get over my fear of photographing strangers

He looked so utterly comfortable in such a noisy uncomfortable place that I could not resist taking a photo of it. I hope he slept pleasantly and woke up happy.

I took a photo of a stylishly dressed young woman who was standing at the platform waiting for the train yesterday, but unfortunately it was too blurry to be of any use. Still, I feel happy I dared.

I saw this old lady, huddled up in a corner in Venice with a cup in her hand. Her head was bowed down, and she didn’t even see me, so I took the picture. I was scared to do it… it almost felt wrong to do it. But I did it anyways.

I’m still scared, though, to take a picture of a stranger aware of what I am doing…

Helsinki has now street beggers from Romania. They sit still in saint-like poses. They are less intimidating than most strangers to take photos of.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/12676 is a nice article (with photos!) of street photography, by a guy who seems to experienced some fear of it at first, too.

I always want to take pics of stylish people, a la Japanese street fashion pics.

We’ll see if I ever get the courage. I suppose I need to start walking around with a camera.

The problem with social anxiety is that I never learned how to engage in small talk with strangers.. so the chances of me asking their permission to take a photo of them are slim to none.

I can take “secret” photos though… so that is what I will try to do…

at first.

There was a stranger in a living room like space in a public lobby, here is the result.

Afterwards I walked to her, told her I had taken a photo, explained why (the space, and her being so relaxed in it). It was quite a pleasant interaction.

I like how ghostly this photo turned out.

I participated in City of Chicago Central Business District Evacuation Drill on Sept 7, 2006 and took a a lot of photos

the backs of heads and reflections