Dollar Portraits

A little while ago I wrote about a certain young lady by the name of Gabby who is taking the idea behind Dollar Portraits and starting her own fund raising project called These Portraits. I'm happy to report that she's made wonderful progress and has just launched her website at www.theseportraits.com. She has also come to the conclusion that these types of projects go at their own pace because otherwise they end up feeling like work. Took me a while to figure this out for myself.

Her charity of choice is Rock Ed Philippines who organise venues and events for alternative education programs through art, music, poetry and anything else other than being in a classroom. How cool does that sound!?

Gabby is very enthusiastic about her charity and photography and it shows through her work. I'm very happy to be associated with her. If you wish to join us and use the idea to form your own fund raising project then please get in touch with one of us and get snapping!

Each time I've gone out shooting for this project I wished I had something to give to my subjects so they could remember the web address and visit it at a later date when their portrait is posted. It seemed obvious to carry business cards with a short note of thanks and contact information. I approached a printing business by the name of B&C Mailing in Alexandria with a request for them to help me with the printing costs. Not only did they help with the costs but they actually waived the whole fee and even printed twice as many cards as I had asked for. The team at B&C Mailing were extremely helpful in guiding me through the whole design process and the end result is fantastic.

Many thanks to David, Lisa and the rest of the crew at B&C mailing.

From time to time I'm reminded that what I do here reaches people. Yesterday was one of those times when I received an email from a recent migrant to Sydney. He had discovered my site through APUG which is an analog photography community I take part in. He expressed his concern at walking up to strangers and asking for their portraits but took great comfort in seeing my success and felt confident enough to try it himself. He told me he was going to go out today to do some shooting with his film camera and I wish him all the best. One more person out on the streets saying hi to a stranger in an all too busy city can't be all that bad!

His email prompted me to get started on something I've been meaning to do for a while. An evolving guide to taking street portraits. I say evolving because I'm certainly no expert and I plan on adding to it as I learn more. It won't be all technical photography stuff. I will concentrate on how to pick subjects, approach people, opening lines and body language as well as some of the photography skills required to make a quick portrait work in an environment you have little control over.

On my way home one day I ran into a very pretty girl reading a newspaper. I approached her for a portrait. I don't recall my exact words but it went something like this, "Please don't think I'm a psycho but..." As I approach people on the street some of them look at me with this frightened look so I begin with that line. I'm building an arsenal of lines and reading people very quickly. I won't pretend I get them all right and some will always say no despite anything I say.

One thing I can count on is friends. They never say no and if they do I'll make them turn around and wish me luck. I had a couple of ideas for portraits that don't include the face of those special people that are worried their soul will be stolen. One is crossing fingers behind their back and the other... you'll have to wait and see.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to answer some questions for an interview by a fellow photographer, Todd Norbury. I've known Todd online for a while now. He's a dedicated photographer continually putting out quality work and I was pleased to be interviewed by him.

You can read the interview here and check out some of his work here.