Overcoming fear - 100 stranger's project

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jonneymendoza

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Hi all. i am a massive fan of this type of photography and always wanted to try it myself!

Well today i tried and failed to even ask a single person! i was out in the nice warm weather today around brick lane in london and failed to even attempt to ask anyone due to fear :(

How can i overcome this fear? how did you in effect break that mold and ask your very first person if you can take their picture?
 
How about going to an event in the same vein as the Haworth 1940s weekend that has just gone. People are dressed up and there are loads of people taking pictures so they just kind of expect to have their photo taken.

Once you've done that you can build up, do a non-dressed up event, see how people respond and then go for it live, out in the open.

Once you've done it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.
 
"Good morning, I'm doing a special project to photograph 100 different people ... would you be kind enough to let me take your photograph and help me out?"

Or do what I do and just take their photo, often get some much more interesting pics!

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I haven't done any myself but I'm guessing more people are going to say no so you'd quickly get used to this :)

It's probably all about picking your target someone enjoying watching the world go by is more likely to strike a pose than someone with their head down pounding the pavement on a mission:)
 
I did a similar challenge for raising funds for the Movember charity, the angle there was just men with a moustache. Lets just say that yes you need to be thick skinned, I heard a lot of swearing and all sorts of profanities, but keep smiling and polite you'll meet lots of nice interesting people as well.
 
Hi all. just a small update really. i have not fully overcome my fear yet as today i had about 5/6 people to approach and only approached one person out of the 5/6 i wanted too and that person said no as she was outside her work place and was just taking a break before heading back to the office.

i guess it will take time for me to be "fully" confident in myself to approach all the potential targets i wish to photograph.

The weird feeling is that i am more gutted at not attempted all those other people i wanted to photograph then the woman who said no.
 
You'll get there bud, I'm sure of it...
 
I just started the same project as you a few days ago as well.

Here's what i learnt from it so far.

1.Never approach to people who are walking in fast pace.
2.If you see your subject, go for it. If you hesitate then you'll just walk away and miss the shot you want.
3.Always smile.
4.It is easier to ask a group than individuals.
5.Solo. Sometimes having friends around won't do you good in this kind of stuff.
6.You will always feel fear. Deal with it and from my experience so far, I was just as nervous taking the 10th person comparing to my 1st.

Hope these will do you some good.
 
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?
 
jonneymendoza said:
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?
Click to expand...

Try Blogger=]
 
Good luck, but be careful with the police. They're not keen subjects for a sitting ;)
 
That Police constable has the most forced smile i've ever seen! :D

I think its best to follow the Ameraicans on this one and shoot first ask questions later.

Of course, there are some types that need avoiding as they mey be less than happy.
 
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I have the same phobia, go into town look at people and kick myself all the way home for not approaching someone. Do you use Flickr?, i was once told to get some notes printed with a link to your Flickr photostream as well as your e-mail adress or mobile. and tell people you take pictures of to look on Flickr and if they like what they see get in contact and send a copy,got mine printed. now i need the bottle to ask someone.
 
sabbath18 said:
I have the same phobia, go into town look at people and kick myself all the way home for not approaching someone. Do you use Flickr?, i was once told to get some notes printed with a link to your Flickr photostream as well as your e-mail adress or mobile. and tell people you take pictures of to look on Flickr and if they like what they see get in contact and send a copy,got mine printed. now i need the bottle to ask someone.
Click to expand...

Stick to it. I do have a flickr
 
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I have thought about this sort of project but the thing that puts me off is that if I'm walking along the street I'm not keen about people who try and stop me for whatever reason.

Where I live it seems almost constant, charity collectors, beggars, market researchers.....

I'm not particularly bothered about having my picture taken as chances are it's already been captured many times on CCTV every time I go into town but it's more having people try and stop me for various things.
 
boliston said:
I have thought about this sort of project but the thing that puts me off is that if I'm walking along the street I'm not keen about people who try and stop me for whatever reason.

Where I live it seems almost constant, charity collectors, beggars, market researchers.....

I'm not particularly bothered about having my picture taken as chances are it's already been captured many times on CCTV every time I go into town but it's more having people try and stop me for various things.
Click to expand...

Then don't stop people. Approach people who are sitting in the bench or something
 
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You will feel more confident if you write yourself a little script, you don't have to stick to it. Just make something up that covers the bases and gives you a starting point when talking to people. Keep it short, americans call this kind of thing "the elevator pitch", its all about being able to get the point across in about 30 seconds.
 
Awh this is a wonderful idea! It takes a lot to overcome that initial fear.
 
Adrian, how about approaching people who are just standing about first.. And keep the camera in view, should have them a bit more interested.

I've thought of assigning something like this to my 12-year old (yea in Finland we let them walk & bike around without police escort), have him take photos of people's dogs just to get him to become less awkward in social situations (shy guy). I'd probably have to pay him per photo though and he'd nick them from google images :D
 
I have wanted to do something like this for a while too. But, the town by me is getting worse and worse and no doubt they will have the camera off me lmao.

I might just start a bit of street photography, get my telephoto and take photos without people knowing. Like said, get un posed photos that way, more expression from faces etc haha.

Either that, or I would end up setting the Iso to 200 and the aperture way off, and the photo coming out either too light or way too light.
 
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