Via Flickr:
I’ve seen this gentleman wandering about a few times but today things came together and I decided to ask him to take part in my project. So I started walking after him but for some reason I "chased" with less purpose then normal when I have made a decision – it’s one of my own little techniques to pick up my pace to force myself to carry through with the approach but I didn’t do that today although I did nonetheless ask him and he immediately agreed with a slight smile. After a brief explanation about the project I introduced myself and learned that this was Ian. And now the fun begins …
… at first I couldn’t move the focus point and blaming the camera (bear with me) I released the lens and reattached it but that made no difference. Thankfully though it finally occurred to me that I had simply locked the focus point by mistake so I rectified that and tried again. Still no good though – now the camera wouldn’t focus so I checked the focus settings on both camera and lens and they were both set correctly so off came the lens again, reattached and … beep … thank goodness! These issues cropped up when I was photographing Becca as well and I got really flustered on that occasion but today I was able to calmly work through the problems until everything worked properly (despite getting a bit confused as it would appear that I tried to solve the first problem with the wrong solution and thus caused the other issue – faulty contact between the camera and lens).
Throughout this Ian was remarkably patient with me – I wasn’t talking to him because I was too busy trying to work out what the problem was but he just waited until I was ready and then looked obligingly into the camera.
I did speak to Ian a bit afterwards but I’ve decided not to post any of it because I don’t think he really wanted to chat and after a couple of short answers I cut my losses and thanked him then left him to continue on his way.
Ian, thank you very much for taking part in my project today and for your patience whilst I wrestled with my camera. Ultimately though I am pleased with this portrait and I hope that you like it as well.
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Please feel free to provide constructive critique on the technical aspects of this photograph.
This picture is #75 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
99% Digital 