I rarely operate as a street shooter when I work overseas. My preference is to get to know a subject a bit and then follow them around in their daily life. As far as shooting from a moving vehicle as one person wrote about, I think in all of my years of shooting only 1-2 photos were worthy of using as shot from a car’s window.

Your point #1 is well taken. We must know our gear well. I just switched from Nikon D4’s to D750’s. I have recently missed a few moments because I was fumbling a bit with the new button layout. Still photography is all about finding the moments…anticipation…waiting…and capturing the emotion.

In foreign cultures we often stick out. It takes time for people to get used to our presence and not just stare quizzically at our lens. If I can add anything to the discussion about your work shown here it would be to take time to engage the people so that they will then go back to their daily lives and you can capture a true moment. And to do that…you will definitely need stamina. Thanks for sharing.

Wow. That’s an eye-opening ratio. You know, that thought actually crossed my mind while I was there. Certainly seeing my wife take photos on our Europe trip made me think of it too. Makes me feel better. 🙂 Thanks again for sharing.

With the village guy – it’s great that you were in the moving car otherwise you probably would have never caught it!

I remember my Photography instructor telling me (this was before digital cameras) – to remember that most Nat Geo photographers have to shoot 1,000 images to get an average of 7 good images.

Sweet. Thanks for the critiques Renee. They mean a lot. FWIW, a majority of the photos were taken from a moving SUV going about 30-40 mph (50-60 kph). For instance, the “clean” billboard is an example. I totally agree with you. If I had my druthers, I WOULD have taken that photo with the streets in the shot as well.

It’s funny you mentioned the brushing teeth photo as your favorite. One of the guys on the trip saw it and said, “That’s a NatGeo shot right there.” Ha! I wish. But I was honored he saw it as such. Would’ve been more impressive had I known he was brushing his teeth when I took it. 🙂

I love your motion blur comment too. Goes back to the “know your gear.” I’m sure if I had a better understanding of how to set photo still settings, I could have gotten crisper images even from the moving SUV.

Thanks again for the critique!

A friend of mine and I were just talking about this moments ago – how I think every person starting out in photography should have images critiqued over months at a time so they can keep growing and getting better.

Here’s a few things I’ll give as my critique:
The first two images could be really striking if the angles were different. Sometimes it’s also about location. For these two images there are too many things distracting from what the story actually is – and one of those distractions is the angle.

The villager walking his cows – by far my favorite. I love this image and could stare at it for a long while. It tells such a great story and has many layers to see. I don’t even really mind that there’s motion blur – you were possibly driving past?

The billboard – I can see what you were trying to do – but it leaves the viewer guessing at what you were trying to say. I would like to see this photo with a pulled back view so we can see the streets. and from a directly straight on shot. With the billboard in the right third of the photo.

I like the guy walking past the wall that says “stick no bill” – again – it comes down to angle. You seem to be fairly tall…? Sometimes if you hold the camera at your chest or belly and shoot it helps to get that type of perspective.

I think you did a fine job, and going forward my advice would be to concentrate on your angles (up high or down too low or tilted angle from the side were the biggest distractions), and knowing when to come in close and when to pull back for a wider view.

🙂