How to Become Comfortable with Shooting Photos in Public

Happy Tuesday! I get asked a lot of blogging related questions all of the time, but there is one in particular that I wanted to address today—”How do you get comfortable with shooting photos in public when people are walking around everywhere?“. By all means this is a completely valid question. When I first started blogging, shooting in public was a huge fear of mine. So let me recount my process, how I became comfortable with taking pictures in front of others, and share some tips for how you can too! But before you start, let me preface that this is a resource post, so it will be quite lengthy. I would recommend that you grab a glass of coffee or a snack of some sort before diving into the content.

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When I first began my foray in blogging (more than 8 years ago), I used to be so afraid of anyone finding out that I was doing it. I refused to shoot anywhere except for in the comfort of my own home. I was even so afraid of my family judging me that many of my first “outfit shots” consisted the beloved timer mode and the privacy of my bedroom. I quickly outgrew the space and wanted a more diverse set of backgrounds, so I ventured to different parts of my house—but only when everyone was out. I soon then also exhausted my options of “quality shootable corners” within my home and realized that I had to start finding new places to shoot in.

At first I would seek out places that didn’t have too much foot traffic. I was so embarrassed that I told myself that the less people who accidentally stumbled onto my photoshoot the better. Back then I loved shooting in front of monochromatic backgrounds, so white/black/grey walls made out of brick/concrete were my jam. These backdrops perfectly suited my fear of shooting in public since the majority of them were only found in alleyways or in the backs of buildings. I spent about a year and a half shooting in these sort of locations before I got bored of them. There is also only so many black and white walls that you can pose in front of before you get extremely bored of your own photos. I would also be lying if I said that shooting in back alleys means that no one will ever see you, because we definitely got many passerby’s and onlookers. It was at this point that I learned that the minute you leave your house, no matter how hard you try to control the environment, you’re in a public space, and people will always have the freedom to see you. This was around the time when I started to accept that I couldn’t 100% control my environment and I just learned to accept it.

They won’t remember you in 24 hours

Every time someone asks if I feel awkward shooting in public in front of strangers, I throw back the question “Do you remember the person who you last saw shooting a photo in public? And if you remembered that event, do you even know who that person was?” and usually the response is a resounding no to both. So there you go, most people won’t even remember who you are, or even remember that they saw your photoshoot in general. If they won’t remember you, what’s the point in worrying?

Nowadays blogging, YouTubing, vlogging, and other creative hobbies are so common place that shooting in public is accepted, if not even considered the new normal. I can barely walk outside without seeing at least once person with a DSLR in their hands. Documenting our lives has become so ingrained in our everyday behaviour that most people don’t even think twice to flag that someone is in the midst of a photoshoot when they walk past one.

So trust me, even if someone sees you, they won’t even remember that they saw you within 24 hours time. You’re not leaving any sort of lasting impression on them.

Have a repertoire of shoot locations

After living in Toronto for almost 4 years, I feel that it’s safe to say that I’ve discovered all of the different walls, corners, sidewalks, storefronts, cafes, and buildings that I enjoy shooting in front of. For the majority of the time, I prefer to keep a repertoire of places that are more secluded and that have less traffic purely out of efficiency. It not only gets annoying having to constantly wait for streams of people to pass by as you recompose each shot, but it becomes cumbersome for your photographer as well (particularly if they shoot for you often—more on that later).

But there are definitely some prime pieces of real estate where you can’t avoid pedestrian traffic, or even automobile traffic, yet still look beautiful in photos, so I can’t help but still shoot there. Having a library of locations on hand is extremely helpful if you happen to show up to your preferred destination one day and and find that any of the below have occurred:

1. Currently being used by another blogger
2. Under construction
3. It has been vandalized
4. It is closed
5. It is now different than what you remember it to look like

It’s a bummer, but it has happened to me (all of them actually), so it’s always good to have a backup location.

Knowing the quieter places to shoot is also a huge win for those that are beginning to blog since you’ll be able to shoot to your heart’s content without being disturbed by bystanders. If you’re not quite comfortable with shooting in public, I would highly recommend that you take a walk around your neighborhood, downtown core, or area of the city and scope out quiet places that would be easy for you to shoot at. Once you’ve exhausted those options, then start to slowly open up yourself to more public spaces.

Have a repertoire of poses

I like to keep my shoots as short as possible so that I’m not taking up too much of either my own or my photographer’s time. Over the years, I’ve learned which angles are the most flattering for me, along with which poses photograph the best. Knowing exactly how I should pose definitely decreases the time spent shooting, and thus decreases the opportunity of someone witnessing my photoshoot.

I also made a “collection” on Instagram of saved poses that I like, so that if I’m ever in a pinch and/or stuck in a rut, I can refer back to the images for some inspiration. I definitely found that studying the photos and poses of others helped to determine which ones I liked the best for my body. If you’re stuck with the same old 3 poses, try to change things up and get some inspiration on Instagram. I would also recommend practicing your various poses in front of a mirror to become comfortable with them.

Last year, I also compiled together a quick cheat sheet of some easy ways to look better in your photos. I received so much positive feedback that my post helped others to elevate their poses that I would suggest that you try some of them out the next time you take a picture! To this day, I still use all three of those tricks!

Find someone that you can shoot frequently with

It’s important to find someone who you can shoot with frequently so that they’re used to how you like your photos to look. It definitely takes some time to train your photographer’s eyes to know exactly how to compose a photo to your liking, but once you have the routine down pat, it can really help to reduce the time spent shooting. And as I’ve said before, the less time you have to spend shooting means the less chances people will walk by and see you!

P and I have shot together so many times now that I no longer have to really frame my photos for him, or show him how I’d like my photos to be composed. I can literally hand him the photo and 95% of the time the photos turn out amazing! If you’re working with someone new who has never shot for you before, try using some of the tips that I shared in my recent post on how to guide bystanders to shoot couple photos for you.

The photo is always worth it

The reason that you’re shooting is to get that bomb photo to post onto Instagram. And obviously you’re going to put in the effort to put together a cute outfit as well as doing your hair and makeup perfectly. So why waste all of that effort of getting glammed up just to be deterred by the idea of people seeing you?

I always remind myself that regardless of how many onlookers there are, and how awkward I may feel, the photo that I’ll get out of the photoshoot is absolutely worth all of the gawking onlookers. Especially now that I do this as a job full time, feeling awkward isn’t even worth it because I need to take photos in order to make a living! Literally, the photo is what brings in my money, so the awko feelings are completely worth it!

You’ll eventually get used to it

I know I did. I know that this isn’t much of a tip, but it serves as more of a confidence boost! The more frequently you do something, the easier it becomes. Over time as you begin to shoot more, you’ll eventually get used to the feeling of people walking by and noticing you. And after awhile, it won’t even matter anymore. I didn’t wake up one day without a care about what people would think if they saw my photoshoots, but after spending almost 4 hours doing it, I’ve grown extremely familiar to the situation that it no longer fazes me.

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Hopefully those tips helped some of you to slowly become more comfortable with shooting in public. I know for me it took quite awhile to get used to the idea of others watching me while I shot my photos, but after awhile I no longer cared anymore. I’m considering putting together a quick list of some of my favourite places to shoot in Toronto, let me know if this is something that you’d like to see or would even be remotely interested in!