I don’t want to be the “creepy guy with the camera” that D’Arcy mentions in his #ds106 talk but I do want to be able to capture certain images and interact with other humans in a variety of ways. If I can make myself keep trying these I’m hoping, eventually, I will have the banter and people skills down well enough to do this without it being awkward for both parties.

Taz was chosen in part because he didn’t look like he’d be worried about me- camera or no. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of the first portrait. I learned his name but nothing else about him. I did not need to tell him not to smile. This experience was different than the first stranger photo but not any better in most ways.

You’ll also notice that the pictures is out of focus as well but we’ll cross that bridge when I can focus more on the photography and less on the human interaction portion of things.

I will say that this would make an interesting project to do in a school. You’d have to prep students properly but it would be interesting.

I often see people and think that I’d like to take their portrait. It sounds creepy in my head as I write that but I promise it’s a fairly widespread idea. I just happen to think certain people look interesting but I don’t ever do anything about it. I worry my social skills are not up to it. I’m not a good first impression kind of guy in a lot of ways. There are many reasons. My neutral face frightens people. I tend to be reserved. As a kid who moved a lot, I had two choices become outgoing and gregarious or do the opposite. I chose the latter.

But you see a photo at the top of this post. A photo I took- of a stranger. That may not seem like a big deal to many of you but it took some serious psyching up for me to do that. It’s not the best picture but it does represent something I’m proud to have done.

That’s the interesting thing here. The #ds106 course gave me the structure to make some assignments and one I put up there was the stranger portrait photography assignment (visualassignment29). I had been thinking about it for a while. Once I wrote it down, it kept coming back to me. I couldn’t make an assignment for someone else that I was too scared to do. It took some time, but I finally decided to do it this morning. I wouldn’t have gotten an F had I not done. I mean, I created the assignment AND I gave it to myself. There was no force compelling me to step into a place where I wasn’t comfortable.

The course gave me the support of a community of people trying new things and pushing themselves- putting themselves out there. I couldn’t be talk about learning in the open and trying new things if I didn’t do something I was truly scared to do.

If #ds106 only got me to do this one thing I’d be happy. So thanks people.