It's not often that someone who I want to include in a "street" photograph actually co-operates with me and poses. Usually I get my shots on the run, pressing the shutter at what I hope is the "decisive moment". And, truth be told, what I, and most other photographers who take shots in the street actually want is people to ignore the camera and go about their business. I don't do much in this field of photography but my best images - this one for example - have always come about in this way.
However, recently as I was passing a shop window I noticed someone inside decorating the display area. Moreover, a large, metallic mask was still on show. It occurred to me that the conjunction of the two subjects might make a shot, especially since the decorator couldn't be clearly discerned and the reflection of the street was adding an interesting depth to the composition. But, as he carried on with his work he went behind the mask a little too much and I couldn't get the shot I wanted. This was one that included a person reflected in the glass looking at what I was doing. But then the decorator looked up, and perhaps sensing my predicament, stepped to his right and posed perfectly allowing me to have the two people, superimposed, on the left of the frame and the mask on the right. This image won't be everyone's cup of tea I suppose, it pleases me, the slightly out of focus mask notwithstanding. It reminded me a little of a shot I took in Floral Street, London, a photograph that also includes a "real" person and someone who is reflected, but features a skull rather than a mask! That example is another image that I consider to be one of my better street efforts.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.4mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
