South-East England Hi from Hampshire

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ApertureApprenctice

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Hi all, I'm new to photography and am starting out with a Lumix TZ60. Having fun trying to figure it out but haven't been out much yet. One thing I'm hoping people can help me with is the self conscious feeling I get when shooting. I run a website which is a sort of locals guide/directory and took some photos of some restaurants, bars etc but felt like I was doing something wrong and as a result probably came off really suspicious. Does this go away? I think it's just a newbie thing and I don't see many people out with their cameras so it's a new concept to me. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
 
Welcome to TP. I expect people will be along with various advice and suggestions.

My own two penn'rth: I used to be business advisor with the Prince's Trust for young entrepreneurs who were being given kick-start funding by the Trust for their businesses, and one client of mine was creating a printed guide for the geographic area we lived in, a sort of Yellow Pages Plus Plus Plus. The advice I gave him which helped in his success, which I'll paraphrase for your case, is: go into the bar/business and introduce yourself, say what you are doing, give them the url of your site, tell them it's free of charge, and ask permission to take the photos. You don't actually need their permission, strictly speaking, but it gets you off on the right foot. Then fill your boots!

If you were just shooting street se=cenes for fun, then the self-consciousness will go with time, I used to feel the same, but gradually I got to enjopyt the funny looks and people thinking I must be a journalist or film maker or similar. Dressing slightly outlandishly helped with that!! On the other hand, deliberately trying to avoid attention kind of attracts it somewhat.
 
lindsay said:
Welcome to TP. I expect people will be along with various advice and suggestions.

My own two penn'rth: I used to be business advisor with the Prince's Trust for young entrepreneurs who were being given kick-start funding by the Trust for their businesses, and one client of mine was creating a printed guide for the geographic area we lived in, a sort of Yellow Pages Plus Plus Plus. The advice I gave him which helped in his success, which I'll paraphrase for your case, is: go into the bar/business and introduce yourself, say what you are doing, give them the url of your site, tell them it's free of charge, and ask permission to take the photos. You don't actually need their permission, strictly speaking, but it gets you off on the right foot. Then fill your boots!

If you were just shooting street se=cenes for fun, then the self-consciousness will go with time, I used to feel the same, but gradually I got to enjopyt the funny looks and people thinking I must be a journalist or film maker or similar. Dressing slightly outlandishly helped with that!! On the other hand, deliberately trying to avoid attention kind of attracts it somewhat.
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Hi Lindsay, thank you for your advice and yes you are right, I felt like what I was doing was a secret and therefore probably looked like some sort of hospitality spy! Hopefully over time then I'll feel more comfortable and it will just become normal. I think this will be a great outlet for me so excited to see where it goes. Thank you again and have a good day!
 
ApertureApprenctice said:
I run a website which is a sort of locals guide/directory and took some photos of some restaurants, bars etc but felt like I was doing something wrong and as a result probably came off really suspicious
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Well if challenged you can just say that you are promoting their business by including it in your local directory, I can't see any business objecting to free publicity.
However if you really can't get over feeling self-conscious then just ask them if they would like to be included in your free local publicity.
From the legal point of view there is no law in the UK that prevents you from taking photographs in a public street, as long as it is not harrassment.
 
Hi, And welcome aboard TP, looking forward to hearing from you and maybe seeing some of your images on the various forums. "Enjoy"
 
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