"Totally Sketchy"

I always wondered how street photographers did it. How do they take photos of people without their subjects caring or even realizing that they have taken their photo? How do they stand their and take their picture without any care for what the subject thinks about the picture being taken? These were questions I thought I would never know the answer to until I started this project on cell phone use using my very own cell phone camera. At first I was very hesitant to take photos of people without them knowing I was taking the photo of them. I used every trick of the trade. I had people act as decoys. I pretended to talk on my phone and then lift up the phone and snap. But today, a week later, I stood in front of this girl, and snap. I am not sure if she knew what I was doing but she didn’t seem to care. I happen to see a girl on cell phone while she was shopping. I walked into the store, took three photos smiled and walked out. She didn’t budge. So I guess they become gutsy. Thats what happened to me. After shooting like this for a week, I got a little more confident. I think this is because I had a reason to take photos of random people shooting what they do rather than who they are.

The best part of losing my sense personal space with the camera is other’s observations. There was one time that a guy in the library came up to me and said, “I don’t know what you are doing, but you are totally sketchy.” Somehow it didn’t phase me. I guess because I agreed with him. Here I was walking around the library taking photos of random people using my camera phone without them even noticing.