Started taking photography classes last month, and each week we have set of photos we have to turn in. This first week was close-ups of faces and parts of faces. the 50 of us students descended up on plaza de independencia in the centro historico, cameras in hand taking pics of everyone we who would let us.
We are required to take all the pics in black and white….no color until you get to the next level!
Here are my favorites (didnt really love any of the face parts, just awkward the close up of a nose or ear….)
It was pretty uncomfortable taking pictures of total strangers. Sometimes i would ask their permission and they would get unhappy and say no. Other times, i would try to sneak a pic from a slightly larger distance without someone knowing.
One of the hardest things for me was that the people with the most “interesting faces” ie lots of character with wrinkles etc were people who had clearly had a hard life. Old people selling newspapers, homeless people. and so while the trying-to-be-photographer in me saw that this would make the best pictures, part of me just felt like i was exploiting them. not really sure how to resolve this.
Wandering Joy 