Acceptance and Rejection
I'm on the advisory board of my local community college photography program, and I got to attend my first meeting with that group this afternoon. I won't go into the details of that, but one of the brief items that was discussed was bringing students out of their shells (photography students) and getting them acclimated to the social environments required to be a great photographer. I remember when I first got into photography it seemed difficult for me to approach people with my camera for various reasons. I think there is a general fear of approaching a complete stranger and asking if you can make their photo. It's not an abnormal fear really... I think it's probably a simple fear of a possible negative confrontation. When I got into photojournalism, I had to overcome this fear, because the social interaction between me and my subjects is a requirement and not an option. After doing this work for several years, I have developed the ability to approach absolutely anyone at any time for any reason with my camera if I want a photo of that person or group of people.
I have several modes of operation when I want photographs of specific people. Sometimes I will just walk up to the person and ask if I can make a photo. This simple question usually catches people off guard unless they have been watching me work for a while. The first thing they want to know is why i want a photo. My list of reasons is rather diverse... it may be for newspaper work or for a personal interest such as my 1000 Faces or My Town photo collections. If I'm shooting for the newspaper, I tell them that and I tell them why I'm doing it and what the story is going to be. If I'm shooting for myself, I simply tell them that I'm an amateur photographer and I enjoy making photos of people that I find interesting. That response is my favorite because it makes them start asking questions about my interests. It usually generates an entertaining dialog where I get a chance to learn something interesting about my subject. This part of the social interaction feeds my personal passion for photographing and knowing something about a perfect stranger.
The photo above is a guy I met tonight. His name is Paul Gaither and I had never seen him before in my life that I know of. His moustache was obviously what attracted my attention, and when I got closer, his facial textures impressed me even more. I was early to a football game and was wandering around on the sidelines when I notice him. He has a kid or relative in the school's marching band and he was assisting with their setup for the evening's events. I attracted his attention and asked him if he minded if I took his photo. He simply said yes, which sorta caught me off guard since I'm not used to being rejected for this request. I did a double-take on him and he was grinning. He walked up and leaned toward me and said that if I'd slip him a few dollars I could take all the photos I wanted. I told him that I was a photographer, therefore I had no money. That got an even bigger giggle out of him. At this point, I knew I was gonna get my shot. The next thing he said was that he would be honored to let me make his photo, and I did. I showed him the image on my LCD right after I shot it. He called his wife over to have a look, and they both loved the image. At this point, he told me another story about a photographer who photographed him recently. She (the photographer) made him wait while she ran to her car to get a camera :)
Doing this type of thing as often as I do, I think I have learned how to avoid the potential rejection by my subject. I guess you just have to observe people sometimes and see what their demeanor may be before you approach them with a request like this. Sometimes people just say no when I ask, and I accept that and move on without question. No one is obligated to give me a reason if they don't want their photo made. I just move on to the next person :)
October 21st, 2008 - 07:41
Great story, John and a great picture for your 1000 Faces project! I am reminded of my experience in The Next Step workshop in Savannah, GA. We had to photograph 10 strangers in 2 hours. Mind you, we had to go up to them and ask if we could photograph them. At first, I had quite a bit of trepidation, but was the first one to jump in. After three successive ‘yes!’ responses, it became quite easy. I ended up with about 24 shots. It could have been much more, but I stood around and talked to a lot of people. :-) After the ice-breaking question of the photo, the conversation just seemed to flow.
I found out during that week that, at least in that area, about 95% of the people would gladly consent. All you had to do was give them an honest reason of why you wanted to take their pictures and they were more than happy to comply. Usually, I wanted to take the picture because of some article of clothing, or a particular feature. It was great fun. I still do it from time-to-time, but not often.
Thanks for sharing the experience!
October 31st, 2008 - 22:48
I get rejected about 1/3 of the time. But I think that’s because I’m usually attracted to people with a harder “edge” to them. And I seem to approach a lot of mentally ill people. Not joking. I must have weird taste.
October 31st, 2008 - 23:16
@Tony Urban: That’s interesting… 1/3 seems like a lot. Maybe you need to refine your approach :)