The 343 days to go site seems to have had more effect than I realised. His ‘in at the deep end’ approach has rubbed off on me, and today I jumped into ‘people photography’ with both feet.

I went out into town with the initial aim of taking about fifty photos of strangers. However, I didn’t realise how long it would take, and how far I’d have to walk to find willing subjects, so I stopped at 25. It was fun to add a couple of non-people I spotted along the way, too.

Things I learned:

1) Most people are willing to have their photo taken. Many are quite flattered, even if they decline. Only a few will point-blank refuse, but I remained courteous, thanked them for their time and went on my way. Least likely to accept are young lone females.

2) You get a much better pose if you’re not looking at or though a viewfinder. I would set up the shot and notice they were strangely uncomfortable. So then, keeping the shot settings, I’d lower the camera, rotating it slightly to keep them in the correct place in the frame. Then with the more sincere engagement of eye contact, ask them for their best smile. I think the results speak for themselves.

3) As always, you must check the shots (if using digital) or the camera settings carefully. My first two were badly underexposed because the exposure compensation was set on the camera. Fortunately, I spotted this and corrected it before ruining my entire day’s shooting.

4) I have better people-skills than I thought.

Results:

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