I went to a talk by one of the world's best music photographers, Danny Clinch, gave a couple of months ago at the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles. Danny said that when he decided he wanted to pursue a career in photography, he went off and took a couple of workshops - The Ansel Adams Workshop and one other. He said it changed his life. So, being a fanboy, I started to look into a workshop that would fit in with my work schedule. This past weekend I flew to San Francisco to do three days of intense shooting with Harvey Stein, a super talented street photographer (and very good teacher it turns out) from New York City.
The main goal of the workshop was to learn how to approach strangers and take their picture. To do it in a collaborative way. Asking a stranger to take their photo seemed so invasive. Even the idea of it made me want to stay in bed all day, so that's why I took the class. What did I learn? I now realize that the same ability I have to make friends with strangers in business, or while I'm shopping or waiting in line, is the same skill set I need to leverage to get strangers to say "yes." A little eye contact, a smile, a compliment, then pop the question. It seems so obvious now. Thanks, Harvey for changing my life!