While my alma mater, the University of Michigan didn’t bring home the NCAA hoop championship, I can’t complain. It was a good run. Watching the Final Four at the alumni bar here in Seattle with the Michigan faithful young and old is always a blast. Nothing like spilling beer and BBQ sauce on complete strangers only to look at it each other shrug it off and get back to singing HAIL TO THE VICTORS.
Which leads me to this photo, of Steve. I spotted Steve during the Chinese New Year festivities on the crowded streets of the International District. He was hard to miss, donned in Michigan gear head to toe. Despite walking with a slight hobble due to age, he walked proud. This was a portrait I had to take. I thought I lost him in the crowd, until I spotted him resting on a bench at Hing Hay Park. I struck up a conversation with him which was easy to do, being that we had common ground, I was wearing a Michigan ball cap that day. I extended my hand to him and said “GO BLUE!” He took my hand and shook it firmly an replied the same, an emphatic “GO BLUE!” During our chat the he told me he was about to turn 93 years young and attended the University of Michgan in the early 1940’s.
This is Steve. He’s a proud Wolverine. GO BLUE and GO STEVE.
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Street portraiture, takes balls. Street photography is already risky enough, without interfering with the natural order of things. I’m comfortable just observing. But for me this isn’t about being comfortable. Thus the reason, I started dabbling in film again. I grew to comfortable relying on the digital crutch. For the record, I love that crutch. It’s about stretching myself, getting out of my comfort zone learning something new while honing technique. When you cross that line, and assert yourself to approach a complete stranger and ask to take their photo who the hell knows what’s going to happen. It’s that very thing, the fear of the unknown, rejection, acceptance…perhaps a decent portrait. All they can really do is say no, or take your camera and beat you in the face with it.
Hasselblad 503cx | Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm F/2.8 | Kodak Portra 400
The Hasselblad is a perfect tool for portraiture and I hoped to do it justice during the Chinese New Year festivities in Seattle. Here’s my first shot, I took a deep breath and approached this young lady and asked for a portrait. She seemed friendly enough, she’s holding a puppy after all. Told her I was shooting film and it would take just a moment (buying time) as I took a light reading. She gladly obliged, and the sweet thud of the Hasselblad shutter released my nervous energy and we parted ways. What seemed like forever, only took seconds. More street portraits to come.
Shout out to my photographer friends who have given me some inspiration, they have big balls.
We Are All Strangers by Greg S.
100 Strangers Project by Jim D.
Portraits of Strangers by Yonas H.
ENTER
THE
DRAGON
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
Leica M6 | Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400
