Overcoming fear - 100 stranger's project

Cool thanks. i hope some of my fear will go at the end of this project though :)

Hope so hehe. You have done this project havent you? if so, how do you feel as a person now after it? do you still have a bit of fear approaching a random stranger or is it all gone?

i guess you cannot expect the fear to completely go after 4-5 tries.
 
^^^
I'd say I'v approached over a 100 people or so in the handful of times I'v tried this.. pretty girls, young & old people, groups of people, got a girl to catwalk down the street, even went into a bar/restaurant and took a portrait of the owner with a few onlookers at the bar watching.

What I found happens is during the first few of the day you are nervous, then after
each approach you become less and less nervous. I found that after you have a large number of approaches under your belt during the day, you begin to even become over-confident, I found I was without thinking much about it, calling girls from across the street and approaching medium sized groups etc. and I had to reign myself in a little as I was pretty sure at some point I'd end up getting myself in bother.

By the end of the day nerves were practically non-existent, but the next day they were back, the only difference and what makes it easier now is, I trust my interaction skills more, so even though I'm nervous, I'm still confident if that makes sense?

I once photographed a charity abseil event, and unlike the photographer in the below video I actually got harnessed up and had to lean over the edge all day. At first it's scary, every inch of your body is telling you to back away from the edge, in fact it's always a little scary, yet your confidence builds as you begin to trust the rope.

 
im getting the hang of it. attempted 3 and one said yes and another was a maybe but shy.

here i will explain.

first person i approached said no so i kindly said thanks and moved along to my next target who did say yes(see my stream for more info).

i then approached a person who was having a smoke break who works for "benefits" makeup shop and approached and probably used the best chat up line i have on this project.

i went up to her with confidence and instead of going direct and saying "can i take your pic" i first said something like this:

"Hi, sorry to disturb you, i am doing a special photography project where i take 100 pictures of strangers i meet and was wondering if you would like to take part"

i couldnt believe i said that! usualy i keep it simple and short!

Her reply was that she is willing to do it after her smoke break if her other co workers are up for it!

So she told me to wait outside her shop and i did and when she came back, she tried to persuade her co workers to participate in the project. they was all shy and said to wait a further 5-10mins for another co worker to come back from her break!

at this moment in time i couldnt wait any longer as i was actually on my way back to my office when i met this lady outside of her shop. i may pop over again today and see if they are willing to. They looked willing to but shy if that makes sense.

the original person i approached actually did say yes but only if her co worker mates do it too lol.

ANyways the last attempted was to a girl who is working for some charity company who approached me about taking part in the charity. at the end of the discussion i asked if i can take per pic. she said she cant because she is working. i tried to persuade her a bit saying i can just take a picture of her face and not her uniform she was wearing. she said she cant but if i come back after work i can!

On another day, those two strangers would have said yes! but o well its all good, the fact that i am starting to engage on people more is good signs.

Man i should really create my own blog or something as i actually want to write down my experience. not just posting results of the successful ones.

Does anyone know a free blog website i can use?
 
Right, Lack of photos!

Mixture of reasons really!

first reason is the weeather has been **** all over london and finiding it hard to take pics in the wet rain!

second of all, my confidence last week and the week before was on a low. just couldnt get the balls to even attempt to ask someone for there pic :(

But last friday i managed to grab some balls and asked a couple of people. one was during lunch time when it was raining a bit and the other was after work. Both said no but im fine with that as i just wanted to gain confidence in asking in the first place.

the 2nd person i asked said she wasnt having a good day as her reason for declining me, i apologized and she replied and said "its ok" and we went our seperate ways.

What i should have done was maybe try and strike a conversation with her especially when she opened up and to me a bit on the reason why she declined me.

Part of this project is not just taking a picture of a stranger, but interacting with them and this is something i will hope to learn in this project.

First thing i want to accomplish is the "fear". i want to be able to ask anyone and everyone freely without thinking and being afraid too. i also want that confidence to be with me permanently as i have heard people doing this project, when they take a break away from it and come back into the project, the "fear" creeps back in.

After that, i want to be able to interact with the subject a lot better. I want to be able to chat to them about random stuff and to also chat to them about what i want from them in the shot for composition and framing.

The last pic i took, the person asked, what should she do?.

im hoping i can achieve these goals at the end of this project and if all goes well, i could go past 100 strangers.
 
jonneymendoza said:
the 2nd person i asked said she wasnt having a good day as her reason for declining me, i apologized and she replied and said "its ok" and we went our seperate ways.

What i should have done was maybe try and strike a conversation with her especially when she opened up and to me a bit on the reason why she declined me.
Click to expand...

If she is having a bad day, I'd politely leave her to it tbh...


jonneymendoza said:
The last pic i took, the person asked, what should she do?.
Click to expand...

If you ask with absolute confidence and a grin, they will often do just about anything.
 
An Exception said:
Notice it was when Zack relaxed a bit and wasn't so (high voice) "pretty please can I take just one picture", that people were more receptive.
Click to expand...

indeed. i noticed that too. and i bet his a fella who actually does this type of work as a daily job so if a guy like that need "warming up" before he becomes comfertable at it then you are right in saying the fear doesnt magically go away
 
This fear helped keep your ancestors alive, or at least helped them stay suitable mating material, else you wouldn't have them.

Imagine way way way before camera's were invented, that you kept randomly going up and talking to strangers in your tribe. It wouldn't take long for people to think you have some issues, and thus avoid you.
 
Took a week and a bit break again due to weather and a bit of "fear" controlling me again but once i came back i went mental and took 8 shots in 2 days!!!

the ones below were shot on Monday


Portrait 10# by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #11 Linda by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

out of the two below which one do u like better?


Portrait #12 Michela by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #12 Michela 2 by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

these are from yesterday


Portrait #13 Laura by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #14 Pierre by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #15 Carolina by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #16 by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Portrait #17 by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
Really like 16 and 17. Don't really like the rest with the obvious posing and smiles (prefer the natural look my self), but it's nice to see your progression through the project.

I actually took my camera to the park yesterday (first time shooting outside) and it was amazing. At a point someone called me over and asked me to take some shots of her which was really nice too :).
 

Stranger 64.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

I met Jackie sitting alone near Shoreditch as i was making my way back to liverpool street station when i approached her.

As soon as i introduced myself i already had a feeling she would say yes because the way she responded to my approach was very positive.

She was in a very good mood and so i took a few shots of her.

She liked the results and we went our separate ways after.

This caption is only half the story of what followed 2mins later after i took this shot. Please read the next stranger i took a picture of.


Stranger 65.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

After taking a picture of Jackie, Rodge approached me a few minutes later asking if he can take a picture of me for the same project!

I was shocked and excited at the same time as i never thought i would encounter another photographer doing the exact same project i am doing!

Of course i agreed when he asked me and what's funny is that the reason why he approached me is because he saw me approach and take Jackie's picture previously as he was about to do the same!

Anyways, after agreeing for Rodge to take my picture we walked towards a grey wall and he handed me a reflector for me to hold while he takes my picture.

We talked for a bit afterwords as he asked me a bit about myself. I then took a picture of him as well and exchanged details and went out separate ways.

Rodge has take over 130 strangers and started last year September

What an amazing encounter! Rodge will upload my picture soon so stay tune!!!

Now i know what it is like being at the other side of the camera!
 
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