Driving past some temples in a small village near Pondicherry, India

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As we were driving this past Sunday, I saw this scene developing. The furthest temple was growing in size the closer we got, and the motorbike was wandering back and forth, left to right. Everything came together for me for a split second, and I wondered if I caught the right moment.

I like the scene, and the photo people I know in Madurai, India, love it. I don’t like all the wires in the sky, and it was difficult to edit the photos without blowing out the highlights, now thanks to @George that I’m checking for that before I finish editing. Part of me wants to crop in, leaving out the detail near the edges, but I think all that detail just adds to the photo. Probably too much to see, as there things to get my attention all around this image, now that it’s “fixed” and I can look all over as I wish.

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This is what I “saw” as I took the above photo:

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Unless you get out of the car to interact with people, you’re just collecting personal memories of a sightseeing trip – be it that one, with the person on the phone, the half-destroyed house …

As an experienced photographer, you should know how difficult it is to “arrange” a good composition while driving by.

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Sure sounds like good advice, but it’s totally un-realistic. When I am on the ground with a camera, anybody close will be reacting to ME. I don’t want “arranged” photos, and the only reasonable way to capture images like this is when people don’t see or notice me.

Yes, it’s a challenge, and most images are worthless, but every so often I get lucky. I don’t go on “sightseeing trips” but I do bring my camera when we go somewhere by car, at which time unless I’m the only one in the car, the driver is usually NOT going to stop and wait for me.

Summary: “Do the best you can, with what you’ve got.”

The camera is up in front of my eye almost always, and I’m hunting for scenes (such as the above) that work for me.

In an ideal world, I agree with you completely, but I rarely find myself in such a world, unless it is me who has hired the car, and the driver will do what I ask.

There are times when I can do exactly what you suggest, but only if the driver is following my instructions, and I’m not just an additional passenger, and the others are more interested at getting to their destination ASAP.

I used to travel with two very close friends from Colorado, and if any of us found something interesting, we would ring a bell, and the driver would stop, and we could do exactly what you suggest! We’ve done that for many years, but not for the past three years.

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That’s why I never go on sightseeing trips any more, as I just get frustrated. As you noted, totally wasted efforts, and useless images.

As a front seat passenger with only the driver, it’s a very different story. I see what the driver sees, pretty much. The biggest factor in getting reasonable images - luck, and persistence.

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Which is why folks like Vivian Maier used to use a Rolleiflex TLR. With the waist level finder, people think you are just messing around adjusting the camera, because you are not looking at them directly or hiding behind the camera body.

You can do the same by tilting monitor on your D780 and looking down on it.

What!!! No wonder you attract attention. Look at Henri Cartier Bresson. He would have the camera totally prepared, at his side and then when he saw something, he would lift, frame and shoot, all in an instant.

Also, if you are constantly viewing the world through a tiny little window, it’s no wonder you miss so many much better shots.

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One of the things I enjoy doing, is walking down city streets, and shooting the shops and shoppers, and the merchandise piled up in front of the stores. What you just suggested is a wonderful idea, in so many ways. Now that I have a fold-out screen, I can try it. Thank you!

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But that’s what you do effectively.

Instead, get out of the car, interact with people, and so on. – When you’re welcome, you have many opportunities to take interesting photos and can move freely to “order” your composition. You want to draw the viewer’s attention to what you saw or what you think is interesting to communicate. In other words, don’t present “compositional chaos.” You’re not on the run.

I’m NOT talking about posing, getting an “arranged” smile, or anything like that. Yes, take those pictures (to delete later !) and the person you took might stop posing …

But do as you like. You are not listening anyway and keep debating instead.

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Well said. When I do portrait sessions, I sit with the camera on a tripod, slightly to one side of my head, with a cable release, out of sight in my lap, at the ready. Then I start looking at and talking to the sitter, taking shots as and when their expression is relaxed and they are not pulling a face whilst talking. I usually end up taking around half a dozen to a dozen shots and, if the sitter asks if I have taken the shot yet, I don’t always tell the truth :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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You have obviously never tried this in South India. A few people will come to see what is going on, then more, and then you will find yourself surrounded by a crowd, because a foreigner doing this in a small area such as a village is a rarity, with nothing going on, and the fact that you are there with a camera, taking photos, will attract more and more and more people. Perhaps in downtown Mumbai (Bombay) this will work as expected.

For my photos from late yesterday afternoon, nobody cared, nobody noticed, nobody wanted to be in a photo, I was more or less ignored, so in that case your suggestion went just as you expected. I was rather amazed by this - but in a small town, it would become an EVENT with anyone and everyone coming close to see what’s going on, and everyone wanting me to take their photo (and then see it on the back of my camera - the reason I switch the rear display off, and tell people it’s broken).

In a small village, my (a foreigner) being there with a camera becomes a major event for anyone in the area to come check out.

Is it possible to get the photos I want? Sure, but it takes a lot of time until people lose interest.