To be more specific as time passed I’ve noticed a shift in the way I approach street photography, in the earlier days I’d be more open to photograph people on the streets and while I still do, I’ve adjusted to taking photos from more of a distance or ideally from angles where their faces aren’t directly in the frame. Feels a bit weird at times because you’d think that as you shoot more you get comfortable with these scenarios. Maybe it’s a form of growth to respect peoples personal space, a bit more but I also just prefer that look. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to handle street photography but curious to hear what others have experienced over time.
I love what you wrote and think maybe OP and the many who are adopting the more distant approach are still doing exactly what you say. Post Covid times people are more distant, we literally didn’t see people’s faces in the street at all for a long time. It changed everyone. People are feeling more isolated and unseen and that’s coming out in this trend.
I can’t speak for anywhere else but in New York where I live things are mostly back to normal. If you’re talking about the height of the pandemic obviously things were drastically different. But there’s effectively using distance to show what’s happening vs using gimmicks like silhouetting people on a street in rainy days. Daniel Arnold is a good example of what I mean