Busted! Strong personalities – part 1

Busted - how to shoot a street photography series

Busted! Is an up close and personal street portrait series I made for the first Urban Street Dive Contest.  During a Street Dive the photographer – me – dives in a single urban location, street or area. This picture was taken at Rotterdam Central Station where I just circled a platform for 20 minutes. The older man pulled my focus. He seems sophisticated and savvy, or maybe it’s just the hat?

Busted!

Busted! turned out to be an edgy close up street portrait series where most of the people looked straight into my lens. I don’t know any of these people and I didn’t ask them to pose for me. They just stood out on the street, at the platform and in a crowd by the way the looked or completed the view. All you need after that is a camera with a telelens, some ‘cojones’ and patience. After a while people don’t notice somebody with a camera, choose to ignore them or just assume I’m not interested in them. If all else fails; take the shot and if they ask to delete it, you do. No guts, no glory. I named the series Busted! because most of the people photographed, ‘catch’ me taking the picture. Some chose to ignore me or look straight at me. Don’t worry – no photographer was hurt during this series.