Gesture is not a grab-shot

A judge once commented on one of my photographs with the phrase: “What a great grab shot”. It was intended to be a compliment but it also exposed some naivety about street and documentary photography in general. While it is true that in this style of photography you are dependent on the chance action that happens in front of you, hardly ever do you get your shot simply by seeing something, raising the camera, and taking the “grab shot”. To the contrary, those are more typically the shots you miss, not the shots you get. Once you see the action, it is too late.

Capturing good gesture, like photographing birds, requires that you observe and prepare. Sometimes your image will materialize and sometimes they will not.

Here are my tips for capturing gesture

Prepare Set your background Set your exposure (and possibly your focus) Get comfortable with the subject and setting
	Take many images Take as many as 20 or 30 images of the same person Explore different angles Practice your timing
Evaluate your results with the following questions Is something happening? Is there emotion? What is the story? Have you caught the action at its peak? Is there anticipation? Is there mystery?

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