girl on the street: portraits

Monday morning, I got coffee with R. She's getting married in a few months. IN A CASTLE. Yes, a castle. Before we parted ways, I asked if I could take her photo. Or perhaps I told her that I was going to. Either way, she obliged because she's such a sweet friend. 

I had my camera with me and 1/2 of a roll of film to finish off, so stayed downtown to take more photos.

I saw this guy sitting on the rocks above the waterfall and knew I had to take his photo. I tried to somehow get a good shot without him realizing I was taking this photo, but couldn't. So, as I walked by, I just asked if I could take his picture. It was easier than I thought it would be!

I wanted him to look out over the falls, just as he had been before I interrupted him. I tried to tell him to not look at me, but he couldn't hear me over the rushing waterfall.

That was okay because I had found that 80% courage somewhere and managed to ask a complete stranger if I could take his photo.

It's not a particularly good photo. It's not well composed. There's a giant white pole going through his head. But, for me, it's still an accomplishment.

A while later, I saw this guy walking. I wish I had been in a good place to take a photo of him walking. Backpack on. Listening to his iPod. Walking to find a place to sit and study. As he put his stuff down at a table near me, I asked if I could take his photo. 

Again, I wish that I had slowed down and thought of composition more. There's a tree growing out the top of his head! Oops. 

I worry about taking too much of people's time, so I focus on focusing in a relatively quick manner. With manual focusing, it takes me a moment to get it right and I forget to recompose.

All of these photos were taken with my Minolta x-700 with the 135mm lens. Set to f/2.8 if I had to guess. 400ISO film.