Starting Snapshots

There's a big difference between knowing and doing.

I knew that these shots would be lame unless I set up a second light behind them.

I knew, I didn't do it even though I had a second (and third) light in my bag because I was being feeble.

But, let's get back to that.

This is Vanaya, Sentil and Mohan. Three of the seven students I'm working with. They will become trainers. All of our vendor friends love taking pictures and when a camera comes out, they are quick to get in the act. Everyone takes pictures with everyone and we buddy up in different groups and all take shots of each other. Very snapshotty- like these.

Overall, they are very amusing, bright, open and interested.

I've rented a mini van I use to take them back and forth to the job site. On the way we ask each other questions about our respective cultures and lives. I've learned about shrines, religion, forehead dots, the rules of cricket and popular Indian culture. In exchange I bought them scratch tickets and told them about Barry White.

So, it's been funny and interesting so far, but with really hard problems to solve in between. We were at a good stopping point today, so I took out the camera and took some shots. It was fun, but the hullaballoo and crowd it created made setting up the lights harder. Of course I could and should have, I just didn't. But: I've laid the groundwork for shooting them more and set a benchmark for portraits on this trip that will give me a lot of room to improve upon.

So, am I psyched at these shots, no. But I'm going to try to keep it up until I can stop thinking and just do it.