Joe and I spent a couple of hours walking around Lake Merritt and taking pictures in the late afternoon light. Street photography ain’t easy. Almost all of these photos were taken with a 150-500mm lens with the subjects at a far enough distance that they didn’t see me. A bit voyeuristic, I have to admit. It can feel creepy at times, maybe more so when viewing the photos once they’ve been uploaded here.
One challenge to capturing interesting or meaningful images is that people’s facial expressions and body language are often muted as they shift between thought, purpose, and taking in the environment. I do like the documentary aspect of photographing people this way, noticing the fashion statements, the interactions between friends and family, and the personal zones they’re inhabiting. I recall something the poet Ted Berrigan said about how someone told him that you can see or imagine the bubbles that people out in public are walking around in, to some extent protected and perhaps walled off from the street / moment.
