Pixiq

In today’s atmosphere where every photographer is a suspicious character, especially when it comes to doing candid shots of kids on the street, there are a few techniques you may find useful, though I offer no warranty.

One tip, and this is useful for any sort of street photography, is to bring another person along, to act as a foil.  The best foils are young children, or old folks.  (My grandfather, for example would often pretend to pose for me, and he enjoy the ruse very much.  And my neice was great when she was about eight years old.)

But even this clear technique takes practice and timing, or it will look false and arouse suspiciion.

Spinning around 180 degrees also works well.  Again, it takes practice, but if you see a child running towards you, turn your back to them, and pre-focus and picture where they will be as you turn around to face them and click.

The main tip is that whatever you are doing - it really is helpful to pre-visualize the shot before you take it.  Even if things are moving fast - when the camera goes to your eye, you should know the framing and everything should be set.

One other trick, is that after you take the shot, you do not remove the camera from your eye, but pretend that you still haven't gotten the shot you wanted.  So you keep your eye to the viewfinder and continue to move the camera in a new direction.

Every once in a while, no matter how proficient you are, you will meet the parents.  I know this is a generalization, but if they are Americans, there is a good chance that they will be angry - even if you smile and tell them how wonderful their kids were.

Europeans seem to enjoy having good pictures of their children taken, and I can't tell you how many times I've taken business cards, and addresses from Europeans who wanted a copy of the print sent to them.  And I always make a point of sending a print.

That goes for any person I photograph that asks for a print.

I've put a few of these candid shots of children in the gallery above.  You might try and picture how they were done.