Shoot from the Hip

'Shoot from the Hip' - an expression taken from the days of wild west shoot outs, to shoot from the hip would mean that you could draw your gun quickly and fire it almost as soon as your hand reached the grip. But greater speed did lead to less accuracy...

Whilst walking round London on Monday i quickly got caught up in the quick pace of the streets. The tube arrives the minute i set foot on the platform, the crowds continue to push forward, the traffic is relentless. I decide not to compose photos anymore, instead to shoot from the hip. Set a ISO rating that is too fast for the bright day to give me faster shutter speeds, open the wide angle zoom lens to 10mm and fire away whilst walking. I love candid portraiture...

Most people were far too busy to notice or care, and i got a warm feeling of freeness with my camera, like all the rules no longer matter. I tend to see photography as a creative way to be very specific, I almost become perfectionist at times. But for today, the worse the composition was, the better... I like the out of focus ones, the blurry ones, the random lighting effects. These feel like a happy accident on each image...

Must do more of this!