How Eric Kim Shoots Street Photos

Street photographer Eric Kim has posted the following video showing his point of view when he hits the streets with his camera.

It’s an interesting glimpse at how he works: spot a subject, walk confidently and purposefully toward desired vantage point, snap, move along (brief small talk optional). It’s fast and generally not too intrusive and the results are not too bad. See the photos on Eric’s blog.

I’ve rarely used this kind of approach myself – I prefer to ask permission and that has its good and bad sides. On the one hand, well, you’ve asked permission. People appreciate that and some people are decidedly unwilling to allow photos – asking permission avoids trouble. Another big bonus is that you often get a chance to get to know someone you would have normally just passed by. That can lead additional photo ops or even better, friendships.

On the bad side, you’ll often miss shots and the shots you do get after asking for permission can sometimes look posed and stilted.

Either way, I suppose it’s good to be able to work both ways: slowly cozy up to a subject until you can call each other pals or try Eric’s way and be a stealthy photo ninja that has left the scene before they even know a picture was taken.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 8:29 pm. It is filed under Blog, Photography and tagged with inspiration, links, Photography, street photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.