Happy snaps: Relating to strangers with your camera

By Tom Coyner

It goes without saying that people appreciate looking at pictures of other people -- particularly if they are emotionally accessible and yet different from the viewer. By that, I mean when traveling in Korea or overseas, an objective may be to capture people images that give some insight into the local culture -- be it mundane or exotic.

When taking travel photos of people, most people take candid shots. Professional travel photographers, however, often take the time to build a rapport of some kind with the person before taking the photograph. It really helps if the photographed person is psychologically participating in the picture's making -- even if only for a split second.

There is a middle ground where the other person is aware of the photographer’s presence but does not give explicit permission to be photographed. Regardless, in most cases, the strongest images are created when the subject is staring directly into the lens, thereby creating a connection with the photographer and viewer.