Yesterday I introduced the week's theme as 'strangers' - the objective was to take pictures of people I don't know. Today's specific objective was to ask their permission before doing so. I had high hopes as others (Scott Bourne, Rick Sammon) have said that they rarely get turned down.
I took the plunge and approached five people and asked them if I could take their picture briefly explaining it was for a photo assignment. After varying degrees of thought, each of them pleasantly turned me down. All of them even apologized for declining. I thanked each of them for considering my request. It was after the second rejection that I came to realize that even if I didn't get a picture for the day, I would still satisfy the most important parts of the assignment; I was out scouting for participants; Looking at the potential compositions; Looking at the light; visualizing the result; and engaging with the subjects. The only thing I didn't do was press the shutter!
I don't know why they turned me down. In my opinion, I was pleasant, polite, even genial. The lens I had mounted was my honking big 70-200. But I tried to keep it mostly concealed in my jacket, thinking that the size of the lens might scare them away. They would have been able to see the camera body, but not the lens. I think I'll try again with my 24-105 which is a lot smaller and I'll have the camera fully visible when I approach them.
Fortunately I did find these four guys who didn't turn me down! They kept on doing exactly what they were doing before I approached them.
These guys didn't say No.
1/500 f/2.8 ISO 400 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 150 mm Canon EOS 40D
Hockey Hall of Fame,Toronto,Ontario
P.S. To the five people who turned me down. You will likely never read see words, but regardless "Thank You" for our brief chat today.
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