Beginner questions

[pagedown]

Its been couple of months using my brand new cannon eos 400d. Some samples of shots i liked the most.

My first question is that, should i be medaling with pp so early? should i focus entirely on composition and what makes a shot great? should i only focus B&W only?(i love henri cartier street photography. Its scary to think how many shots he took until he found a right pic in the red room)

Were to start? What subject? What ever catches my eye?

Living in the city should i be cautious taking pictures of strangers? (i was hassled by a random guy saying that it was illegal of me to take his his picture, in response i kindly introduced my self and the subject matter i was shooting, he laughed and walked away.)

[eazym]

It looks like you're already paying attention to composition (the desert pic has the horizon set up perfectly on the upper 3rd, though a little crooked). Start with whatever you like. Then find something you like the best and get good at it. That's not much in terms of advice, but that's about it. Look at other photographers' works (you already mentioned HCB, so study his stuff carefully, great geometrical precision in his photos). I'm a huge fan of street, too. Look at Winogrand's work (there's a guy who shot TONS and TONS of frames), check out Mierowitz (sp?).

Focus on BW if you like BW, but in digital it is usually better to shoot in color and then convert in postprocessing. But if you like try thinking in BW, that is concentrating more of shades than on hues, finding strong shapes and light and shadow -- those are the staples of strong BW photos.

That said, welcome to the forum. Shoot some more, and post some more. Cheers

[purplerose]

Mike pretty much said it all.

Nice photos.

[Nike]

Nice work!

Originally Posted by pagedown

Living in the city should i be cautious taking pictures of strangers? (i was hassled by a random guy saying that it was illegal of me to take his his picture, in response i kindly introduced my self and the subject matter i was shooting, he laughed and walked away.)

Well, street is sometimes a bit of a greyzone and the laws vary from country to country. In some it's perpectly legal, in some it's even forbidden.
In most countries it's handled like this: as long as you keep your photos to youself, it's fine, but that changes as soon you publish a photo or use it commercially. If a private person can be recognized in a published picture it can take legal action if there is no contract between photographer and subject. There are usually special agreements for journalists, and for events of public interest.
You can find the specific law situation for most countries online.

If a person explicitly tells you he/she doesn't like that you take photos of him/her, I think it's fair if you respect their wish (even if what you do might not be illegal).
I sometimes show people the photos I've taken of them and ask them if they're fine with that, if not, I delete them. That only works if there's no language barrier, though.

[Grimster]

Here is the good thing about being a photographer, It doesn't really matter what others think of your work, mostly work for yourself and no one else, unless you are doing it professionally. and thats what your boss wants. Other then that, if you are looking to sell your photos. it looks to me like you have a GREAT start of it. Just remember, work for yourself. no one else. And if you do that, most likely you will have a following of people who adore your work.. And tend to buy them very quickly.
Anyways great work. Hope to see more.

[Grumbledook]

regarding the taking pics of people, if the photo is used for editorial work, you don't need their permission/model release for it

though again that may differ where you are from

in the UK it is legal to shoot (no not that kinda shooting) anyone that is in a public place (this I got from a photomagazine)

as for what you should be doing, just play around with whatever you want, doesn't hurt to be critical to yourself with every shot though, regardless of what the subject matter is