Street portraits

Hi, I'm a street photographer and I was wondering...

It happened to me. A teenage girl asked if I was a TikTok “street photographer” who wanted to take her portrait.

You’ve probably seen the videos. A photographer approaches a stranger, usually an old man in a hat or a hot babe, asks to take their picture, then wows them and us with the spectacularly overedited result (what a nice guy, making that bum look good!).

I kind of hate this kind of content (can you tell?). But I do think portraiture has a place in street photography. Not everything has to be candid. I often ask for a portrait when it seems like the only way to get the shot. Here are a couple I took last week.

I quite like this one, which I shot in Darlinghurst. My only regret is that I didn’t take a version with the man looking into the lens - he was even more bug-eyed than his chihuahua.

I took a few candid snaps of this woman standing outside the Opera House entrance, then approached her to ask for a portrait. She said her name was Dawn, she was from Geelong and she was on oxygen, enjoying her last trip to Sydney and the Gold Coast before she could no longer travel.

While we were talking, I noticed the seagull flying through the tunnel and took three shots. This was the best of them. It’s not a perfect picture - all the interesting stuff is happening in one vertical fifth of the image, but I love it. Maybe because Dawn and her daughter Fiona were so lovely.

I showed them the picture on the back of the camera, they liked it and I emailed it to them this morning (what a great guy, making that old lady look nice!).

That’s it from me this week. If you’re in the market for a portrait (or some business, event or family photography) that’s done in a fun, street-y way, that is a service I offer. Just hit the reply button. And please forward this email to anyone you know who might like a dose of Sydney street snaps in their inbox each week.