The "Post your portraits here of random strangers" thread (only for the brave!).

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:20

RULES

1) The subject must be a stranger.

2) Subject must give permission for you to take their portrait.

Walked in to town today with my 35mm (soon realised I should have picked up my 50 or 85) and on the way I stopped people randomly as they were about to walk past and asked them if I could take their portrait.

About 75% said yes, and with more than I expected of those looking like they actually enjoyed it.

I then gave them a card with my logo/web address on (don't have business cards yet, but this exercise has prompted me to get off my backside) and wrote down their image number from my camera, and advised them that they could go to the contact section of my website and message me that number and I would email back with their portrait, most people then expressed allot of gratitude, however some said they didn't want their picture but changed their minds when I showed them the LCD.

I even had a few long chat's with some people, one elderly couple had just purchased an old pentax film camera, and the gentlemen couldn't wait to show me it, as he had purchased it for the bargain price of £20 which apparently was going to cost him £50 on ebay.

Also a surprising number asked how much I charged, but as this was just an experiment, so I said the portrait was free, but this gave food for thought.

Once I'v got my business cards designed and printed along with a finished website, I may go into town regularly to take portraits, as it's potentially a very good marketing strategy that can be highly targeted.

Reassuringly I never received one cross word, and the worst I got was a smile and 'No thank you', and in total I approached roughly 30 random people.

Below was one of the first person I approached on my way into town after just leaving my house, but there is plenty more to come.

American chap, who said he used to do a similar thing in college.

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:33

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:15

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:22

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:29

My old school bus driver, didn't remember me though (12 years ago).

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:57

American business men.

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 15:00

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 15:04

Old couple just purchased an old Pentax.

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 15:14

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 15:34

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 15:35

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 17:15

Thanks Andy, his work looks amazing!

An Exception · 27 Jul 2011 at 18:00

An Exception · 3 Aug 2011 at 14:54

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 01:27

^^^
Thanks Schizophonic

It's not just you, it took me a LONG time experimenting to finally settle on a processing style, the hardest part is finding one that works with a broad range of images.

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 01:33

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 12:01

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 12:29

snow patrol said:
thanks ejizz, i'm really liking your stuff too. Colour works well for your shots, but personally i tend to go with black and white, purely for creative reasons (as opposed to trying to 'save' an image that doesn't work in colour - although i agree with you that sometimes black and white is good for that kind of thing as well!). I think it's because i just naturally gravitate towards more 'gritty' looking characters when i hit the streets and to be honest i've had a fair few run ins with people who get a bit shirty (nothing too major though, and i've always managed to calm them down).

I think number 5 of yours is my fave, but not sure if that's because it's black and white or because it's a fantastic shot or a combination!

I must confess though, that i still just prefer candid street photos...you just tend to see more emotion in the faces...more thought and feeling. Whereas invaribly, when you ask someone to pose, they're going to smile and do the whole chin down, eyes up routine... and although once processed, you're left with a good shot, it might be one that holds little long term interest for anyone other than the photographer and the subject. Obviously there's exceptions to this, but i hope you see what i mean!

Nice thread though - keep them coming! Do you do candid street stuff as well?

Thanks snow patrol, no I'v never done any street stuff before the other day (it felt weird carrying a camera around in public).

This was all an experiment for me, but a practical one, as aside from the obvious marketing possibilities, I wanted to practice my interactions with strangers until it felt like a normal thing to do, and hopefully be able to get to the point where I could notice patterns in their behaviour/appearance and change tact on the fly, I'm hoping this practice might help me with future paid gigs.

I also found it good practice for composition, as once I had memorised my canned opener, I was already thinking about composition etc. as I was approaching them, so when I had finished my routine and they said "yes" I new exactly where I wanted them to move to and I was already where I needed to be, as I wanted to keep the interaction moving as smoothly as possible with no pauses where it would give time for the subject to look awkward.

I didn't get the composition how I wanted some of the time, but on the whole I was happy how they turned out.

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 21:55

An Exception · 4 Aug 2011 at 22:52