I am reading various photography related forums with special attention to topics like I share my shot and Critique my shot. Viewing images shared on these forums – including my ones as well – I noticed something: we – beginner photographers – shoot portraits very rarely. Most of us start with shooting flowers, insects, buildings and landscapes, mainly our environment in our nearest neighbourhood, and only very few people. And even if we take photos of people those people are mainly members of our families.

What can be the reason for that?

It is clear that learning all the techniques of photography is much easier with motionless subject matters. You don’t have to convince a flower to wait till you adjust the aperture or other mystic settings of your camera. And you can spend hours to find the best angle to shoot a building. We might think that we cannot expect the same patience from a flash’n'blood human being and making not too good pictures at the end.

So, we are not confident, ye?

But then we proudly start uploading our images of our closest surroundings to the Internet and want instant praise for our unbelievable photographic skills and artistic approach and wait for immediate orders of creative agencies who noticed how talented we are. If the first critiques are not exactly what we expected then we say that people do not understand how good we are. Look at that wonderful bokeh of that petal. That bee is so detailed, dude.

So, we are not understood?

I showed my early pictures to my wife and she said most of the time that they are OK (OK?! Why not great or at least amazing?), but she would be much more interested in pictures of people. Sure, but whom should I photo then? I just cannot walk to people and take a picture of them.

Are we too shy?

Guys dealing with computers tended to be somewhat introverted in the old times. Well, maybe not only in the old times. Dealing with things that we understand closely gives us confidence. Inner workings of those geeky things are clear and easy to influence. Digital cameras are great example of those things. Communication over the Internet with fake identities is not very much different from that. But it is a hugely different thing to talk to real people.

What then?

I think it was mentioned in both books I read from the National Geographic Photography Field Guide series so far (Secrets to Making Great Pictures and People and Portraits) that the most important element of people photography is making a connection, building relationship between the photographer and her/his model. Approaching them friendly, telling them honestly what we are doing and what we would like to achieve, or just simply smiling at them in e.g. a noisy concert and asking for permission by showing the camera can solve the problem. If the answer is NO then walk away, there are so many other things to photograph. Making pictures of people is NOT A SIN. So don’t feel guilty about it.

Update: How I’ve thrown off my shyness:
Practicing portrait photography
An other portrait session
Photographing Belly Dancers