Dec 21 2005 Toronto

Selig: 22nd Dec 2005 - 09:03 GMT

hool. kick arse first shot. now tell me... do you run around snapping on the sly or do you find the courage i lack and approach people?

GGP: 22nd Dec 2005 - 13:44 GMT

i am so glad someone else asked this. I too would like to know about your process in terms of obtaining these very intimate shots of people--do they know? do you ask? do you shoot and run? however you manage it, your results are wonderful. But I'd love to hear the details about how you do it.

hool: 22nd Dec 2005 - 17:25 GMT

thanks selig. i rarely ask. i'm not interested in people's reactions to being photographed. sometimes its suitable to ask, so i do, and it doesn't take that much courage because i'm really used to it. it's harder to shoot without permission. i try to be sensitive about it when i can; i realize that what i'm doing can be quite disruptive and upsetting. however, it is my (and everyone else's) democratric right in public space, so i do it.

often when i shoot, people don't see me. sometimes i go through phases where i shoot from the chest/hip. it's not hard to get to know the framing, with a little practice, without needed to look through the viewfinder. i shot the top one from the chest. in many situations it's easy to shoot from the eye and go undetected, you just need to move naturally. if someone sees me, i smile and nod, and move along in a relaxed way. running is not a good idea.

Catherine Penfold-Waxman: 22nd Dec 2005 - 19:05 GMT

In the placement of these photos, the fish is my favorite. He just jumps at you from nowhere. The street festival shots are very pagan. Was it for the winter equinox?

jeeff: 22nd Dec 2005 - 19:21 GMT

hool's camera is big so if necessary he can just club people over the head with it and get away.

ian: 22nd Dec 2005 - 20:21 GMT

I wonder if hool is still shooting with the Oly E10.

Do you use a wide-angle lens set at the hyperfocal distance?

hool: 22nd Dec 2005 - 21:28 GMT

ian: i haven't been shooting with the e-10 for a long time. i got a canon 10d, used it for a year and a half, then recently got a canon 5d. the 5d is full frame, so my wide angle lenses are truly wide angle. i don't set to hyperfocal when shooting from the hip, instead i set the autofocus to auto-select, so that it focusses on the nearest object. with pro lenses, the focus time is near zero, and completely silent.

catherine: the night photos are from a winter solstice thing in kensington market. i avoided posting photos of fire breathing and such.