I was doomscrolling through YouTube recently when a photographer recommended that, for street photography, you shouldn’t stay in the same place too long. Just a couple of minutes, he said, so you don’t impose yourself. If you stay in one spot for half an hour, it starts to get weird.

And yes, it’s important to know when it’s time to go. It’s crucial to read a scene and realize when you’re not welcome or when you’re becoming annoying. No one likes that kind of photographer—the one who is full of themselves.

But coming from a very introverted guy who prefers to stay in the corner, the real magic happens when you stay longer. It happens beyond that initial “Who’s this guy and what is he doing here?” phase, or the frenzy of someone with a camera. It happens when you get accepted. That’s when things go back to whatever they were before you arrived, and life starts to happen again. Maybe you end up in the scene, maybe you have a cool conversation, or maybe you get offered a drink.

And that takes time. Often, photography is slow, and it demands patience.