Should I Ask?

When it comes to street photography a lot of new photographers ask whether or not they should get permission from their subjects before shooting.

And the answer is, of course, it depends.

Asking permission will automatically kill any spontaneity and naturalness to the image. A lot of the best street photographers don’t. I just got a gift of the book “Winogrand Color” and he is famous for not asking. His intimate images are often shot from just inches to a few feet from his subject.

Some new photographers think that a long telephoto lens will make easier to take closeup photos of people on the street without their knowledge or permission. While that is what will happen but using a telephoto lens isn’t the best idea when it comes to street photography.

Snipping in a clandestine way with a telephoto lens creates images with a large amount of compression and very shallow depth of field. While it isolates the subject it also loses the sense of intimacy that normal or wide angle lens give street photography.

Most street photography, especially when done with a rangefinder camera like a Leica, is shot with 50mm or 35m or sometimes 28 mm lenses. This type of shooting is much more intimate and immediate. It creates the “street photography” look.

But it is intense and puts the photographer directly into an intimate relationship with their subject. For newcomers this can be very scary. But it is a skill that can be learned.

So should you shoot all of your street photography with a normal or slightly wide angle lens immediate in front of your subject?

A lot of experienced street photographers do.