Public Motion

triangular

Hi guys. These are all from my recent flickr, a variety of public transportation and street shots. C&C always welcomed.



Leave Home Again by triangular, on Flickr
The metro-rail finally connects to the airport, and Japanese tourists abound.




Another Way Home by triangular, on Flickr
Sit close, listen to your iPod, read the advertisements. We'll all get there together.




Trepidatious Walk Home by triangular, on Flickr
The last stop at the end of the public transportation line, 11:59pm.




Gold Condom by triangular, on Flickr
The name says it all. Wanna ride? Seen in Chiang Rai, Thailand.




Driving Miss Daisy by triangular, on Flickr
Edge of town, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Seen during the annual Songkran water and Thai New Year festival, every April.

dbveto

I am not sure why but I really like Another Way Home
I do have a question when you are taking shots like in the first one are you shoot from the hip or do you just bring the camera up an shoot the picture?
Just wondering how people react to you taking their picture.

triangular

dbveto wrote: »

I am not sure why but I really like Another Way Home
I do have a question when you are taking shots like in the first one are you shoot from the hip or do you just bring the camera up an shoot the picture?
Just wondering how people react to you taking their picture.

Well, I would normally want to be inconspicuous, unless the intention was to capture their own reaction to me. Usually I don't want to affect or change what's going on, if what they're already doing is what I'm trying to capture. In this case I am very close to the subjects, but I just had the camera sitting in my lap. I set it pretty wide to 18mm and anticipated my frame. You can see that each person was already fairly focused on something in their own internal world (which is what drew me to the image), so I knew that unless I did something obnoxious they weren't going to notice me very much.

I think that's really the key to getting away with stuff like this. Choose your moments well, not when they are just walking past you, but when they are fully engaged internally. People are going into little hypnotic trances all the time. Like when we are walking somewhere and thinking about something internally, and we don't really notice anyone around us unless they actually get in our way. So I look for those expressions that tell me they are internally focused and probably won't notice me if I'm quick. I also don't take a photo as soon as I enter their space. That's too soon, that's when they are first registering your presence and have the most attention on you. I wait a little bit so I fade into the general environment. If you're on a bus, you notice everyone that steps on board, but you forget them naturally as the mind wanders away as soon as they sit down.

One thing I really like about the D7K is that the shutter is already quite dampened, but it has this additional Quiet mode that really doesn't sound much like a shutter at all. The car I was in wasn't very crowded, but there were ambient noises, conversations, air con, etc., enough that nobody was going to be conscious of the shutter in Quiet mode. I often use Quiet shutter mode in situations like this. It's a lot of fun.