Your friend is wrong. Street photography is a perfectly legal (if done properly) and legitimate art form. Don't feel "super bad." I get a kick out of these people who insist I need their consent to take their picture in public when 90% of the time I can point to multiple video cameras and ask if they gave consent to all those cameras to capture their image. How about all the people taking images with cell phones? It's because you have a big scary camera that you're the boogeyman. Let it go and good luck at uni.
Your friend is wrong. Street photography is a perfectly legal (if done properly) and legitimate art form. Don't feel "super bad." I get a kick out of these people who insist I need their consent to take their picture in public when 90% of the time I can point to multiple video cameras and ask if they gave consent to all those cameras to capture their image. How about all the people taking images with cell phones? It's because you have a big scary camera that you're the boogeyman. Let it go and good luck at uni.