How to Find People to Photograph

Video Transcript

"My name is Anthony Maddaloni and I'm going to talk about how to find people to photograph. One question I'm often asked in my classes that I teach, is how do I go about finding people to photograph? What do I do? And a good answer to that question is that I like to tell my students to go to festivals. To go to a place where there are a lot of people to begin with. And photograph people there. I'm very honest in my approach when I approach when I photograph people. I go up to my subjects and I ask them. And I'm very honest about what I'm doing. I say I'm taking pictures because I'm a professional photographer. But when I was a student, I said I'm taking pictures because I want to I'm a student and need to complete an assignment. And find that that relaxes people and people understand. You're not just there to, you know, take pictures of them doing something they're not supposed to be doing for instance. I mean you really want to talk to them. And I find that at street fairs, festivals, concerts, there are going to be a lot of people with cameras there. You're not going to look out of place. And what that does is it makes you more comfortable with yourself, going up to people and talking to them. Some photographers can be very shy at first. But once you go up to a few people and they say sure you can take my picture, you'll find that the level of confidence that you have in yourself, it rises. And that's how I would find people to take pictures of."