confidence and talent, always more of one than the other

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i did photos once years ago for a friend of my mum, was an actor portfolio, asked to see me work on photos, i spent a lot of time gave him loads of shots with retouch for free as it was mums friend

literally weeks later he had an account on flickr (was good then) after seeing mine, he copy pasted all my contacts/followers into his account, bought the same camera as me and was advertising himself as a photographer for work for actor portfolios

i said i had noticed he had done that, said how he needs to find his own style and influences that reflected who he was

he posted a few shots where he had photoshopped highlights in eyes that didnt match the actual lighting, blur tool to make background look seperated i asked him what he was charging he said 50 quid an hr plus expenses. saying he wanted to give people pretty much what i gave him

when i applied this to what i had done for him and quoted the price which included few days of shooting+editing time +prints, not even including expenses ha ha asked what % of his out of work acting friends could afford that then?

wasnt mums friend for long after that, he posted a set of shots he did of a woman in a park in middle of sunny afternoon with subject squinting into the sun, then nothing.

i wondered how much she was charged for the photos!

sounds petty, a town paper and local band, lucky if anyone reads the article never mind reads the credit on the photo, id keep the copy of the paper for a momento and move on

this is how i went from where you are to shooting candid at 10mm, i shot people i wasnt particularly interested in, i did this over and over so that when i did see someone or a group of people i wanted to capture i did it without hesitation.

you need to be fast and discreet, most of my subjects dont know ive photographed them, i have two cameras, one doesnt have a viewfinder, have to compose from back screen that doesnt flip so this is more difficult to be discreet with, at this point you brazen it out, but still being quick and decisive.

ive never had any issues and im 2ft in front of people, but if you do you can act dumb, tut and frown at your camera like a noob, continue to shoot as the subject moves so they think they arnt the subject, or smile and nod as you move on, i think on my feet and am really fast but i had this woman stood in front of me in a train station with lips pursed so tight! she wasnt happy i was taking photos, before she said anything i just started talking to her acting completely oblivious to the tight expression 'oh havnt been in here since it was all done up its amazing, (click) this was the first place i saw when i moved here as a child, thought id come in and have a look isnt it lovely? (click click)

its amazing how quick you go from being scared to take the shot of the person in front of you to actually herding them to the spot you want them to be by using very discreet body movements, think gary winogrand and the cut off technique.

the hardest shots to take are when its just you and another person, they see you and your camera from a distance, they are wondering if you are going to use it so you have to look disinterested till just before you take the shot and they hear the click as you pass, so build up to that intensity, try busy street lots going on, challenge yourself to pick six people out before you get to the next corner

even when im saying nope in my head, i still take the shot, its very addictive