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How to get over your fear and approach strangers to photograph them

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No matter how many times this subject comes up, it’s always extremely uncomfortable for a great many photographers to approach people in the street. Whether it’s the feeling of being perceived as weird or simply being rejected, a lot of people are afraid to just walk up to people and say “Hey, can I make your portrait?”.

It’s something that photographer Jamie Windsor‘s struggled with, but he’s determined to get over it. So, he reached out to fellow photographer and YouTuber, Pablo Strong, to ask for some help to get over that fear and learn how to approach people in the street.

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How to approach strangers on the street to shoot portraits or video

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Street photography is a weird genre of photography. So many want to try it, but they’re afraid. Afraid of rejection and potentially hostile reactions. There are two schools of thought when photographing people in the street. The first is to just shoot, and worry about consequences later. Legally, that’s fine in many parts of the world. The latter is to obtain permission first and then shoot the photo.

There is the argument that asking takes away the spontaneity. What you saw and wanted to photograph ceases to exist. But it becomes something else. A street portrait. That, too, can be a great thing. In this video, photographer Jim Rogalski shows us how he approaches strangers in the street, even in other countries where there are significant language problems.

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How to approach strangers on the a street for a portrait

Seeing a random person on the street that you’d love to photograph can rapidly become one of the scariest scenarios out there for many portrait photographers as soon as they start to consider how to approach them.  With “Don’t talk to strangers!” being drummed into us from a very young age, it’s just one of those things which seems hard wired into our system.

If the thought of asking a stranger if you can create their portrait puts you in a frozen panic, New York based portrait photographers Miguel Quiles and Jeff Rojas are here to help with some tips on approaching people you don’t know in order to get them in front of your camera.

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How to get over your fear of approaching and photographing strangers in the street

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Street photography is a scary enough prospect on its own for many people. But to actually approach random strangers on the street and ask if you can shoot their portrait? That fills many with a fear akin to walking the plan over shark infested seas. You have to really push yourself to get outside of your comfort zone and do something you’re not happy with.

And it can be a very difficult fear to get over. But photographer Matt Higgs from WEX is here to help with some advice. His challenge is to photograph 30 random people in the streets in 2 hours. For those counting, that’s a new person every 4 minutes. A lot of pressure, especially if it can take you 10-15 minutes just to work up enough courage to ask the first,

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how I went viral photographing strangers

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When you first see Dino, he’s quite an unassuming Italian gentleman armed with a camera. Let me assure you, though, Dino Serrao is someone whose photos you’ve seen before. His Instagram bio says that he’s ‘traveling the world to make an impact’, and he’s doing exactly that. I was fortunate enough to connect with Dino and ask him questions about what he does. Here’s his story.[Read More…]

Viewbug Gigs lets you get paid for your photos of strangers

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Photo community and a contest platform Viewbug has launched a new service that helps you make money by photographing strangers. It’s called Viewbug Gigs, and it lets you upload your photos of people you take in the street, at events, at the beach, or any other place. The concept requires you to share your Viewbug profile with these people and have them buy photos of themselves that you took. The concept sounds cool, but it does have certain drawbacks, and we’ll go through them in this article.

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Hilarious TikTok trend mocks street photographers and how they approach people

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Perhaps you’ve noticed the recent trend on TikTok and Instagram, with street photographers approaching people, complimenting their style, and asking for a photo. I suddenly started seeing a gazillion Reels and TikTok videos like this, and there’s now a trend that mocks it… And it’s absolutely hilarious. I found a couple of videos to share, and I hope they will make this Monday a little better for you as they did for me.

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Stranger Things’ Vecna is the perfect merger of practical makeup and VFX

The fourth season of Stranger Things is over, and I finally got to watch the finale two days ago. Even if you haven’t watched it yet, I’m sure you’ve seen Vecna, the monster appearing in the series’ latest season. I mean, memes are all over the Internet!

Either way, you may find it interesting to see how this creepy creature was made. It was almost entirely practical effects, with a dash of VFX just to make it extra-terrifying. In this video from Vanity Fair, you’ll see how Vecna was made, what challenges the team faced, and you’ll hear plenty of interesting details from the set. Whether you’re a Stranger Things fan or not, I’m sure you’ll find the video really fun.

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Here are three tips to overcome your fear of photographing strangers

Street photography has always been an intimidating genre. It takes a lot of courage and the right approach to be successful at it. Thankfully, photographer Pierre Lambert has a few useful tips to help boost your confidence once you decide to take on shooting in the streets.

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Breaking the awkwardness of photographing strangers in the street

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Do you find photographing strangers in the street extremely awkward and even unpleasant? I know I do, so this video from Jessica Kobeissi and Mango Street really amused me, but also got me inspired. The three young photographers teamed up, created “Free Portraits” posters and interacted with strangers in the street asking them to take their photo. It’s a fun experiment of pushing personal boundaries.

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