People Watching

40s Festival Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

“The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.”

— Annie Leibovitz

That quote from Annie Leibovitz that I have reproduced at the top of the page, is probably not entirely appropriate on a gallery containing street photography images. Annie Leibovitz is famed for her work as a portrait photographer, and her images are very much the result of careful direction and lighting of her subjects.

However, I felt that quote does offer a pretty good description of how I feel when I am carrying a camera on the street. I do forget that I’m there, as I am more wrapped up in the process of just looking, and being an observer.

All the images below, without exception, (honestly!) were all candid shots.

They were predominantly shot ‘from the hip,’ as I mostly prefer not to raise the camera to my eye when photographing strangers on the street.

Plus, I favour the use of a wide angle lens and to get in close, often within just a few feet of those I am photographing.

In some of these images, the subjects may appear as if they are aware of me as the photographer, and are reacting to the camera.

However, it is simply that they are just looking at my face, as they momentarily caught sight of me, and in some cases we briefly made eye contact, and they offered me a smile, but the smile was for me, not the lens.

All the while my camera would have been at waist level, and no one was aware that I had ‘clicked’ the shutter.

Of course at an event like this, and unlike when normally photographing on the street, there were many others around me also taking pictures, whether with cameras, or simply on smart phones.

As a result, attempting to make a candid photograph is made harder, as particularly those people who have donned 40’s clothing, know that they are likely to have cameras pointed at them. After all, having made the effort to dress up and look the part, they want to be seen and are quite happy to be snapped.

I find it very similar to when I am photographing a wedding, where as a documentary wedding photographer, I want to be unobtrusive and capture images of people being completely natural.

And just like a wedding, at an event like this where people almost expect to be photographed, the mere hint of a camera lens pointing in their direction will almost inevitably elicit a big smile, as they pause to pose for the photographer.

Just what I am trying to avoid!

This black & white photograph, of the crowd looking up as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster approaches low over the Broadway during the 2019 event, was shot using a vintage Leica II rangefinder camera manufactured in 1938, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film.

This is one of my favourite photographs from the Woodhall Spa 40s Weekend in 2018.

As I came across these young ladies sitting on the wall, there was another photographer already there, who was snapping pictures of them.

They were happily smiling for the camera, and clearly quite comfortable with the attention.

They then spotted me standing to one side, with a camera hanging around my neck, and were probably thinking that here was someone else keen to take their picture.

However, although I was gently cradling the camera hanging at my waist, I didn’t make any obvious moves to frame a photograph.

As a consequence, and what makes this picture for me, is the bright smile of the girl on the left as she thinks I am about to raise my camera, whilst sitting next to her, the almost indignant expression on the face of her friend, who is probably thinking “not now! I’ve just taken a bite of my burger and have a mouth full of food…”

I didn’t look down at my camera as I discreetly depressed the shutter button, and the virtually silent operation of the leaf shutter, would not have given away the frame I had just captured.

I should mention that the camera I was carrying was a small rangefinder, of the type that fitted perfectly with the 1940’s style of clothing I was wearing, and it certainly did not have the obvious presence usually associated with a ‘professional’ camera.