I saw three young people having a coffee break at an outside table. Two were men, and a woman wore a bandana giving her an artsy, Bohemian look. So I stopped and asked my question, only to realize that I had photographed the couple before. Embarrassing! She had worn a hat, so I have a small (tiny?) excuse. At least I remembered her name.

I had given them a card with my e-mail address and Flickr photostream, but they had not looked. When I showed the images on my Android phone, they liked them and said that they would like to use them for their Facebook profiles. Good!

So then I turned to the other man who had been barely listening. When I asked for a portrait, he was reticent, and the entire concept seemed like an anathema to him. After some gentle persuasion from his friends, he reluctantly agreed. His back was to the best light, but I did not dare ask him to get up and move; I wasn’t about to press my luck. So as I spoke, I slowly edged to my left so that he had to turn to maintain eye contact.

(click to enlarge)

I feel like I rescued the lighting here. He had no interest in seeing the image, or getting a card with my information. Some days are just like that.

Bob