I was recently in Philadelphia, PA with my family to celebrate my daughter’s 15th birthday. I can’t believe she will be 15 on St. Patrick’s Day! She wanted to go to Philly to go to the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Reading Terminal Market oh and of course Sam’s Morning Glory Diner . Oh my what wonderful food there and at the Market.
While we were downtown walking around I had set a goal for myself to ask complete strangers if I could photograph them. Maybe I would get a taste of street photography. So normally I am not the most outgoing person but when I pick up a camera it opens the door for me to see others in a different way and be a little more fearless. My family and I had just visited the Love sign in Philly and we were walking back to the car when I decided this would be a good time to be asking people to take their pictures. I have to say I was nervous! What is the worse thing they could do? Say no? I usually meet with my clients or at least talk with them on the phone to get to know them a little before doing a shoot so this was new for me. It took me a good 10 minutes to get up enough nerve to ask someone. I looked over at a couple who was on a bench sitting in the warm sun. They seemed to be enjoying their time together. I went up to them and asked if I could take their picture. I told them I was doing a project in Philly of taking shots of people. They were happy to have me take their photos.
As I was getting ready to photograph them you could see how close they were and after taking the pictures they walked away close together still seeming just as happy. Here are the two shots I took of them:
I was thankful that the first few people that I asked were so open to me taking their pictures and of course a sigh of relief came shortly after saying good-bye. But I still had a few more people to ask. Who would they be? I wanted to ask a women who had some funky purple hair but she was chasing after her child so I didn’t think that would be a good time lol. I saw this guy who was sitting by himself listening to something on his headphones. I would assume music but not sure. It took me again a good 5-10 minutes to ask him if I could take his photo. He was from Los Angeles and was there visiting a friend. He didn’t seem to mind when I told him what I was doing. I wanted to make sure I got at least one person who wasn’t smiling in some of the shots and he was perfect for this.
Here is his shot:
Ok, so there were two different types of shots that I was able to do. I had one more to go. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get the last one as I decided I took up enough time from my family and we decided to head back to the car. As we were walking in the busy people traffic I saw a women who looked like she had lived in Philly and was just going about her day as usual. She was around my height (5’1″) so I didn’t think she would give me any trouble lol. She seemed a little leery so I gave her one of my business cards. As you can see she had her coffee cup. Many would say why didn’t you have her get rid of it. Well, I was trying to capture people the way they were and as much of what they were about. The coffee cup I believe adds to her shot as it tells more of the story of who she is.
Here is her shot:
I had a taste of street photography and I have to say I really enjoyed it and it was so good to have the experience!! I will definitely be doing this again. Maybe it helped brighten their day 🙂 Have you had any experience that you had to step out of your comfort zone to establish a goal that you had for yourself? Please share below…
