We all like photographing candid. Those brilliant shots that capture how a person is really feeling, or what they are really thinking without the gloss of smiles and poses.
There’s no better place for candids than the underground/subway/metro. Thousands of people all crammed into a small space refusing to make eye contact with anyone within a 20ft radius, all in their own wee world of John Grisham.
Normally anyway.
We get on the metro in Paris and I immediately see a perfect candid shot opposite us. He’s not even glanced at us, trapped in his own thoughts. His face was interesting, standard middle aged frenchman fare. But sometimes standard is best.
I don’t want to attract his attention so I don’t look at him again. I slowly get out the holga, pretend to be fiddling with it, position it towards him and waist level, and snap. I then always get a bit flustered when taking candids, so I get out my little squeezy airbrush and leisurely pretend to clean my holga while winding it on.
Fantastic, I didn’t get noticed, all went well. Until we get off the metro. Beth was watching the guy all the time, and she says as soon as I got the camera out, he started looking and staring at the camera, and continued to stare as I took his photo….and then continued to stare as I wound the camera on. All the time totally knowing what I had just done. It’s incredibly embarrassing, I can’t decide whether I’m embarrassed as I took his photo and he noticed OR that I was pretending to fiddle with my camera when he knew very well I had taken a photo 
He now haunts my dreams.
Anyone got any good candid tips? I think maybe a medium format camera isn’t the best for covert photography due to it’s share size!
Comments
hes actually haunting my dreams as well. thanks for that.
ha! He is terrifying. I’m also starting to feel a bit bad about taking his photo. In hindsight it may have been a bit on the rude side
… I took my first candid shot on a crowded train the other day … I was sitting in the filth on the floor as all the seats had been filled … quite a good angle … film not developed yet … probably going to be useless … I was surprised at damn loud the Holga ‘click’ can be and felt that I’d almost been caught … I happily wear my camera around my neck before I get on the train … that way people clock it early but then forget … hopefully … how does Parr do it? … does he pose them? talk to them? seek permission? … I don’t think he asks … photography is always rude … it comes with territory …
I was in an assignment in Barcelona. Saw a homeless lady with the dog, sitting on the stairs of a church on the other edge of a huge square. She was far away to be captured with 28 or 50mm lens so I screw my sniper shooter on the Nikon body with the length of 300mm and pointed at her. Guess what? She must have had an eagles sight because in the picture I made she kinda points her finger and shows smth like “no, don’t shoot me”. I guess I was 100 meters away but still she spotted me inbetween hundreds of other people in the crowdy square. Next time I’ll camouflage
and get invisible. Will search up the image and post here a link to my flickr account…
this literally made me laugh out loud. that guy’s face is exactly how you want it to be for the story.
This un-candid Holga portrait and your account cracked me up! It was hysterical! As situations like this often turn out to be after one has left the Metro. Loved the close-ups that gradually got bigger until the ghost was right in my face.
Thanks,
Laurie
[...] or an account of what is happening in the photographs (For example,imagine the article ‘when candids go wrong‘, but with more photos!), or even a fictional story or poem with relevant photographs. Let your [...]
Scary but that’s one priceless catch there! Cool.
[...] When Candids go wrong [...]