When you are a bit rusty with street photography, perhaps you've taken a break and just getting back into it, it can be a little challenging to photograph other people at first. Whether you notice it or not, but you may hesitate to point the camera at someone's direction or to click the shutter which will lead to many opportunities lost.
I found that the best way to get over this uneasiness is to shoot whole bunch of close-up street portraits - no eye contact, not worrying about composition, just walking around the busy area and clicking at every slightly interesting person that passes by. There is really no other way. The more you shoot, the more confidence you get and less and less you're holding back when there's a chance for a good photo.
Once you finish this first round of photographing pretty much anyone and anything, now you can start thinking about composition and how your subject relates to it. It shouldn't take more than few hours or few days if you are a beginner, but at this point most of the anxiety is gone as you realize that nothing bad happens and people are not focused on you. Especially when you don't seem nervous.
As I've taken a long break from actively doing street photography, I'll be focusing more on these type of street portraits in the next few days. With a lot of my work involving distant figures and cityscapes, I feel adding the street close-ups nicely rounds up my portrayal of the city.
