Street Photography and Festivals

I’ve never been overly comfortable taking photos of people or street scenes with people in them. I guess I’m somewhat shy about approaching people, and assume that most people would rather not have someone take their picture, so I don’t do it often. This past weekend, however, I made the trek up to Asheville for the Bele Chere Festival, because festivals are a great place to get a little practice shooting in a crowd!

There are also a ton of “stories” you can tell with your photos. Above, I can show you just how hot and sunny it was in the mid-afternoon by virtue of this gentleman’s attempt at getting shade wherever he could!

Festivals are also nice because you get two advantages you don’t normally get when it comes to street scenes. One, there are people there performing, who are actually trying to get your attention, and are easy therefore to get shots of. Secondly, because of the performers, it’s easy to know where people will be gathering, and what they will be looking at. You don’t normally get those sorts of leads when looking for shots on a downtown street!

On the other hand, there is so much going on, and so many people around, that it can be overwhelming trying to find the good stories that you can tell with a photo. I can’t tell you the number of times I caught a glimpse of something just as it was passing by, or happening, and didn’t have near enough time to capture anything! Then again, the more you get out and practice, the better you would get at anticipating those. At least I hope so!

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