anything wrong.
Probably the most interesting thing I've realized, is that sometimes people WANT their photo taken and are very friendly and personable when you take it. I've met loads of interesting people this way and they're usually curious about you.
Body language is very important as well. If you look and act sketchy, people will get defensive. If you're confident, don't break eye contact immediately, and keep shooting, they'll think you're some pro photographer. And unfortunately for me, being a guy is a little more difficult. I honestly believe women have a slight advantage because people don't automatically assume child rapist when you're taking photos in public.
Anyways, hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions about this kind of stuff or photography in general. Keep up the good work!
-- Alex
Groovy. Thanks for the info! I'll continue to creep without shame.
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