It's bit hard for me, so what should I do?

Major Eazy

Major Eazy

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Hi.

Being a single parent, now that kids are at secondary school, I'm thinking of trying to get into training or get a job, in photography or graphic design. Until I get such placement, I decided I'm going to try and do something useful for myself, some personal projects to do for myself to keep myself busy build up a portofolio, otherwise I would go crazy being cooped up in the house!

Anyway, I have this one project I want to try, to go to London this Saturday (and later on other cities), to do a photography project, a women's winter fashion theme. What I plan to do is to see if I could find any women and ask them if I may be allowed to take photos of their style. A street photography of their winter fashion style.

Well, bearing in mind, I am hearing impaired, of course I can have pre-typed intro and simple texts, plus sketches of what the photographs should look like, in a small display book to help with communications.

But somehow, I just feel like having doubts, something seems to be making me feel like I should chicken out, i don't know, maybe I just need to build up confidence, but it just that i'm not sure how would they react to me asking if they would mind my taking photos of them?

Do you think I should just go ahead and do it anyway, I meant if I spotted some women and their fashion style, stop them, politely ask them, explain that I'm doing a winter fashion theme project, and take photos if they are happy to pose. Of course I would respect any of them who do not want to try. Or..

Should I forget it? I would find it a lot easier to go to a F1 racing event or a basketball match and take action photos, but to do a street photography like that, I don't know, maybe it would be a lot easier if I was hearing and could speak clearly, "Hello, I'm a photographer, may I blah, blah, blah"

I don't know, just that do you think it is okay to try to ask some Jane Doe out of the public if she would mind posing for photos?

What do I expect to get every time I try asking any of them?

Anyway, hope to hear some useful advice, thanks for reading.
 
It sounds worth a go to me, and reasonable. Of course you'll get rejections, and a few takes. But plug it in and see what happens. Reflect on how it went and maybe try it again once or twice. Don't give up straightaway.
 
It's absolutely fine mate, go for it. Just don't take it too hard if you get a lot of people that say no - just as you're thinking about giving up, someone will say yes & it'll all be worth the stress & courage it takes to actually get out to ask people if you can photograph them :thumbs:
Any particular reason it's just women's fashion? - Took me a while to realize that after almost every early street shoot I did that the majority of my shots were of women (or old men/women with lots of character for some reason) I aim to try to capture more of an equal amount now as it keeps me on my toes & encourages me to think more about my images.

Or, alternatively, just get some candid shots of people to try to build up your confidence - maybe they'll approach you to ask why you took their photo, which gives you a perfect opportunity to push the posing, etc. There are thousands of different ways to go about getting street shots - I like that you have a theme - maybe see if there's anyone near you that could go along with you as a second shooter to give you that extra bit of confidence?

Good luck with it, I look forward to seeing what you come up with (no pressure :thumbs: )
 
Do it.

You'll get the majority of people rejecting you.. some even obviously thinking you're a complete looney. It doesn't matter. You don't know them, they don't know you and you'll never see them again. Imagine how people who are employed to stop people in the street and ask them questions, or try to sell them something feel! You're doing this voluntarily and have nothing to lose.. no targets to meet.

Even if you only get 1 in 50 people not rejecting you.. then you just need to ask 500 people to start your set of images :) No rush... you have all winter :)

You'll get a "feel" for who will reject you or not after a while from their body language, and how they make, or avoid eye contact with you. Ask anyone who's done jobs like this before, and they'll tell you the same thing: You can spot the ones receptive after a while.
 
Def do it! I would be flattered if someone came up and asked me! You'll get some who will say no - but that doesn't matter. :)
 
How you go about it will determine your success... If you approach people apologetically and nervously they'd be put off by your awkwardness, but if you're confident they will more often than not say ok.

Best way to be confident is almost have a script you've worked out and practiced before you approach anyone
 
Guys, guys, many thanks, but maybe it's my fault for not making my meaning clearer.

I know that when asked, many would reject, many would say "No", and I am cool with it, I'm prepared for it, and that I know I have to keep trying, I meant that I am aware that if it is something like 1 out of 10 would be happy to pose for camera, it would mean i could get 9 rejections before the 10th agree, so yes I accept there's some rejections and I have to keep trying.

But i meant that as a hearing impaired person, I can speak but tend to mispronounce what I say, however most times a lot of people could actually sometimes understand what I was trying to say. If I have to, to help make communications clearer, I've got some pre-typed statements to tell them what I would like to do.

It is just that, if you were doing what I plan to do, of course, you would get some rejections, but I feel you may have a better chance than me of getting a few more actually agreeing to pose. In most cases, my being deaf plus communications difficulty would easily put them off. I don't mind if most of them says "No thanks" becuase they are camera shy or they are too busy or they just don't feel right about it. But what if half of the rejections happens to be because of my being deaf and lack of communications?

Hence my feelings, should I bother at all, or just try anyway, and hope they see me as a photographer not as a deaf person.

Of course, it could be possible that as one of you mention above, um I think it was Mich, who pointed out that some may feel flatten if asked, so hopefully if it's all about their winter fashion style, and if they like fashion, maybe hopefully they may be willing.

Maybe i should give up worrying and just follow all of your advice, and go for it, and just try anyway. After all I do still have to go to London, as the photo project is just half the reason I'm going.

Many thanks for giving great advice.
 
I can understand why you may be apprehensive about this. Afterall, if your children are now at secondry school, it sounds like you have probably been couped up long enough to lose your confidence.

The way I think i would try to look at this, would be, "Why should I let this get in the way of me doing something I really want to do". You may be hearing impaired, but you still have a voice, still have a passion for photography, and lets not forget the strength you have needed to bring up your children single handed. Speaking to a few strangers (mispronouncing words or not) will be absolute childs play compared to all of the other obstacles you have already overcome.

I have a daughter with a disability, and although still too young to know much about what is going on, I know that I will always tell her to just 'Go for it', do what you want to do, prove the doubters wrong (if there are indeed any doubters), and focus on your abilities instead of dwelling on the things you are not so good at, especially if its things you cannot control.

Go for it! I look forward to seeing the results.
 
From my quick read it sounds like you've decided to do it but you're trying to talk yourself out of it.

Can't imagine anyone saying not to go for it.

Do it. Anyone who says no is likely to have other reasons, more related to themselves than to you.

Don't set yourself up to fail... It's London, people are busy and some will not want to be stopped. Try to spot the ones who wouldnt stop for anyone, and pick more likely subjects.

You'll probably find it a lot easier than you think. Good luck.
 
Major Eazy said:
Guys, guys, many thanks, but maybe it's my fault for not making my meaning clearer.


"But i meant that as a hearing impaired person, I can speak but tend to mispronounce what I say, however most times a lot of people could actually sometimes understand what I was trying to say. If I have to, to help make communications clearer, I've got some pre-typed statements to tell them what I would like to do."








Hi - having a pre-typed statements will help or a little card with the details on it & if you get a bit flustered till you get in the swing of it, give them the card to look at while you explain. :)
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There are also a lot of posers in London, who just love themselves, and will love their ego boosting! It's the perfect city to do it. (y)
 
overbez said:
From my quick read it sounds like you've decided to do it but you're trying to talk yourself out of it.

Can't imagine anyone saying not to go for it.

Do it.

You'll probably find it a lot easier than you think. Good luck.
Click to expand...

You're sort of right.

I decided to set up that project, I want to do it, after all it is something I want to do, and I want to go for it.

But I seems to have some part of me inside, feeling like saying to myself, forget it, you can't do it, you're deaf, you can't do it.

It sort of came from back in the mid to late 1980s when at a deaf school, later at college, I decided I want to aim for careers in photography, but my mother, her friends, and the teachers were not very encouraging, they were not supportive, "You can't. How will you communicate to people?" It sort of left my confidence low, and i feel like that.

In the past couple of years, I've been having counselling sessions, mainly to help me adjust and cope with the fact that one of my kids is special needs, and a minor part of the counselling session is to help me just to get to break that barrier, to build up my confidence, to help me cope.

It's slow but helping so far, it helped me get going, just that i've got to try, but the project I'm planning on doing is kind of a big thing for me.

When I try it tomorrow, based on your advice and all the other's advice, I'll just have to try to stop worrying about how would the public feels about me being deaf, and focus on doing a photography project.

I seems to be getting enough help from all of you to boost myself into going to have to do it, just as long as I can keep my doubts under control. I've got about 24 hours to keep thinking about all those things you all told me and tell myself to go and do it, and just hope that when I hit the streets, I don't frozen.
 
Be aware that getting 'a placement' in photography is a rare thing - the vast majority of photographers are self-employed as sole traders, there aren't many jobs as such.

I think it's fantastic that you're considering a personal project like this. To give yourself the best chance of success I think you need to be armed with a few things beforehand. First of all, simply saying it's a personal project may not be enough to entice someone to take part, because that can mean anything. I advise that you are very specific about the nature of the project and why you are doing it. You could even say something along the lines of:

"as someone with a disability, in my case a hearing impairment, I'm hoping this project will help me with my confidence as well as helping me to build my photography skills. I would be delighted if you would allow me to take a couple of quick photographs of you because you do look great. My project is about London as a fashion capital and its style conscious inhabitants. I want to photograph real people instead of models. Here is my business card - you're very welcome to a copy of the picture for your own personal use, just get in touch next month by e-mail"
 
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