Flash on the Street: Ethics vs Creativity, with Damon Tildesley

[@AlexOnStreets]

Flash is something that can be non-abrasive and confrontational if you're really selective and best of all can talk to the person after about why you took the photo in a coherent thoughtful way. Not every situation or subject(s) need to be shot with flash to be inherently interesting. It's just another tool. So here's just my way of going about this.. Think if the photo is worth being taken in the first place without flash, not "oh let's flash to make this photo good". When I do this I come away with more keepers, less confrontation or negative reactions and I can sleep at night. I love using flash and I really recommend it to everyone looking to make the next step visually. Good work Damon and Hash!

[@pushingfilm]

100% agree with you here man! Great way to approach it 🙂

[@TheChosenOne_]

Flash street is great but I can’t ever imagine doing it myself. The shutter click is already too loud for me 😂

[@vangstr]

Ha ha you must really hate traffic noise😅

[@TheChosenOne_]

@@vangstr it was more related to being inconspicuous when taking the shot because the subject might hear the click😅

[@socksonfeet8125]

Once you learn both you have more ways to capture a scene, more tools is never bad.

[@ArchiesLens]

I've been experimenting with taking more flash street photos with my digital point-and-shoot (olympus xz-1) and it's been so fun. I love the unique look. This is an awesome video! 🌸✨

[@pushingfilm]

Nice! I love that camera. Even though the built in flash is weak, it's nice that it at least has one, and that you can use an external one since there's a hotshoe :-D Thanks for the feedback

[@ArchiesLens]

@@pushingfilm yea I'm going to experiment with an external flash on it at some point and see how that works out! it's a fun little camera.

[@AntonyZWu]

Well done Hashem! It's always interesting to get another artist's perspective. Damon Tildesley, your photos are solid and very much needed, as few are brave enough to do what you do. The ones at night are my favourite.

[@webcatcher360]

love those flash set-up thanks for sharing

[@Kitsaplorax]

Use an IR flash. Weegee did this for some of his most famous night photos in NYC. I would never ever use flash in downtown Seattle due to the traffic and pedestrian endangerment, putting aside the ethics of taking photos of people living on the streets.

[@RaulDiFondi]

I love that vintage flash. I have a National PE-357S and love to experiment with my digital camera, a Canon M50 MII

[@davidaltizer]

great docu-series format! loved this! great work!

[@pushingfilm]

Thanks!

[@spangancayco]

Really enjoyed this interview and format. More please!!

[@bobdots5974]

Another great video Hashem, the interview with Damon Tildesley was interesting and relevant to anyone involved in street photography. As Damon so rightly commented, there's no value in being 'sneaky' with street photography - it only tends to annoy and p#ss people off. He certainly can't be accused of that with his potato masher and camera in plain sight and I can see his technique works well for him, looking at the photos he shared on your video. Well done guys.

[@jdstrobist]

Awesome video Hashem and Damon Tildesley your pictures look great😎 I enjoyed looking at your work and what you had to say! 😎Flash is just light, nothing wrong with using a flash, it fires for only a millisecond or two, no big deal, if that’s your style so be it! I personally love using flash as well👍

[@therealsirrobin]

Fully agree to what he said. Good interview. 👍 Funny though, just a week ago I filmed a video with my friend Max who almost exclusively uses flash for street and we were talking about the exact same topic.

[@diegoefh]

amazing format!

[@chucktour7504]

Amazing really

[@grainybrews]

Loooove this! More please! ❤

[@Mvilette]

Pretty inspiring

[@Juanitoooooooooooooooooo]

Great vid

[@pushingfilm]

Thanks!

[@luciengraetz]

Bald head with the clocks and the shadow 🤌🏼

[@sandymactraher6531]

Не знал, что Поперечный фотографирует со вспышкой

[@ciconiidaePoi]

(from Google Translate)I don't think this is a question that leads directly to a unified conclusion. Street photography is viewed differently in different countries. I am a Chinese student studying photography in Japan. When I was working in my hometown, Chongqing, China, the people I photographed had little dissatisfaction with me, even if I held the camera very close to them, they would even ask me to take a few more shots. But I'm in Tokyo, Japan, and people are very resistant to being photographed by strangers, and I've been asked to delete their photos a few times, which is actually kind of frustrating. (I've even heard that it's illegal in Japan to take pictures of someone's full face without their consent) So using a flash is even more out of the question. (Just describing the facts, not making any judgments about their behavior.)

[@AlexOnStreets]

It is very not illegal in Japan. Best wishes. Keep trying.

[@c.f.7493]

Being a German, these things would really considered as an assault here, and would also be illegal. I could imagine he would get some hard reactions, maybe even physical, if he was at the wrong place. So I wonder, if this ever happended to him, where he typically shoots?

[@pushingfilm]

It hasn't happened, as far as he told me

[@h.walker1332]

The only thing that could be a real problem is if someone with photo sensitive epilepsy has a fir because of the flash.

[@lukeportelli8638]

"If you're doing something just to emulate someone else, then you are always going to come short" Wow i find this hilarious, there wasn't one mention of where he adopted this style from. He has Jacked Bruce Gilden's style. HIs statement is 100% correct and is why photographs dont even come close to what Bruce Gilden's looks like.

[@furiouzzzz]

oh no I wouldn't find myself using flash in the street it actually makes me uneasy to think about it it is intrusive it takes people by surprise nothing good comes from this

[@thomaspopple2291]

I thought street photography was about taking photos of naturally occurring moments. Being in people's faces and using flash is just plain rude and ruins any naturalness that may have existed. Now all that is being photographed is people's reactions to having someone unexpectedly in their face with a camera or reacting to the flash. Not natural, not cool. As for photographing the homeless and those less fortunate, that is just pure exploitation. Someone jumps in my face with a camera, a flash, or anything and they are going to get an expensive ride to the hospital.

[@damontildesley6134]

Hey mate! Totally appreciate what you're saying. Street photography is a very broad category, and it falls under an element of "candid" for me. Flash, while not natural, still captures the candid element! As for photographing the homeless and less fortunate, I'm happy to say that's not really something I do at all. I do not have the experience or real understanding to take photos of that subject in a way I think would adequately do justice to these people, and I don't want to be exploiting them. As I said in the video, flash IS rude, it's abrasive, but generally speaking people forget about you 5 seconds later, and the photos I get me allow me to show my interpretation of street photography. (Also please don't threaten people with violence, it's never funny) Have a good one mate

[@davymike761]

A little ironic.. using flash on the streets is “rude” but threatening people with violence is perfectly fine? Good one Thomas! Also, us humans have lost anything natural the minute we moved out of caves. What you see out there is very carefully choreographed chaos! Nothing “natural” about it and pointing a flash at it doesn’t affect it one little bit. Like Damon said, nobody cares except a few other photographers who don’t seem to posses the testicular fortitude to use a flash themselves out on the streets.

[@twistoflime]

To not take photos of homeless people in the public space is to act as though they don't exist.

[@catbread2585]

@@twistoflimethat’s a really good point that I never thought about it, I don’t do street photography, I think tho with homeless people we should more respectful and ask them permission

[@catbread2585]

That’s a very ignorant comment