My first 'informed' street photography adventure

So there were no excuses now, I knew a little of street photography and inspired by Thomas Leuthard, off to Stratford upon Avon I did go. I chose Stratford mainly because it's a touristy town and I was confident there'd be a lot of cameras about.

As far as understanding the basics of photography, I was still very much in the learning stage and did not know how to set the camera up for the streets. These days I tend to shoot primarily in aperture priority mode and keep a high shutter speed, on this day in Stratford I was probably in program or full auto mode. But today's exercise wasn't about technique or image quality, it was all about me 'growing some' and taking some photos of total strangers.

I started by taking a few photos of people from behind, on phones or using cameras, any composition that didn't risk being noticed.

Every time I lifted the camera to take a photo with any chance of my subject noticing I just bottled it. I was getting a little disheartened and starting to think I'd never do it.

Then I saw this girl about to use a parking meter and she had this headband on with a Union Flag, I was really drawn to it and felt compelled to go for a shot. I still panicked and couldn't stay steady so it's a bit out of focus, but it looked fantastic to me on the camera screen as i hurried away and I got such a buzz from taking it.

Now with the emotions and memory I have attached to this image stripped away I can see that it's pretty poor and I would never even consider taking the shot today. But it broke the 'stranger danger' barrier for me and for that I'm forever indebted to it. Oh and if by some miracle I ever bump into this girl I will certainly thank her.

Almost all the photos I took that day fail to measure up to my evolving standards but this one of 'The Boys' is one I still like. I had to have two stabs at this one, I'd seen them earlier in the day in a similar situation and had bottled the shot. So when I got my second chance I just had to take it, I didn't realise until later that the guy on left was playing up to the camera.

My first proper day of street photography didn't end there as I had the luck of shooting a celebrity as well, it was from a fair distance and had to be cropped.

From such shows as 'Cold Feet' and 'The Fast Show' it's John Thomson doing something Shakespearean at the Bard's birthplace.

So from this day on I was hooked on street photography and felt confident that my balls were big enough to continue.

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