Reply #4: 10 to thirty feet, mostly. [View All]

[Boo_Radley]

I was using a 70-300 mm lense, for most of them, but some of them I had to drop down to an 18-70mm lense. Either way, I was pretty close. I went with two other guys from class, and one of them did go up and talk to at least one of the skater kids. I've done this a couple of times, and just sort of waved my camera and made a "doyamind" kind of look, and each time they made a sort of "I couldn't care any less if you live or die, or what you do in between" kind of a look ;)

Anyway, while we were out yesterday, once we showed up and started taking pictures, they ignored us for a very short time, then started showing off a little. When I went and got that low angle, no one was actually doing any tricks there, but once I was shooting, they all flocked to it. I think they enjoyed the audience and thinking we might be from some rad skater mag or something.

I know what you mean about snapping pictures of strangers. But the skater kids don't seem to mind, and tend to become more aggressive in their tricks once they all notice you shooting. Plus, in a public area like that, you're within your rights to photograph people. If you try to *seem* like you're supposed to be doing it, people ignore it. It's like when a little kid falls down, and, for just a second, they look up to see how people are reacting, and whether they should laugh or cry. If you act like you're supposed to be taking pictures, and they're not supposed to mind, most people just sort of go with the flow.