Millie
Posted in: I spent the day yesterday at a fantastic lighting workshop in LA taught by Joe McNally. If you haven’t heard of him you definitely need to go check out his site. I will post tomorrow about how great it was to just sit and learn from one of the greats, but the highlight of my day came after the workshop. A bunch of us decided to go to Philippes for french dip and wait out the traffic.
As we were sitting there eating a woman walked past headed to the restroom. She had on this wonderful hat and had such a great face. I thought about asking her for a photograph, but then told myself how dumb I would sound. I mean, what an embarrassing thing to do, asking a complete stranger to take their picture. I sat there for a couple of minutes debating and then, without thinking too much more about it, jumped up, camera in hand, and went into the bathroom.
She was just washing her hands. I told her how beautiful I thought her hat was. She said, “Thank you so much! I’ve been out celebrating a special occasion today and decided to get dressed up. It’s my birthday.” I wished her a happy birthday and told her she looked so pretty. As she had her hand on the doorknob ready to walk out I said, “Would you mind if I took your picture?” She didn’t even hesitate. “Really? Of course!”
I had her stand against the wall in the restroom and fired off a couple of shots. She had the best smile on her face. She asked if I would send her a copy and gave me her address. I thanked her and she said, “No, thank you! You made my day!” She definitely made mine. Taking someone’s photo really does make a difference. It’s all about noticing people and just making them feel beautiful even if it’s just for a few minutes. It was a personal mini Help-Portrait project. I cannot wait for December 12 for the real thing.
Beauty is an experience, nothing else. It is not a fixed pattern or an arrangement of features. It is something felt, a glow or a communicated sense of fineness. What ails us is that our sense of beauty is so bruised and blunted, we miss all the best.
~ D. H. Lawrence
4 Comments + Add Comment
Have something to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!
Sponsors
 |
|
 |
 |
Featured Print
Faded + Blurred
She is beautiful and you captured her beauty perfectly. She is going to just love this photograph. I’m glad you got her address so you can share it with her. It would be a shame to capture such a great picture and not be able to share it with her. I’m glad you all had a great time yesterday. Wish I could have been there. I had to work. Take care Nikki and see you soon….for sure on Help Portrait Day. I’m looking forward to it.
This is definitely a “Money Shot”…… OUTSTANDING. I know it takes a little bit of courage to ask a perfect stranger to take their picture, but in this case it was well work the risk, you captured Her essence.
I’m glad you asked her because this is a gorgeous lady! What a great picture
[...] done we ended up at Philippe’s to avoid traffic on the way home. I told you about that story yesterday. While there one of Frank’s friends, Maria Carmel, came by. She found out we were talking [...]