This is my entry into the Lens-Artists Challenge, a weekly photography challenge on WordPress. This week, Ritva of Ritva Sillanmäki Photography asks us to: capture the essence and personality of your subjects. Whether you choose to ask a stranger, do a self-portrait, take the portrait of a friend, family member, or acquaintance, the goal is to connect with another person or subject and tell their story through your image.

I didn’t think this challenge would be as, um, challenging as it turned out to be. When we travel, I tend to do a lot of street photography, which is a different beast than portraiture. Most of the pictures I take of people are stealth-snapped. I don’t ask for permission. I find candid portraits to be more spontaneous and authentic, so I subscribe to the better to beg forgiveness than ask permission school of photography.

A Deep Dive

For this challenge, I went on a deep dive through my pictures, and tried to find a few where I had asked the subject if I could take their photo. As it turns out, I don’t have that many pictures that fall into that category.

Asking a subject if I can take their photo gives me anxiety. There’s the fear of awkward, or even hostile, rejection. And, the second you ask someone if you can take their picture, they tend to go into pose mode. Case in point: this group of girls who were with us on an ice fishing trip in northern Norway. I asked if I could take their picture, and they were ready with choreographed poses!

Here are three portraits I took (with permission) in Guatemala. Love the smiles, but they are all very much posing.

By way of comparison, here are three portraits I took in Guatemala – without permission. My favorite is the little girl playing with the pigeons – so joyful.

Now that I’m looking at these images together, I’m not sure I like one set more than the other. But they are – different. I’ll try to work on my permission asking skills on our next trip. I’m hearing my mom’s voice right now: “It’s an automatic no if you don’t ask.”

My entire (work in progress) photography portfolio can be found here.

If you would like to participate in the Lens-Artists Challenge, click here for more info. And don’t forget to link back to the host in your post.

Cheers!