Street Portraits, #1

Street Portraits, #1

The Adelaide Fringe is on. I love it when the fringe is on. Not because I attend a lot of events, but because the city just heaves with activity and happy people. It's special to be part of it, getting in amongst it all.

My good friend Bas sent me a video of Naeem Douglas taking street portraits, and I was hugely inspired by his approach to portraiture of strangers. I wanted to give it a go.

I really enjoy talking to strangers, but asking to take their photos at the same time felt intimidating. In the end I only had 3 or 4 people say no - often because they thought I wanted to sell them something. I shot two rolls of film, each with 12 shots. One in 6 or 8 said no. They're pretty good odds!

"Hi, can I please take a portrait of you?" worked a treat.

I think it helped that I was using a camera from the late 1950's in an ornate leather case.

Anyway. On to the photos.

There will be more street portraits coming soon.

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