one last #stranger. I went back to my watering hole, Makers and Finders, and met this nice lady, Cali. I used the uncharacteristic cold rain as an icebreaker and we had a short chat as she was getting her tea and waited for her breakfast before her scuba class at Lake Mead. She’s a singer, originally from Nashville (though born in Phoenix) and loves living out here in Vegas (and scuba diving in Maui). Everybody in this damn town is a transplant…and honestly everyone that isn’t should leave Vegas for a few years so they can be a transplant too!
I asked to take a photo of her and she cheerfully agreed to let me take a few shots. So yeah, over the course of the week…it gets easier with practice! I was a lot more comfortable asking for permission and taking the time to more carefully shoot the subject.
Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m psyched about the originals…which is disappointing since it was the exact same condition as I had with Johnny last week…and on Friday’s coffee shop visit I had experimented with some different things in preparation of this very opportunity. I considered not posting the photo, but I was inspired by +Benjamin B excellent portrait and experimented with pushing the exposure in post. The iphone doesn’t have the headroom like a RAW file, but I’m kind of finding it interesting now that I went way overboard with the curves.
This assignment has been a journey and I really appreciated taking it with with the OTP group. I took the first one only because I didn’t want to wimp out on Jeffery. As important as it was to cross that first hurdle, it was these last couple times that really have cemented my confidence in asking for permission to take portraits of strangers. And I certainly would not have tried these extra times without being pushed and prodded by seeing everyone else jumping past this challenge. Cheers!
