Shooting people

It’s really not my thing. But it happens.

After the Mt. Longonot hike, we wound up at a restaurant on Lake Naivasha.

Lake Naivasha, Nakuru County, Kenya.

I was glad for the sunset view and was generally minding my own business, when these ladies walked into my composition, and hijinks ensued.

Landscapes are my preferred subject. They don’t talk back. All you have to do is get there and be patient. But if you’ve got a camera, people will inevitably accost you, and ask for photos. Typically without concern for if you actually know how to shoot people, or for how they’ll get the photos later.

Earlier that day, I was “ambushed” by a squad of hikers who, although were accompanied by a photographer, wanted me to make photos of them.

In hindsight, I can see all the things I would have done differently now. How I might have worked with the light around us, or composed differently. But compared to landscapes, people are relatively impatient, and you’ve got to think fast, react instinctively, work with their energy, and encourage them to do stuff that might wind up looking photogenic. All things I’m not particularly good at.

I’m not particularly concerned though. If you’ve got a camera, people will inevitably accost you, and ask for photos. I figure that if I keep getting accosted, I’ll eventually get comfortable enough with human subjects to be able to oblige with decent results. Eventually.