Cafés and bars

What a pleasant way to make a living - photographing characters like this lot between swigs of Guinness in an Irish pub. The camera was rested on the back of a chair and the light from a window has added to the 'pubby' atmosphere
© Philip Dunn for The SundayTimes

Enjoy it
Walking around with your cameras, gathering pictures of people and places is great fun, but it can also be tiring and thirsty work. Of course if you are working in a town or village with a bar, you will be able to pop inside to rest and revitalize yourself, sample the local beer, wine or mint tea.

© Philip Dunn for PD Picture Library
Sometimes it's best to include background detail when you frame your subject, like this shot taken in a café in Istanbul. Yes, the man smoking the hookah is worthy of a close-up, but by including some of the pictures on the wall behind him, the photograph gains a feeling of place and context. See also A sense of place

Talk to people
Simply by walking into a café you are opening up more tremendous picture opportunities. Just look around you. There are subjects everywhere and they are all worth photographing: the customers, the scene through the window or the smoky atmosphere inside. What about the barman or waitress. Between sips of your coffee or pastis you can either work quietly, photographing the scene around you, or you can use your cameras as an introduction to get talking to people.

You will have enough common sense to gauge the atmosphere - not all bars are the places to take out your cameras and start taking pictures; each place will have to be carefully judged before your set to work.

Correct approach
If the café is crowded you should have little difficulty in just shooting away. Provided you haven't walked into a place full of pimps and drug pushers, nobody will take much notice. But if the place is quiet, don't go at things like a bull at a gate. Take your time. Get your drink, chat to the patron, perhaps show an interest in one of the trophies or pictures over the bar. Choose something inanimate. Ask if you can take a picture of it. Your request will either be rejected, or, far more likely if you have judged your approach correctly, you will be well on your way to a rapport that can involve the other customers and lead to some great pictures. In any event, if you want to take pictures openly in a bar of café, ask the proprietor first - it could save you being tipped out into the street.

I can help build your confidence if you start by taking pictures in you own local pub. You will not has so much suspicion to overcome if people already know you.

This 'public' approach can be very difficult for some photographers. Not everyone finds it easy to become the centre of interest, but bear in mind that your aim is to be accepted as a harmless soul who likes taking pictures. It's almost always worth the effort involved, and once you have been accepted as part of the scene, you'll find you will be able to take the pictures you want without drawing too much attention to yourself. With practise, you will be able to do all this in a surprisingly short time and you'll find yourself in the happy position of walking out of the bar with a bagful of pictures, having had a great time taking them.