To become a real
camera fiend takes a bit of dedication, perseverance, work. We've had many threads here about strategy-tactics-ethics of shooting in public. (Maybe we need a club or sub-forum on public photography.) Basically you must decide how much you
really want a shot, and what you are willing to to to get it.
WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO FOR A PICTURE? People are usually the most interesting subjects, and you have options: Be pushy and close. Be discreet and distant. Act official or professional or touristy-curious or crazy-insane. Shoot alone, or with another, or in a group. Disguise yourself or your gear, or not. Talk to subjects, negotiate-manipulate-distract, or not.
If you aren't shooting in your own small community where everybody knows you, you have a great possibility: RE-INVENT YOURSELF. Travel or movement of any sort puts you among others who know NOTHING about you, so you can be whomever you want. No matter what you are at home, on the road you can re-invent yourself as A PHOTOGRAPHER, which is a sort of spy. Spies have 'legends', cover stories, narratives of who/what they portray. Your choice of gear is your cover.
For instance, I'll shoot in nearby towns here in the California Gold Rush country, or in other quaint hillside towns in Arizona or Zacatecas or Guatemala. I can dress sloppy and wave a point-and-shoot and be a tourist. Or I can dress more serious and hold my K20D+DA18-250 and be a photojournalist. Or I can dress in black and use a 6x9 folder on a tripod and be a historian.
Be an actor. Put yourself in a photographic role. Student? Artist? Clown? Reporter? Snob? Slob? Cop? Tourist? That fear you have is STAGE FRIGHT. One cure: Take acting classes and/or join a local theatre group. Everyone there will gladly pose for you, and you'll quickly learn to present yourself in different ways. Partly that's de-sensitization. You get used to it. So do it.
Last edited by RioRico; 10-21-2010 at 01:13 AM.
Reason: spelling