Monday, September 17, 2012

Out In The Street



A member of The F-Stop Gang (see FOL post of June 11) has agreed to write a guest post today. I can vouch for the fact that she knows of what she speaks! Her street photos are to die for! Here is a word from Michelle Yacavello:







I'm a city girl who loves street photography. I can spend hours upon hours walking around a neighborhood, capturing images of people, places and things, but it's the people who interest me the most. Sometimes I use my trusted telephoto lens so that I can zoom in from across the park, and other times, it'll be my nifty-fifty. I often approach my subject and ask if it would be OK to take their picture. Most of the time people enjoy engaging in a quick conversation to find out what about them interests me.




I don't look for anything in particular but - Oh, what I find when I'm aware of my surroundings -   great hair, shoes and artistic tattoos! I take only one or two shots, since I don't want to interrupt what they were in the middle of doing.  If I like what I see, I'll show them the image on the back of my camera and offer to e-mail them a copy.  After exchanging information, we both go on our way.  Sometimes I'll hear my phone ding a minute later announcing a message and it will be my newest friend asking me to send the photo.




Helpful hints when approaching people:  Be confident in your photography. If you see someone interesting, go right up and introduce yourself. Tell them what attracted you to them and ask if you can take a quick photograph. Not quite there yet? Then look for street musicians, performers, etc. In that case, carry a few bills and make a donation so you can take as many shots as needed.  If you offer to send a jpeg, make sure you do it. Carry business cards. If you're not a pro, a calling card is perfect. You can find inexpensive cards on Vistaprint at www.Vistaprint.com . If you have a little money to spare, I love moo at http://us.moo.com/products/business-cards.html, where you can create custom cards with your own images.



Step out of your comfort zone! You'll be surprised how much fun you can have if you push your limits!



{See, I told you she's great, and I always have fun shooting with her! You can see some more of Michelle's work at:    http://www.flickr.com/photos/myacovello/ Try making your own people connections and post them in our Flickr pool, marked for our monthly theme.}


19 comments:

heyjudephotography said...

I love your images Michelle. I have done some street photography, but am not very brave yet. I do a lot of "shooting from the hip" (literally), and use my zoom when necessary. I do like to shoot the street musicians - and they always seem to smile! Now that I have some business cards (thank you Moo) maybe I can hand those out and "feel" more confidant. Again, great shots. Thank you for guest posting with us.

heyjudephotography said...

Haha....not literally shoot the musicians, but photograph them! :)

Claudia said...

I agree! Very nice post... I have always loved photographing people in their envirornment. For the most part they seem to be tickled that we find them so interesting that we shoot them. (LOL Im like Judy... I say I love shooting babys or children, and some how that just sounds ODD :)

Thanks so much for sharing your love. GREAT photos on FLICKR btw!

Hugs

Carol said...

Phew.....I was worried about you for a minute there, Judy!

terriporter said...

Loved seeing your street photography, Michelle, both here and on Flickr! This is something I haven't done a lot of but you make me want to try it. Thanks so much for being our guest poster today.

Kim Stevens said...

People in general are something that I pretty much stink at unless it's in a street captured sorta way. It's something that has interested me ever since it was a prompt on my scavenger hunt sunday's. I need to get out and do that more often. Thanks Michelle for sharing your wonderful photos with us!!

Deanna said...

Oh I love street photography....I don't seem to do it as much as I would like, but it is well worth the effort to just wander and find interesting people and subjects. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful street shots...all terrific.

Michele.NYC said...

Hi Judy- Thanks so much. Street photography can be anything at all, I create little challenges along the way...one day it may be black and white storefronts and if someone walks into my shot all the better. Another day it will be macro so if I see something or someone I have no choice but to approavh. By the way, I have a shirt that says "I shoot people"!

Michele.NYC said...

Thank you Claudia. I really appreciate it, I was excited to be asked to write something then a little nervous when I knew it would actually post. But today it feels good knowing it's out there and I'm hopefully going to direct a few friends to FOL.

Michele.NYC said...

Thanks Terri. Writing this was more fun that I thought it would be and you have all made me feel very welcomed which means so much.

Michele.NYC said...

Hi Kim- I started out annoying my nieces to death...begging for them to pose for me, once I got that down I felt more confident in shooting other people and eventually strangers. If you can get a good street shot it's so worth it. I was actually offered a job by the couple in the photo above. We exchanged e-mails and a few months later she called me asking if I'd be interested in photographing a party she was hosting. Photography is such a fun and engaging hobby, we can make it whatever we want. I can walk around local gardens for hours with my macro lens and not even notice anyone else. I think that's one of the things that I really enjoy most, if I'm looking for solitude I can go out by myself and get lost in what I'm shooting then there are the days when I want to share an experience and I enlist some friends. Carol and the f-stop gang are great and we're so lucky because we can actually get along for an entire week...hard to do with lots of people. Thanks again, Michele

Michele.NYC said...

Thank you so much. I love sharing what I do and to receive all this encouragement from all of you has been great. I'm thankful to Carol for asking me to participate.
I've read every post and will make more of an effort to comment now that I know what it's like.

Michele.NYC said...

Thank you Carol for asking me to step out of my box. I enjoyed it more that I thought I would. Looking forward to new topics. I stop by everyday and read all your posts but will make more of an effort to post a comment. I think you should all come to NY and we can have a shoot out. I'm told that I'm a really good tour guide. Hugs to you all! Michele

Dotti said...

Late to the chat today, have been on the road. This is a spectacular post and such exciting photographs, Michelle. Street photography is so fascinating. I named to find my moxie and attempt it. When I am on a real computer (cell phone now) I plan to checkout your Flickr page. I'm so pleased that Carol introduced you to us. Welcome!!

Anonymous said...

Great post and awesome photos! Im a little too shy to ask to take someones photo but I have captured some unexpectedly from a distance:) Thanks for sharing!

terriporter said...

That's great Michelle! Maybe we should ask all of our readers to do a guest post so they can see how happy they are when people comment!

terriporter said...

Would love to come and have a NYC tour from an expert!

Carol said...

Also very late to post, but I opened this up first thing this morning Michelle and as glad to see it did you justice. It really is a great post, and you really are a great person. (and by the way - I'll be the first one at the shoot out!)
Love ya and see ya soon - and thanks so much for all of your encouragement!
Carol

stephmull said...

Wonderful post, Michelle! So glad you could do this today! I love to see street photography. I just think it's so cool. I haven't had a chance to do it myself, but maybe we'll all have to take you up on that offer to visit NYC!! Thanks!

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