For those of you still following it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted anything here. Not that I haven’t had anything to say, just that I’ve been saying it in real time face to face or on Twitter or at my main site Color*Sound*Word or even Big in Asia:Monochrome. So how have you all been doing?
One recent connection I had that’s worth sharing about was the WorldWide Photo Walk that took place last month in several hundred locations around the world. I had the privilege of leading the local Taichung, Taiwan portion. What was great for me was meeting many new people on that day that all shared a common interest-in this case:photography. Several new faces were Taiwanese and came via my friends BBS through his camera shop. It was great meeting them and finding out what is interesting to them in photography, life, etc. I also had the fun of meeting some people I only new online and seeing some friendly faces that I hadn’t seen in quite a while.
What was great to see is how each person dealt with their interest and passion for some via camera(s) and what they shot, where they shot it,etc. Some of the Taiwanese photogs felt that I had an advantage here in getting portrait (people) shots. Their point was that since I’m a foreigner I can get away with pretty much walking up to most people and going “snap” without getting scolded or a dirty look. Maybe, but I still think a lot of it is a personal thing. I’ve thought about this and mentally wrestled myself on this point several times. Essentially it’s always a judgement call thing. Who I shoot or don’t shoot. There are times when I simply don’t feel right about taking a shot and I don’t. Obviously that is the minority of the time. Whenever I do take a shot my goal is to present something for every one to see with them in their best light or most beautiful. maybe that is the way I justify it, but I hope that is the case and feel it probably is.
That being said I guess all people contain some exhibitionist and voyeur within them. Some more, some less and all manifested differently through their individual personality filter. Some of the Taiwanese photo walkers that came that day expressed their curiosity on how foreign photogs selected their shots and on their points of view. I think that was an honest curiosity and would agree culture will influence that but still feel the main factor is the individual’s personality, aesthetics, and even sense of humor. Anyway, we concluded by talking about future meetups and even semi-formal group. We shall see…
