"It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter." - 365 Project, Day 45

I was walking to the movie theatre today and took a few pictures.  A couple such pictures were of a few high school kids standing in front of a wall.  When taking the second shot, one of them saw me and waved.  I prefer the first picture.  Street photography is very fun to do, but is very individualistic for the photographer.  Portrait photography is a little more of a social activity.

The main problem with portrait photography (and group photography, for that matter) is the model, unless they're a seasoned veteran, will always be nervous to some extent.  The most important thing, in that case, is to make the model feel comfortable, through trust.  Music, or chatting or telling jokes is usually what ends up happening.  In the few portrait sessions I've done, my models have trusted me, which is what made some of the pictures great.  When someone smiles at the camera, anybody can see the difference between something forced and something natural, though the mouth is not the facial feature to look at for this.  The eyes tell the story.  Being able to relate and talk to people is definitely more important than taking a nicely-composed, well-exposed photo.

Today's pictures!

Frank

His note: Got a new leather couch today !  Invited a few Rockstars to try it out.  3 got a little crazy, one got really drunk and crushed but the others were pretty well behaved... They all liked it.

Mandy

Her note: My beloved bear patty.

Shannon

Her note: I was at my parents place and I was trying to get my little guys pic and this was the best one.

Pat

Mandy and I caught a movie and went to a bookstore after.  She had fun looking at the photography books.  You can see her camera bag on the bottom and the amount of books she bought behind her.

Tomorrow will not be particularly social in terms of photography, given that most of the day, I won't be able to take pictures.