Taking Photos of People - My Incident
I recently took a vacation to the US & British Virgin Islands and my time there was almost perfect. I got to snorkel with my best friend and his son, take in the sites, relax and take thousands of photos. Photography is my passion and my hobby, and somehow it still gets me into trouble.
Two days ago I was on the phone with another best friend of mine in Salt Lake City that runs a photography business and we’re talking shop. The subject of taking photos of people came up and how to capture moments when they don’t know they’re being photographed. Then I remembered my personal incident in St Thomas.
In the photograph below, I’m sure you can put 2 and 2 together, but I’ll tell the story anyway.
I was with my buddy Jerome and his family having a little lunch at the car, before our next adventure. I eat a full course meal in about 5 minutes or less, so I had some time to kill while the family ate their lunch. I decided to take some pictures of the unique taxis and the people walking by. I saw a man wearing a cool blue headdress covering his dreadlocks, so I wanted to take his picture as he was crossing the street. I did some focusing, then he noticed me taking pictures and began walking towards me and shouting expletives. He got in my face, telling me “…never to f***ing take his picture”. I smiled, and said, “ok buddy.” He continued his confrontation, and I simply waited for something to happen. My buddy Jerome wanted the conversation to end, so he walked over to back me up.
The funniest thing about the incident was that I wasn’t taking his picture, until he started walking towards me and shouting. I wasn’t getting a good angle and the tourists were ruining the shot. Besides, the guy was just crossing the street. So of course the instigator I am at times, I take the pictures when the guy starts walking towards to me pissed.
Seconds later, everything is back to normal, the family is finishing their lunch and I take a couple of shots of a local security officer.
I don’t have the artistic eye, with the ability of anticipation for the right shot of capturing emotions. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’ll still try to break out of that eggshell. If I do keep trying, hopefully I will have better results with people if they catch me pointing my camera at them. Until then, I’m about studio photography.
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