Know How to Present Yourself as a Photographer
Lesson 9 from: Street Photography: The Art of Photographing StrangersAshley Gilbertson
Know How to Present Yourself as a Photographer
Lesson 9 from: Street Photography: The Art of Photographing StrangersAshley Gilbertson
Lesson Info
9. Know How to Present Yourself as a Photographer
Lessons
Class Introduction
14:33 2What Do You Mean by Photographing Strangers?
04:42 3Why Photograph Strangers?
15:23 4The Psychology of a Street Photographer
19:31 5Establishing Trust When Photographing
24:27 6Decide on a Story to Tell Through Photos
39:47 7How To Tell Your Story Through Photos
19:00 8The Gear You Need For Street Photography
13:57Know How to Present Yourself as a Photographer
05:06 10Observe Your Shoot Location
10:42 11Where is Street Photography?
07:15 12How to Approach Your Subject
32:37 13Ways to Connect with Your Subject
08:10 14What to Do When People Say No to Photographs
08:34 15Always Have a Street Photography Backup Plan
06:28 16What to do When You've Finished Shooting
04:53 17How To Find The Right Caption For Your Photos
08:03 18The Street Photography Editing Process
32:28 19Toning Your Photos For Maximum Impact
11:21 20Career Tips For Street Photography
12:45Lesson Info
Know How to Present Yourself as a Photographer
This is hopefully pretty obvious except I thought we should address it and that is they try to be presentable I got a pretty bad example sitting here right now like totally unshaven has always like this though, so there's nothing I can do about that but you know, if you if you put together sloppy andi you're not taking respecting yourself there's very little chance I think that a stranger would believe that you would give them the respect that you know their image and their story deserves so it's a little thing but if you're perceived as you know, having self respect and trust, then I mean it's having self respect that it's more likely you'll get trust from the people that you're photographing. The other thing I wanted to say was this has happened a lot like photography is will dress up and go undercover I've seen people like dressed up is like mujahideen in afghanistan and I like going around I guess it works for some people I'd never, ever, ever, ever do it. I'm always the same excep...
t for one situation, which was when I went to the white house and I had to wear a suit, so normally I'm just wearing this on I don't dress up like I don't pretend to be mujahideen and I'd pretend to be homeless I don't pretend to be anything like I think that if you start dressing up trying to you know, I've seen I've seen photographers and reporters dress up like soldiers and they go out like they justify it in certain ways like they don't draw attention to themselves too like snipers or whatever, but I don't know I still just wear this with a bulletproof vest and I think that it adds to your integrity like you representing yourself for who you are and that's all you're not trying to enter the other person's group ppe on dress like them and be like them I also think that in difficult situations should you ever find yourself in them if you start dressing up and trying to hide like if you're in, you know, like burma under the under the counter, which is now mostly past you start dressing up like a monk and going on trying to be undercover if they catch you, you're screwed, you're going to jail if you go around looking like no, you normally do and you're not trying to hide anything there's much less suspicion that's actually put onto you yeah, so it turns out most of the white house photographers don't learn suit, so I didn't really need to wear a suit like they often just wear like trousers and a tucked in shirt and one of them always wears a tie, so I turned up in the suit knows, eh okay like no one else is wearing this but on the other hand I felt comfortable like I didn't feel comfortable meeting the president wearing jeans and a ship whereas I do feel like you know, I felt that that role demands a certain level of well I know that role demands a certain level of respect so I turned up wearing a suit I feel comfortable and that means I can work more easily I'm not constantly thinking like god damn it why did I wear jeans? This is so unprofessional so before I head out I always read over the pitch on the research file that I've written well sometimes bring it with me uh usually I'll leave it at home but I'll just read over that and make sure I'm familiar with everything I'm doing I checked for all of my things like I make sure that my batteries to charge by putting him into the camera only takes two minutes but it means that you won't have that disaster when you're in the field like our whole job in something you know zana's photographing strangers where you there's just so much that we can't account for that way you never know what's gonna happen right? You never know who you're going to meet you have to stack your odds that you're going to get a picture and you have to stack assad's by taking as many variables out as you possibly can when you're researching a story like let's say we're going to be photographing um I don't know um ah revolution taking place in a square, you know? You don't have to be at the revolution no one lot is going to be good you can go in honestly going google maps and look at where east and west is and find out where the lot is going to be nice you can know what time of day it's going to be best to be that by looking at tv coverage of when that square is filled with people, you could be there and you can make sure you can know that your camera's charged at all your spare batteries a charge you've got enough memory I don't turn up unprepared make sure you note pad is empty uh, make sure that you have the business cards um and whatever else you need to actually shoot like stack the odds in your favor, you can never guarantee your picture, but you can make it much more likely that if the chance you know we're arises, then you've got the best possible chances of making a great picture in that situation. Um, so next up is the embarrassing section for me um and that's pot three second three in which we're gonna have video of me talking to strangers a swell as screwing up occasionally
Class Materials
Bonus Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
user-4e23bb
I have taken more than a few of the Creative Live courses. I have, in general, found all of them to be very good and I have learned something important from them all. Not always enough of exactly what I was looking for, but something useful and important. This course was absolutely amazing. The best I have taken. I would like to download it and see it again and again. Ashley's style was authentic, humble, yet confidence inspiring. The information he gave was focused and totally useful. He shared both philosophy and thinking as well as real tools to learn - whether they be soft stuff (like how to approach someone) or hard stuff (like gear and settings and such). I cannot recommend this class highly enough. If you want to learn to do "humanistic photography" (his term which resonated with me), this is best I have ever taken!
user-082aad
This was a terrific and wonderful class. Ash was superb. His stories were awe inspiring, his passion was evident and his ability to teach was flawless. I would take any other class by him and actually can't wait for more of the VII agency programs eminating from Ron's class during photo week 2015. A great great addition to Creative Live's orbit.
cranecreekphotography
Wow, I loved this course - I watched the whole thing, and most of it twice, during the first run. Ash is is intriguing, a good teacher, honest. I found this class to be so inspirational. I especially loved his encouragement about talking to strangers, asking to take their picture- "what's the worst thing that could happen?" And the videos watching him in action were motivating- you saw him make connections but also saw him get rejected too, but he keeps such a positive outlook. Love this class, please more photojournalism!
Student Work
Related Classes
Street photography