For months now I've been passing by a little walkway at a constructions site and watching a small tear in the vinyl enclosure grow, waiting for the day when it would build a frame for me. I didn't really know what I would do when the frame finally appeared, but last week when I found it had, I decided I would challenge myself and the people walking past me with a little social experiment.
Often street photography is a drive-by experience. Peek to the left, turn to the right at the last second and grab an image of someone who most likely has no idea you were even there. When I found the vinyl frame had finally appeared I decided to see what reactions I would get from people if I made it obvious I was taking their photos.
On my knees in front of the tear I was very visible to anyone walking through the corridor. Most people either ignored or didn't notice me, but when they did I grabbed their reactions. As you can see below almost everyone was unaffected to find a stranger photographing them.
In the time I spend shooting not a single person gave me a shocked or totally disgusted look. I thought there would be at least one person who would get mad, or come ask me why I took their photo, but no one did.
In an age where we are constantly photographed and recorded largely without our knowledge, it seems many people aren't that surprised or bothered when they can actually see their image is being captured.
