A One-Shot ‘street’ story

This post from Ron Duda about stealth vs permission when shooting ‘street’ photos well explained the two approaches. In my career I’ve employed both, just going by what the situation called for. These days I generally prefer getting permission and shooting a more posed portrait that explores the environment at the same time. I like interacting with the people I shoot and learning a bit of their story.

Ron’s post reminded me of this old shot from November 1985. I was photographing a state fair looking for feature shots all day with plans to move inside for the evenings concert by the 80’s band RATT.

I caught these RATT fans waiting outside the coliseum for the doors to open. The couple sitting by them were at the fair to show their prize pigs. When I spotted the scene I knew not to look directly. A shot like this is like a wild animal, don’t make eye contact!

I knew if any of them caught me looking it would change the scene. I moved to a position to frame the scene and knelt down on one knee turned 90 degrees away from them pretending I was changing film. When I had the camera focused about where I thought was right I quickly spun and shot. I really like how the older man’s jaw is hanging open and his wife’s hand in on his knee as though needing reassurance. Meanwhile the spandex-clad fans are too cool to register the older couple.
This might well define the generation gap.

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