Anonymity in my street photography.
I have always been trying to retain the anonymity of the subjects in my street photography. Well, maybe not always, since there are times when events just reveal in front of me suddenly, and I take photos out of instinct. The point is that the identity of the people who happened to appear in photos is not relevant to me at all. One of the most controversial topics in street photography today, with the existence of the Internet, is privacy. In most cases, people don’t know and don’t ask to appear in a random stranger’s camera. We photographers, on the other hand, do not want to ask for consent every time we press the shutter button. It not only is a pain in the ass, but also is almost impossible in many situations. The precious moments come and go in a split second, and the main characters leave the scene even before the review images show up. I don’t know about you but I’m not going to track them down and appear in their front door to ask for model consent.
Most of the time, the appearance of human beings, or the hints of it, is good enough for me. Without the specific identity of the subject, the photograph can be about anyone, or about life in the neighborhood in general. Often, we as photographers shoot strangers, whom we know nothing about their background, their story, their emotions or thinking. By removing their identity, it also removes the need of the viewers to find out who they really are. The attention would be driven to the moment itself, and the backstory of the characters would be invented by the viewers however they feel right. Everyone is happy.
There are many ways to retain the anonymity of the subjects. First, obviously, is not to capture the full face, or no face at all. With the last pandemic, many people are wearing masks in public, which makes this easier. We can shoot people from different angles, which doesn’t show their faces, or maybe we can include only parts of the body to show the activities going on.
The second way is to shoot a wide scene with people appearing in a tiny bit of the picture. With that few pixels it would need CSI level of zoom to identify the person. In this case, creative composition and interesting scenery would catch the first glance of the viewers, and the characters would eventually reveal themselves at the end.
Silhouettes of people walking by interesting background might be considered cliché, but it does work. I also try to shoot through glasses or reflective surfaces, which distort the figures beyond recognition. This not only helps us hide the faces, but also adds aesthetic and abstraction to the photos.
By removing the faces, one might argue that the picture would be soulless. I believe that is not the case. The story and emotions can be delivered via many intermediates. Colors for example. I use yellow a lot in my street photography. It is the color of the sunlight, the golden hour, the light post at night.
The body language of the subjects can say a lot about their emotions and stories too. People do a ton of stuff other than just walking by. I do a lot of “fishing” myself, which means I choose a composition and wait for people to enter the scene. Everyone dresses differently and moves differently. Some walk by like the pedestrian sight, which I try my best to avoid. Some dress funnily. Some talk on their phone. Some carry weird stuff. Some head down. Some head up. Some work. Some take rest. We don’t need to see their face to come up with a story of our own.
Using juxtaposition is another clever way to hide the identity of the subjects and create new messages at the same time.
