My First Time! | Candid Street Photography

Yesterday I decided to give candid street photography a go. I was going to be in the capital city anyway, so I thought, why not? My adventurous mind was getting all thrilled at the thought that I was indeed going to be alone, since the friend I’d asked to come with me wasn’t free, but reason warned me not to be too crazy so I opted for a safe area – a tourist one!

Here’s the main street of Le Caudan Waterfront, where I chose to do candid street photography for the first time, all by myself:

Yes I know. Colourful umbrellas ♥

So I put on my hat, wore Candy (my camera) around my neck and pretended to be a tourist! I even spoke English (we usually speak French), stared around as if I’ve never been there (although I’ve been a thousand times since I was born), smiled… and followed the crowd, feigning to take shots of the place when in fact I was shooting… the people themselves.

Well, at first I was really nervous, because first of all there wasn’t a lot of people in the morning, and also because I didn’t want to seem like a stalker! (even though I might have ended up being one… and enjoying it!) So to get myself used to the place as a photographer, I began with easy, landscape shots of the actual place.

Then, I slowly started pointing my lens at people.

In the beginning I was much reluctant to go too close to them or even face them… The photos I took then made me seem almost like a spy! Which wasn’t good. Anyway, here are some of them:

Fortunately when the place started to be filled with more tourists with much bigger cameras… I became bolder, got a little closer… and even started to follow people I specifically liked (whether it was their dress code, postures or expressions).

I realised that in candid street photography, it’s not necessarily about the aesthetic value of the photo but mostly the moments, expressions, postures that are captured. I concentrated on getting these more than on getting a nice ‘pro’ shot.

Definitely stalker photography XD

After roaming around, at some point I ended up by the sea and was able to capture these, hehe:

So I went on, looking for interesting subjects, and by that I mean people doing interesting things, which is kind of tricky to find, because most people only walk around, drink and eat…

(Not my coconut! Found this on the table and took the opportunity so… :P)

What I found really interesting to photograph was actually… the children. These little mini-us are always so full of life and always on the move, so… push up that shutter speed! And don’t act like a pedophile!!! xD

(I really like that I was able to capture that moment – a little cute Chinese family tasting coconut juice – and also that another family – kids and dad – got to be in the frame as well. Reason why I didn’t use shallow DOF at all)

Then as I got home I got a little arty with the photos as I started to play with black and white… still considering children as my favourite subjects 🙂

And the best shot I was able to capture…

Drumroll~~~

A precious moment captured!

And an experience to be done again! Definitely!

By the way, I had some business cards with me as I strolled through the streets, you know, just in case 😛

My preferred settings for candid street photography:

Mode: Aperture-priority

Focus: Zone focusing

ISO: 200

As always you can follow up with my photographic journey on my Flickr and Instagram!

Ever wanted to try street photography? Already did? Tell me everything in the comments below!

An Evil Nymph.