Bored Panda got in touch with Polly and asked her a few questions about her work. When we asked about the most unexpected moment she’s experienced while out shooting, she recalled a perfectly serendipitous scene in Seville, Spain. She told us: “I noticed a woman, a tourist, in a tiny square who was dressed in the same colours as the building behind her. Colour matching in street photography is one thing (and once you’ve trained your eye for colour-matching you do see it everywhere), but this was different. Her trousers were a reddish colour, and her cardigan was yellow. And the building behind had a reddish section at the bottom and the rest of it was yellow! I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I decided I would play with lining up the colours so that she became part of the wall. First, though I took a shot of her framed in the doorway so I had a shot before I attempted to line up the colours - in case she finished taking photos and moved on. Then I had a few seconds to quickly calculate where I needed to be relative to her, and at what height I needed to hold my camera. I slowly walked in a circle as I made my calculations and then went in for the shot. I took two shots. The first one worked the best! It was such a coincidence that I don’t think she was even aware of herself!”
We were curious to know which photo Rusyn has taken that holds more meaning for her now than it did at the time. The photographer revealed: “Yes, I didn’t ‘love’ the photo of a fountain, a pair of lovers, and children playing (also taken in Seville, Spain) when I first took it. But after I’d shared it I was surprised by how much my audience liked it, and I started seeing it differently. This isn’t to say I’m swayed by public opinion as I know which of my photos are good and which are not. But somehow I started seeing this one differently. And I got to wondering why I hadn’t seen it for what it was at the time. The only conclusion I could come to was that I’d enjoyed taking the photo, amongst others, that late afternoon so much that the emotion of the day exceeded what I’d captured in the photograph! I guess I just needed time to let the memory of the joy of the day settle before I could truly enjoy the photo. Reality is always so much more powerful right?! I recommend that my students try and remove emotion when selecting their photos as it can mask a poor shot. In this case, it masked a good shot because I was determined not to be led by emotion!”
Next, the photographer shared some of the rituals she usually follows when preparing for a street photography shoot: “Before I start shooting, I play a little mind game with myself. I set the intention that I want to get a ‘keeper.’ Then I give myself permission to only come home with one half-decent photo. I then go and deliberately take an easy shot so I have my ‘one half-decent photo’, which frees me up to get a “keeper” (on a good day - I don’t always come home with something I absolutely love but usually get something ‘decent’!) I do this so that it takes the pressure off. The more relaxed I am and the more fun I’m having, the better my photos are.”
Lastly, Polly kindly shared her words of wisdom, offering advice to aspiring street photographers eager to capture their best work. She said: “‘Always stay mindful of the direction of the light!’ I still remind myself of this. It’s easy to get excitable doing street photography and to get caught up in the moment and forget THE most critical element - the light! It’s not always about the direction of the sun either - as light can be reflected off windows of buildings too. It’s really about always checking in with where it’s at, the quality of it, and what I can do with it. I do a quick check of whether I can see my shadow or not! And on cloudy days I figure out where the sun is as it can still make a difference to the photographs if it’s behind my subjects. It’s much more subtle than on sunny days of course, but there’s still a difference…”
