#16 CAN I MAKE YOUR PORTRAIT? PLEASE?
We’ve heard a deal, well certainly in the UK at any rate about ‘doorstep portraits’ during lockdown. Photographers have been making portraits of total strangers for charitable donations or funds to support NHS hospital services and they’ve broadly speaking been approached by local organisations or community organiser because they fit into the classification of, being a photographer. Doesn’t matter if you shoot product, sport or weddings; “If you’re a photographer you’re able to shoot anything right? So here’s a bunch of strangers, who by the way you can’t physically pose, or come within two metres of.”
Many photographers have found this a tough assignment and I know that by the comments I see on line in various online peer groups.
The confidence to ask a stranger for a portrait. It's a skill some photographers have. But what is their secret? How do they make that simplest of requests; "Can I make your portrait?" Photographer Gabrielle Motola shares her thoughts about asking people you don't know to pose up for a picture and this, despite admitting suffering from anxiety.
YouTuber and photographer, Sean Tucker’s film on Gabrielle’s street methods, the film that first introduced me to Gabrielle Motola. (Neale James)
FURTHER REFERENCE
John Mannell’s Portrait Per Day project mentioned within the podcast
Stranger Curiosity podcast by Gabrielle Motola
Gabrielle’s main site and Instagram