P & P - People Interacting with Place - Exercise 2 - Busy Traffic

The exercise asks we choose a busy location with a good viewpoint that gives a satisfying composition but also with a good sense of the nature and function of the space.

We are asked to take some time looking around to get a feel for the flow and motion of people.

Before I went to a town location I had a look on shutterstock for some inspiration and ideas. these 2 images caught my eye and were very creative and the images were taken in completely different ways

The first image side on and the people in silhouette, anonymous and some motion blur given a feeling of movement. 

This second image whilst static but an aerial image above the people making them look like ants whom we associate as busy creatures.

In a street situation there is often one or more static people amongst a crowd of people moving. I think this contrast can highlight busy also in an interesting way. I did consider using a tripod and thought about the capture of a single person but by using a slower shutter speed capture motion blur in those moving, however I thought the motion blur idea perhaps a bit too cliche and also it would make me stand out more an decrease the chance of me capturing an almost anonymous image as if I wasn't there.

By standing still I can quickly become anonymous and by occasionally bringing the camera to my eye and looking around I can be quickly ignored. For street photography this is what I want. Doing this and moving around the city I came a across a busy location but was taken by the old and unconfident chap centre of the image looking to ask shoppers to sign-up to the campaign that he was helping to champion. Though the people around him are frozen by my shutter they still have the energy of movement and this is captured in the image adding to the feel of the location being busy.

Having the static man in the middle, looking for a friendly face to ask to support the campaign he is part of, creates a contrast and makes the location busier as a result. The dynamics of the 2 ladies on either side of the frame, the left side lady her hair waving as she walks quickly and the lady on the far right in mid stride I feel adds to the overall busyness of the image that I want to create