Two weekends ago my kids asked me to take them to a local carnival. I tossed my camera into my shoulder bag and off we went. As someone who enjoys street shooting, I like carnivals because they're packed with people, mostly teenagers, who are so distracted by all the rides, games, noise, and each other that they pay little attention to a photographer-- even one who's standing only a few feet away from them.
That said, it helps to be holding a small, non-threatening looking camera, which in my case was a Nikon V1 with 10-30mm kit zoom. Another "trick" to avoid attracting attention is not to stand out. Don't wear odd clothes or bright colors. If you can help it, don't be particularly tall or attractive. Ugly can work in your favor, though. No one except little kids wants to stare at ugly people.
Regardless of how you look and even if you attract mild attention at first, I've found that the quickest way to render yourself invisible is simply to pick a place to be and hang out there for a while. You should look cool, calm, collected, and even slightly bored, as if you're waiting for a friend to show up. Your camera should be either around your neck or, better yet, on a wrist strap. Snap pictures quickly yet smoothly and casually, as you would if you were only doing it to pass the time.
If someone notices you, smile. If someone asks what you're doing or otherwise engages you in conversation, don't be nervous or defensive, tell them the truth: You're a shutterbug out taking pictures on a nice day, enjoying the fair like everyone else. You may find that after a minute or two of friendly conversation, you've got a subject who will happily pose for a photo or two.
As for focal length, I'm a big believer in the wide-to-normal range. If you use anything larger you start to look creepy, like someone who's going out of his way to be sneaky. Long lenses also make it difficult to get an unobstructed shot in a crowd. There's always someone stepping between you and your intended subject. In every photo you see here I was no more than six feet away, and often within arm's reach.
For those of you wondering why I would convert photos I took at a colorful summer carnival into black and white, there's a good reason: When it comes to composition, color can be too much of a good thing. A scene loaded with bright blues, yellows, reds, and greens all competing for attention is often a visual mess. Even if individual color images of a carnival setting have a pleasing esthetic balance, a series of shots from the same setting may not hold together well. Removing color allows you and your viewers to concentrate on the most important elements--subject, shape, tone, texture, contrast--without minimal distraction. Assuming you don't convert the file to 8-bit monochrome, the color information is still available, so you can use the color sliders in your image editor of choice to lighten or darken the corresponding tones.
As always, please bear in mind that none of the above constitute hard and fast rules. All I'm doing here is explaining my approach. If you like it, try it. If not, no problem--I'll have something different for you next week.
Nice advice... and a nice little series of images. I agree with everything you have said here; especially the wider lens point. I like to capture people from no more than six feet (even closer sometimes). I use my Ricoh GRD3 for this kind of photography. The camera also looks very simple and non-invasive, whereas big lenses do look rather (as you suggest) creepy.
The other reason I like wide lenses and small sensor is so that I get a massive DoF. I think that the background image can be just as important as the subject. I am no fan of those long focal length isolated face shots.
Excellent blog btw.
Posted by: Bill | June 20, 2012 at 02:33 PM
interesting pictures, always an interesting read. Thanks for sharing! 8-)
Posted by: Frank | June 21, 2012 at 01:39 AM
The picture of the girl with the white hat reminds me of a poster I had in the 60's. It was an old lady wearing an army helmet and holding a cigar and a mean look on her face. The text was "I don't like you."
That girl could be her great grand daughter. I like the shot very much.
John Passaneau
Posted by: John Passaneau | June 21, 2012 at 06:33 PM
"If you can help it, don't be particularly tall or attractive. Ugly can work in your favor, though."
Extra kudos to you then, Gordon, for managing to get these nice shots whilst being such an attractive looking fella!
Posted by: Will | June 25, 2012 at 06:08 AM
Will,
Thank you, I'm flattered. And for what it's worth, I am definitely not tall.
Posted by: Gordon Lewis | June 25, 2012 at 02:19 PM