Walking through downtown. Stop and say, "hello." Welcome collaboration. Get nice photographs.

©2016 Kirk Tuck

I know this shot doesn't fit into the usual definition of street photography. It's too close. The man in picture is totally aware of both my presence and my intention. I stopped to say, "hello." I asked permission. Too much of what's done in the name of street photography these days is nothing more than "hit-and-run" photography. Lots of images that pass by on the web show people from the back. Lots more are done surreptitiously, with cameras held out to the side; shooting blind. 

While I'm sure those images have their place they don't bring a smile to my face the way street portraits do. It's a different way of working with people and a different way of shooting. We can't always work the way we want to and, I've done my share of anonymous shots, but when I have the time and can get over my innate shyness I find that the images I make, person to person, are the ones that make me happy. 

On a totally different note: I've walked through SXSW several times this week and thought I'd give an anecdotal camera inventory appraisal. This year the young, future film makers and working photographers using Sony A7x cameras were a plurality rather than an oddity. I saw dozens of them. Mostly used by still photographers but also a good number of them being pressed into video camera service. Interesting, as the last few years saw Canon with the lion's share of the hipsterama market...

Camera life changes....