There was definite improvement and it pleased me.
The kids had no hopes or intentions of attending the Memorial Day parade in Fayetteville this year and Christine was sleeping in, so I grabbed my camera, my trinity of primes, and made my way out the door to capture some images of the pre-parade preparations.
This time, unlike when I went to the run in Syracuse a few weeks ago, I knew what I needed to do. I put on the cheap Meike 25mm, flipped to manual mode, set the aperture between f5.6 and f/8, set the shutter to 1/320 of a second with auto ISO to start. As the light became brighter, I switched to aperture priority mode at ISO 200. I used the 25mm most of the day.
I confess to trying the 45mm again for only 5-10 minutes when I didn’t want to get too close or bother the bagpipers warming up, but I couldn’t get far enough away and – again – I didn’t like it, so it quickly retreated to my bag where it belonged.
But with the 25mm, I was in my sweet spot for the conditions. People were spread out enough that I didn’t need to be too close to fit everything in frame. Perhaps in a more crowded environment, the 17mm would be a better choice, but the 25mm seemed to be perfect for me as I worked from down low …
… from up high …
… and with foreground.
The best part of the experience was stopping to capture an image of a woman outside her home seated with her 3 very well-behaved canines. I was initially surprised at how well behaved they were despite the noise from the vehicles honking horns and the large number people adjacent to their property, but I was quickly enamored with the prospects of the image that I saw. I complimented her on her dogs and asked if I could take a picture. She granted me permission, I took a few steps off the sidewalk and onto the property (but not too close to disrupt the dogs), framed the image and clicked the shutter.
Sure, the image is nice enough and I am pleased with the execution, but it pales to the experience. It is not my style to take a picture of a stranger like that, but she seemed friendly enough and those dogs were just too much to pass up. Most importantly, it was a personal improvement. And it wasn’t the only sign of my increasing comfort with people, either. I approached the Shriners to capture an image of a fez as well as a few other people throughout the morning too and everyone was receptive.
So, it was a good day. I’ll print the photo of the lady with the dogs and drop it off to the home to say thanks and I’ll remember this day as the first that I started to get a little bit better at approaching people with my camera.