A Somewhat Serious Guide to Photography Do’s and Don’ts, Part 2
Exotic locations, self-portraits & carrying your camera.
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PHOTOGRAPHY DO’S AND DON’TS. Part 2.
DON’Ts
Venerate equipment — The best answer to the question of what kind of camera the photographer is using is, “It doesn’t matter.” I have always viewed professional cameras and lenses as a limitation, hoping for a future where a camera will fit into my pocket. The post-pandemic world inched my fantasy closer to reality. Remote photography allows me to photograph through a computer screen and an iPhone without meddling with the camera, lenses, or settings. The weightless feeling of working unburdened by equipment restores photography to its primal intent of connecting and communicating through images.
Christmas markets, bazaars, flea markets or food markets — Every time I go to Union Square Market in New York City, I see photographers meandering around the stalls, pining for action. When I was a photo student, I was one of them, desperately trying to take a riveting photo of people exchanging apples and money. It took me a decade to understand that the visual potential of such markets is a mirage. The buying and selling of stuff, no matter what country or what stuff, is a static situation devoid of surprises. Among the hundreds of photos I’ve taken at markets around the globe, none transcended the context in which they were taken.
Photo contests — Most photo contests are good for only two things: taking your money and stroking your ego. Only a handful of them have the exposure they claim to provide, while the rest are closer to a psychic reading — overpromising and overcharging. The trick to determining which of the contests is worthwhile is to check out the previous winners and see who is judging them. If it’s a photographer whose work you admire or an editor from a publication you would like to work with, the contest has a chance of being worthwhile. In other cases, steer clear.
Photos of children or the elderly in exotic locations — This is one of the most enduring visual tropes (thank you, National Geographic), beloved by (mostly male) photographers traveling to (warmer) countries armed with a camera. Photographers flock together on photo tours that descend on an unsuspecting town in a hunt for “slices of life” or “authentic culture.” In photo form, that translates to close-up portraits of older people or photos of local kids playing barefoot. The most offensive thing about such visual colonialism is that the images are excruciatingly boring.
Photos of children, period. (Especially if they are your own) — People with children, I feel you. The urge to photograph what your heart deems the most interesting subject in the universe is equivalent to the gravitational pull of a black hole. This desire is compounded by the fact that children, still untarred by the anxiety of self-presentation, make great subjects. The problem with such photos is that no one cares. They are both too universal and too individual to overcome another parent's preference for their own child or pique the interest of someone without kids. The same goes for street photography. It is exceedingly difficult to take an arresting photo of a child unless they are an integral part of the unfolding scene.
Street photography sight gags — The sweet crack of street photography is any number of humorous combinations of people and the city environment, including, but not limited to, passersby matching colors with a background, things coming out of people’s heads, mix-and-matching body parts of passersby and advertisements. While easily gratifying, photos that rely on sight gags rarely transcend the cheap visual thrill of the juxtaposition, emphasizing a one-liner joke over a deeper understanding of the environment.
Follow anyone else’s rules — One of my favorite photo books is Sally Mann’s Immediate Family. In theory, her photography is everything that I should dislike — a black and white (list of Don’ts, Part 1) exploration of her three kids growing up (list of Don’ts, Part 2). The secret to all photography rules is that they are guidelines against shortcuts, and every one of them can and should be broken with intent.
DO’s
Self-portraits — Taking self-portraits is a vulnerable process. Photographers have the luxury of concealing themselves behind the lens in a way our subjects can’t. Self-portraiture dissolves the wall between the lens and the subject, opening the photographer to scrutiny. The feeling of vulnerability and empathy that it triggers cannot be achieved through any other means and is invaluable for anyone practicing portraiture.
Know your rights in street photography — People often confuse preferences with rights when it comes to being photographed on the street. As a result, some become bullies, telling the photographer they have no right to photograph them or their kids, demanding the deletion of photos, or threatening to involve cops. Knowing your rights gives the power back to the photographer. Since it IS legal to photograph anyone from a public space, respecting someone’s preference of anonymity in such a setting — like deleting a photo — is a courtesy, not an obligation.
Research the rules in every country you visit — I didn’t read the rules of street photography when I went to Berlin and learned a bitter lesson when my camera was almost yanked out of my hands for taking a photo of two men in a public space. Germans don’t like to be photographed and their laws reflect that, prohibiting the publication of anyone’s likeness without permission. Every country has their own legal and cultural attitudes towards the camera and it is essential to understand those before taking a single photo.
Carry your camera correctly — The way photographers carry their cameras on a street tells me if they are professionals, amateurs, or amateurs who strive to look like professionals. No camera needs to be carried around the neck — unless of course, it’s a Leica, whose exorbitant cost demands it be triumphantly displayed on the chest to make all other photographers feel insecure. For everyone else, the camera should fit snugly behind the hip — unobtrusive and inconspicuous. This way, no one sees it coming, and the lens is safe from any bumps. Once you try it, it will be impossible not to judge others for carrying their equipment incorrectly. Enjoy.
Adjectives — Using adjectives instead of nouns to describe intention, whether a long-term project or a quick shoot, works like stylistic glue. When I was shooting Dark City, I had trouble selecting which of the similar scenes—people standing alone on the empty night streets—worked for the series and which diluted it. Instead of content, I organized the photos by adjectives. “Disorienting” was the mood I was looking for, and the edit fell into place.
Instagram — At first seen as the ruin of photography, the most recent sprout of Instagram hate has been focused (ironically so) on Instagram betraying its photography roots and embracing the cheap thrills of TikTok-style reels. Photographers got pushed to the sidelines like the pedestrians in Robert Moses’s ruthless highway utopia and became collateral damage to an algorithm favoring cat videos and makeup tutorials. Though many people threaten a prison break from the app, the problem is there is nowhere to go, and photographers continue hate-using Instagram while grumbling about it in the style of Woody Allen, “such terrible food, such small portions.” But until a better platform with a wider reach comes along, Instagram is the best thing to happen to photography since Kodak, democratizing the medium by reducing the power of gatekeepers and creating millions of new photography fans. It helps photographers to stay current, gather a community and test ideas. And let’s admit it, hate-scrolling through the feed is fun.
A Somewhat Serious Guide to Photography Do’s and Don’ts
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You are determined to poke people hard 😂 I can only imagine some of the impassioned comments you might receive from people willing to die a small hills. I just hope the Leica Cult doesn’t get you 😬😂 And just one serious note: the world doesn’t need another picture of African school children in or around a one room schoolhouse. Africa is a huge diverse place with 1.86 billion people. There are other pictures to take. In fact, let Africans take them and teach Americans and Europeans other ways to see and understand Africa and its people.
Excellent post, as always. And this is coming from someone whose 2nd photo book (on Cuba) was filled with portraits of old people and kids. Thankfully, no Street photography sight gags! Whew!