This has happened to me countless times and I wish I knew this tip back in the days when I was starting out. James Madelin (the ‘Orbis‘ guy) and Matt Granger (Get You Gear Out) just shared this incredibly simple, but useful tip on shooting shy people.
James’s tip shares a tip from his photojournalism days where he had to shoot people that didn’t really want to be photographed. His first tip is to shoot from the hip (which is kinda common knowledge), but it was his second tip that threw me off. Shooting people with the camera set against your ear while talking to them. They see the camera, they hear the clicks, they know they are being photographed, but somehow the fact that the glass is not standing between you and them makes them easier about the whole experience. The benefit of shooting from the ear over shooting from the heap is that you are shooting at eye-level and that you engage with your subject.
Now, of course, I would not recommend this for anything but photojournalism, as it may raise privacy issues, or start a small riot, but if you must get a frame for a paper, this could save your day.
[Photographing a reluctant subject | Matt Granger, James Madelin]
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