Humphrey Spender on the art of photographing discreetly

'The great objective was usually to avoid suspicion, because people looking suspicious are people looking unnatural. For example, I remember a favourite trick, when using a rangefinder to establish accurate focus, was to turn at right angles to the subject of the photograph and to do my focussing on an object a similar distance away: having done that, I would swing round and take my shot very quickly. Another technique was to do a continuous pan, starting from a point exactly opposite the subject and then continuing the swing right round: nobody quite knew what you were up to - you were simply experimenting with your camera. Then there was the obvious technique of concealing the camera, hung from your neck by a piece of string, and allowing the lens to emerge from a very shabby raincoat, or similar garment. In order to work the camera I had a hole in my right-hand pocket- or there may have been a hole in both pockets, I can't remember. It was a very obvious disguise.'

Humphrey Spender interviewed by Jeremy Mulford in 1981, printed in 'Worktown People' by Humphrey Spender