photographing strangers

I approached a couple on the streets whom I have never met before, and for the first time in my life, asked if I could take their photograph

As an introvert, I’m always quite nervous talking to strangers, and especially in this situation of asking a couple for a photograph, if my anxiety was a mountain, I was Mt Everest. I knew that if I wanted to become a photographer, I needed to develop the skills to ask random strangers if I could take their photo. Much like in documentary film making, I need to be engaging as the interviewer and make them, as the interviewee, feel comfortable and welcomed for me to tell their story. For my first time asking this couple for a photo, I think I did alright in approaching them and asking for permission, but I was at a loss of words when they asked ‘why would you want to take a photo of us?’ Caught off guard that they would question me back, I struggled to reply with a good answer. In the end, I think they realised I was quite nervous and just let me take the picture anyway without much further discussion. After taking the photo and leaving with an awkward goodbye, I remembered back to the reading on shooting interviews and how Michael Rabiger discusses the importance of an interviewer’s skills to engage their subjects and encourage them to be part of our media works. He also emphasises the importance of preparation and rehearsing before the interview, which I definitely should have done before approaching this couple. If I had clearly thought about my intentions behind taking their photo, I wouldn’t have found myself in the awkward situation of fumbling for my words and making them feel like I don’t know what I’m doing with my job. In the end, when we awkwardly parted ways, I comforted myself that I would not ever see them again and that this was just another learning block in my path to becoming a confident media practitioner.

 

Update: I bumped into them the other day and it was just as awkward …