When I say I am “shooting from the hip” I mean that phrase literally. I wear a cross-body camera strap which carries my camera at hip level. Before I was gifted this strap I would usually carry my camera in my right hand with the strap wrapped around my wrist. I shoot (usually blind, because live mode is slow to focus) with the camera held at waist height. Most people would expect someone wearing a camera to have their hands on it, especially in New York City, so I don’t look at all odd walking that way. This allows me to shoot without drawing attention to myself. It also gives me a view of things at a child’s height.
Once I get the photos onto my computer I discard out of focus shots and edit the ones I like. That usually means leveling the shot in Lightroom. Getting a straight horizon isn’t easy while looking through the viewfinder, let alone when shooting blind. Sometimes that means the cropping isn’t what I would prefer it to be. But in this shot I was able to get the cropping I wanted even after straightening out the horizon.
