For my photographic essay I chose to the topic of street photography. This topic first caught my eye because I have always wanted to walk the streets of San Francisco and interact with other locals. However, I decided to add a "Humans of New York" twist to it. I went to the city and walked around the Pacific Heights Area. I chose this district because I knew a lot of residents live there and that it would not be filled with tourists. When I was walking around I would approach certain people that would be walking down the street. I made sure to choose carefully as to who I interviewed because I wanted to make sure they weren't foreign, sketchy, or in a rush. Once I found the perfect targets, I would introduce myself and ask if they were interested in answering one question for me and getting their photo taken. If the person said yes, I would ask the question, "What is the best piece of advice you have learned throughout you life?" They would then answer and I would write down their responses. After that I would direct them to a place on the street with a nice background for me to take their photo. Some of the people stayed and chatted for a few more minutes and others I thanked and they continued walking. In total I asked about eight people and only a few of them said no. This was a great experience for me because I was able to make connections with strangers and have interesting, insightful conversations. It not only made my day, but I'm sure their's as well.
Interesting - how did you feel about this with how you approach your photographs and photography in general? Was this something that you think made your images stronger? More interesting? How will this affect the way you approach other assignments, do you think?
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