Photos with or without friends
Street photography is pretty self explanatory.
You go out in the city and take photos of whatever the city has to offer. It’s fun and you see new angles and learn things by being out in the urban wilderness. Sometimes I go out alone, I stick around West Town, other times I take the CTA and head into the city. Spend a couple of hours down there alone. Sometimes I stop for coffee, catch a break bring out my laptop, sit and watch people. Other times I’m on an endless walk, somewhere and nowhere at times, around tall buildings, and the occasional gang of pigeons. There are times where I run into other photographers and we talk, comment on each other’s cameras, what we’re shooting, what’s a nice spot right now, maybe exchange Instagrams, and then arrange for a meet up to shoot. Quick and sweet. I keep on trudging along, my sneakers on asphalt, walking, shooting and talking to myself about how cool that last shot was. Sometimes I don’t talk to myself because I’m listening to music. Other times I am. You can call me crazy go ahead but it isn’t quite crazy once you see that gopro strapped to my chest. I shoot POV videos of my photography. This is normal for me.
Other times I go with friends. Mainly because traveling alone is fun but traveling with people that you actually enjoy traveling with is even better.
In the city I often go with this one particular friend—Anna. And Anna is fun, she’s good people, we’ve been friends since kindergarten, when I ramble she rambles, when I stop to ooh and ahh at pretty things she does the same. Oh and stationary stores? I only have a handful of friends who appreciate the quality of pens, sketchbooks, planners and fine parchment—Anna is one of them. I love shooting when I’m out with Anna because she knows that she can keep walking to wherever she wants without stopping to wait for me. Eventually, I’ll catch up after my twenty or so shots and once I’m next to her she’ll cooly intercepts my unwavering excitement. Not much is said other than “oooh niceee” but that’s cool because that’s Anna. To be honest what else is she suppose to say when I take off talking at 100mph on our walking pace. Chatting away about things like composition, color, exposure and wishes on what I really wanted in my shot (then I go off on a tangent with that). Anna isn’t completely in the dark when I bring up those things. She knows what I’m talking about albeit with less enthusiasm. The process and vision of making an ordinary photo into something amazing is what drives this unrelenting energy of mine whenever I’m shooting. She may not quite see what I’m envisioning but she at least humors it.
These days Anna is catching on. She’s starting to see compositions like how I see them and when I’m running off to take photos she’ll mentioned what she suspects is the reason why. More often than not she’s correct. So good on you Anna, way to watch and learn.
I feel like Anna respects my joy for photography. I feel like all of my friends do and it’s nice. They know their friend is a photographer that is willing to throw herself in bike lanes for that “perfect shot”. They know that when I start scampering off way ahead of them that there’s nothing to be alarmed about. It’s just “She probably just saw something she really liked and wants a picture of it.” type of casualness. If I’m lagging behind then they don’t need to stop and turn around and wait for me. They understand that when I tell them, “I need to use you.” it just means, stand here, pose, so I can take this shot.
So while I love being independent and occasionally looking like a crazy photographer running around. It’s great to shoot with friends. It’s nice to actually have someone to talk to. It’s nice to have someone you can just grab (that you know) and have them stand in your shot for you as the foreground for some seriously cool bokeh. While they might subtle joke that I’m only friends with them because I use them for my shots, at least they have an appreciation and respect for my craft. And it’s nice, when you get that support even if it’s so subtle. They might not understand everything I throw at them when I speak so excitedly, but at least they appreciate it.