I like to take photos. I like psychology too. I like to see pictures of people that give you an insight to their mind. (see: Diane Arbus)

Off the heels of my last post, I had this idea that I wanted to photograph strangers. Real photogs do this everyday. I don’t normally do well with new people. I choke up. I’m boring. Blah blah blah inset explanations and excuses here.

So the idea is simple and went something like this. Take pictures of people that I don’t know. Where is there alot of people? Public place…the Mall. How? Ask them….? DING! so crazy it MIGHT WORK!

Walk up to strangers, introduce myself and ask if I can take their picture.

This is exactly what I did tonight. There was only one objective. Get 10 people to let me photograph them. The following it the photographic evidence and the psych experiment that it turned into.

The Pitch “Hi there guys, sorry to bother you, my name is Teresa. Im working on a project. I was wondering if you would mind if I took a photo of you.”

I pitched 17 times. I got 11 yes, 5 no, and 1 “no habla english”.

The first two said no. I wanted to give up there, but I knew it was my confidence that was turning them off. First lets talk about the nos.

1 – A Mexican couple, 40-50 yrs old. The man did not look me in the eye. The woman giggled and looked at her husband and said “oh no” hehe

2 – A 40ish woman with her 20ish daughter. The mother laughed, never totally stopping walking, and said “oh no, not with me looking like this!”

3 – A man in his late 30s, with a blue tooth headset and a very young beautiful daughter that was playing around the fountain. He looked me straight in the eye, never looking at the camera that I was gesturing to. He said “I’d rather you didn’t”. This is the only negativity I got in this experience. He obviously thought that it was a scam of some time. I thanked him for his time.

4 – A young family. Parents in their late 20s or early 30s. 3 kids under 7. He said sure and shrugged, she looked at him like he didn’t hear me correctly. She said “I’d rather not” to him, and “because of the kids” to me. This disturbed me. What did she think a would happen to her kids if a photo is taken of them? I then realized that the last man may have thought the same. Thats sad that anyone would have to worry like that about their children.

5 – A lone man in a jewelry store. He looked about 30. He said “ya know, no” then quickly added “not to be a dick or anything”. I told him it was no problem and he wished me luck.

The no’s were pretty diverse. And just as interesting as the yes’s.

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