The Sigma BF isn’t mine — they sent it to test for a few days. Same habit, new body: stop people, ask, shoot fast, get out of the way. I got to take it on a trip to Washington D.C. last week.
And this time, I started doing something new in my street portrait encounters: I started handing the camera over to the people I met.
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Shot it in 4:3, then custom cropped to simulate the Xpan or 25:64 format. I was in the crosswalk as she waited for the light to turn green.
Firefighter Mattocks (in the photo below) captured this glorious portrait of me. I love it!
Somewhere in my photo walks in DC, I started handing it over. The Sigma BF provokes genuine interest and curiosity. I started saying Here, hold it.Here, try it — and the whole thing flips. I’m the one being looked at now.
A couple of these people clearly knew their way around a camera, though neither said so before taking it. Found out later, as they showed me some of their work, or as I viewed their Instagram profile after sending them their images. Seriously talented people.
In a group, it does something good — a few people sharing a camera relaxes the group in a way two strangers facing each other doesn’t.
Borrowed camera, borrowed room. Georgetown Marriott, Washington D.C.
Mochi.
Dylan, on his way to work, had a few spare minutes. Fill light (from the DNG development menu) dialed up like a small reflector.
Favorite moment of the day. Genuine connection. Andres even grabbed his film camera and took a couple of snaps of me.
Andres in action.
Asked Lance if he’d ever seen a camera like this. Not really, no.
Nina’s portrait of me. She’s the one laughing on the bench below.
Carrie running across the street. Totally staged, but she full on ran! Looking back, I’d cross to the other side and capture more of her face, still using the street behind her for leading lines, as she crossed.
Sigma’s Forest Green profile, found in Lightroom scrolling through profiles meant for someone else's photos.
Loved seeing this moment of genuine connection between friends. Loved even more that they let me recreate and capture it here.
Father-son trip up from North Carolina.
Here’s the video that I shot while taking some of these:
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WES! LOVE THESE!!! Turning the camera over to others is so cool, and this entire set of photos is full of like. AWESOME!!!