No need to be sneaky. People like having their photo taken

There are some really incredible candid photos of people on the tube in London on Instagram. The master of this art is @mrwhisper. He really manages to capture some incredible moments that would otherwise be lost to us and at the same time his images are beautifully composed and balanced in themselves. And he continues a great tradition of candid photography. And we know that the iPhone is such an unobtrusive thing (it’s a phone really isn’t it) that you can get much better results than with a big camera. But sometimes you don’t need to hide your camera. I did a project for my “big” photography class and I asked various shopkeepers on my local high street if I could take photos of them. And all of them with the exception of the undertakers said yes. And I got chatting to my subjects and it was a wholly pleasant experience. Of course, candid gets you different results and in some situations is the only way, but remember you can also ask. People are usually OK with it. And of course, while I was taking the big photos, I also got some iPhone photos. And, you know, I think I prefer the iphone ones: big camera, small camera.

Dr Gao at the Chinese Medical Centre on Northfield Avenue