Street photography is hard. Usually you’re looking for the right moment. The eye contact. The point when something happens. Of the hundreds of photos I took of Olga, this is the one that works for me because this is one that succeeds in that aim.

Of course Olga knows I’m taking the photograph – she’s literally posing for me. The people around her? That’s where it gets a little trickier. Is it OK to photograph people without their knowledge? Well, this is Edinburgh’s Royal Mile during the Fringe festival. The bystanders may not have noticed me, but they have an expectation that cameras are everywhere. In that sense, this photo feels very fair. The subjects (Olga aside) may not have consented but they could see me with my camera. They had the opportunity, if they wished, to object.

And this is the photo that captures the decisive moment. Of the dozen or so frames I captured at this moment, this is the frame that captures shoe envy from the woman walking past.

But photographing strangers is hard. That famous British reserve is real. So when, a few weeks earlier, I encountered these three people sitting there, enjoying the bright summer sunshine at Hawkcraig Point in Aberdour, I quickly assessed the scene and took this photo of three old friends, enjoying a joke and laugh together.

And now I feel I short-changed them. How hard would it have been to introduce myself, offer to take their photos, and walk away with a cracking set of candid portraits? Of course they might have said no, but I never gave them the chance.

Street photography is hard. But I’m improving. One day …