4 ms·

This may seem like a detail, but do you ask people "hey can I take a picture with you for this project I'm doing on getting pictures with other people", or do y

by roel_v 14y ago

This may seem like a detail, but do you ask people "hey can I take a picture with you for this project I'm doing on getting pictures with other people", or do you just ask "hey can I take a picture with you"? Maybe you've tried both - does one work better over the other?

alanctgardner2 14y ago
In a similar vein, I'm assuming you carried around an SLR with a nice lens, which lends a bit of credibility (it's a substantial barrier to entry). Personally I wouldn't think twice about letting myself be photographed by a guy with a D300 who said it was for a portfolio or a project.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  You would think so, but not really. Most lay people can't differentiate between an entry-level DSLR (like the D5100 or a Rebel) and a pro DSLR like a D800 or 5D. What they do know is that just about anyone has a DSLR these days, so the mere act of having a DSLR lends generally little credibility. The camera is capable of lending credibility though, you just have to step way outside of what people normally see on the streets. In my case the project was done with the Yashica Mat 124G and later the Hasselblad 500C/M. I do believe this has led to a lot more "yeses" than I would've gotten with a DSLR, especially since most images are shot around downtown Seattle where there is no shortage of DSLR-toting tourists.
  - alanctgardner2 14y ago
    I just looked on eBay, acquiring a medium-format body is pretty affordable. To hijack the thread a bit, do you have any insights about the TCO of shooting with one? It seems like lenses are still pretty expensive ( double the price of the body, at least ), and I'm guessing film and processing is not cheap.
    - potatolicious 14y ago
      Yeah, it really depends on where you are and how much DIY you're willing to do. Medium format bodies are pretty cheap, and even Hasselblad lenses aren't that bad on a software engineer's salary ($500-900-ish, unless you've got your sights set on a rare one). It's relatively cheap if you put them next to modern DSLR lenses at the same quality level (for Nikon and Canon, $1300-2000). In this case, I only ever used two lenses on the Hasselblad - 80mm and 150mm, the 80mm being the "kit" lens and very cheap to find bundled with a used body. TCO for film cameras is inevitably high - you're working with equipment at least two decades old, if not 3 or 4. In all likelihood nothing will go wrong, but eventually something will, and repair costs are non-trivial. If you want to shoot vintage film cameras you should hunt down some reputable maintenance people online - going to your local camera shop is a good way to pay a lot for shoddy work. Film is inevitably expensive, with 120 medium format weighing in around $4-6 a roll, at 12 exposures a roll. Not a lot of room to screw up ;) Processing depends on where you live - in Seattle there used to be some inexpensive and good labs, but I believe they have mostly shut down since I moved away. You can "hack" processing for C-41 films in various ways via Walgreens or Wal-Mart. They are incapable of processing medium format in-house but can send it out, and they won't charge extra, though you have little control over quality then. With black and white you can always develop on your own, but that requires a bit of willingness to DIY.
      - flyinRyan 14y ago
        Would it be a bad idea to buy a digital back on e.g. ebay? Then you could skip the issues with film.
        potatolicious 14y ago
        Depends on how much money you have to burn ;) There's also a crop factor issue when using digital backs, since they aren't the same size as the original film. If you have a lot of money to burn, the latest gen digital backs are close enough to 6x4.5 that the crop factor is fairly insignificant. Older digital backs aren't even close, so you're shooting a substantial crop from the original intended image. There is no such thing as a 6x6 sensor, unfortunately.
potatolicious 14y ago
The former. This is also why I think my project was substantially easier than what's in the article - when you're doing the same thing everyday you get a lot of feedback as to what works and what doesn't. There are also a lot of other cues that determine how likely someone is to say yes, and if so, how awkward they will be. After a while you learn to spot people who (due to typical Seattle politeness) will probably say yes, but be uncomfortable in doing so. I ended up avoiding them for the most part.
- bpatrianakos 14y ago
  I think your project was also easier because of how you approached it, not just the fact that you did the same thing each day. When you say "hey can you take a picture with me for a project" you're giving people a reason for the request and they have this sort of understanding. They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me. Now if you were to approach people and say "Can I take a picture with you?" and leave it at that then I'm willing to bet the "no" rate would go up, it would be more challenging, and maybe the tolerance to rejection would be a bit better. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking your method because I'm not and lord knows I'm in need of some serious rejection therapy too and haven't done anything close to what you did. I think that's a pretty cool project and I might try it except I won't tell people why I'm asking the question.
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    > "They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me." It absolutely does. That said, the guy in the article could also very much say something like "I have a personal project where I make an outlandish request every day" and probably gotten more "yes"es. It's all in the intent - I wasn't out there strictly to get rejected, I was out there to take some cool pictures for a project, and learn a few things about cold-approaching people and handling failure. It wasn't intended as rejection therapy, though it did seem like that in the beginning ;)

by roel_v 14y ago

alanctgardner2 14y ago

In a similar vein, I'm assuming you carried around an SLR with a nice lens, which lends a bit of credibility (it's a substantial barrier to entry). Personally I wouldn't think twice about letting myself be photographed by a guy with a D300 who said it was for a portfolio or a project.

potatolicious 14y ago
You would think so, but not really. Most lay people can't differentiate between an entry-level DSLR (like the D5100 or a Rebel) and a pro DSLR like a D800 or 5D. What they do know is that just about anyone has a DSLR these days, so the mere act of having a DSLR lends generally little credibility. The camera is capable of lending credibility though, you just have to step way outside of what people normally see on the streets. In my case the project was done with the Yashica Mat 124G and later the Hasselblad 500C/M. I do believe this has led to a lot more "yeses" than I would've gotten with a DSLR, especially since most images are shot around downtown Seattle where there is no shortage of DSLR-toting tourists.
- alanctgardner2 14y ago
  I just looked on eBay, acquiring a medium-format body is pretty affordable. To hijack the thread a bit, do you have any insights about the TCO of shooting with one? It seems like lenses are still pretty expensive ( double the price of the body, at least ), and I'm guessing film and processing is not cheap.
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    Yeah, it really depends on where you are and how much DIY you're willing to do. Medium format bodies are pretty cheap, and even Hasselblad lenses aren't that bad on a software engineer's salary ($500-900-ish, unless you've got your sights set on a rare one). It's relatively cheap if you put them next to modern DSLR lenses at the same quality level (for Nikon and Canon, $1300-2000). In this case, I only ever used two lenses on the Hasselblad - 80mm and 150mm, the 80mm being the "kit" lens and very cheap to find bundled with a used body. TCO for film cameras is inevitably high - you're working with equipment at least two decades old, if not 3 or 4. In all likelihood nothing will go wrong, but eventually something will, and repair costs are non-trivial. If you want to shoot vintage film cameras you should hunt down some reputable maintenance people online - going to your local camera shop is a good way to pay a lot for shoddy work. Film is inevitably expensive, with 120 medium format weighing in around $4-6 a roll, at 12 exposures a roll. Not a lot of room to screw up ;) Processing depends on where you live - in Seattle there used to be some inexpensive and good labs, but I believe they have mostly shut down since I moved away. You can "hack" processing for C-41 films in various ways via Walgreens or Wal-Mart. They are incapable of processing medium format in-house but can send it out, and they won't charge extra, though you have little control over quality then. With black and white you can always develop on your own, but that requires a bit of willingness to DIY.
    - flyinRyan 14y ago
      Would it be a bad idea to buy a digital back on e.g. ebay? Then you could skip the issues with film.
      - potatolicious 14y ago
        Depends on how much money you have to burn ;) There's also a crop factor issue when using digital backs, since they aren't the same size as the original film. If you have a lot of money to burn, the latest gen digital backs are close enough to 6x4.5 that the crop factor is fairly insignificant. Older digital backs aren't even close, so you're shooting a substantial crop from the original intended image. There is no such thing as a 6x6 sensor, unfortunately.

potatolicious 14y ago

The former. This is also why I think my project was substantially easier than what's in the article - when you're doing the same thing everyday you get a lot of feedback as to what works and what doesn't. There are also a lot of other cues that determine how likely someone is to say yes, and if so, how awkward they will be. After a while you learn to spot people who (due to typical Seattle politeness) will probably say yes, but be uncomfortable in doing so. I ended up avoiding them for the most part.

bpatrianakos 14y ago
I think your project was also easier because of how you approached it, not just the fact that you did the same thing each day. When you say "hey can you take a picture with me for a project" you're giving people a reason for the request and they have this sort of understanding. They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me. Now if you were to approach people and say "Can I take a picture with you?" and leave it at that then I'm willing to bet the "no" rate would go up, it would be more challenging, and maybe the tolerance to rejection would be a bit better. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking your method because I'm not and lord knows I'm in need of some serious rejection therapy too and haven't done anything close to what you did. I think that's a pretty cool project and I might try it except I won't tell people why I'm asking the question.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  > "They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me." It absolutely does. That said, the guy in the article could also very much say something like "I have a personal project where I make an outlandish request every day" and probably gotten more "yes"es. It's all in the intent - I wasn't out there strictly to get rejected, I was out there to take some cool pictures for a project, and learn a few things about cold-approaching people and handling failure. It wasn't intended as rejection therapy, though it did seem like that in the beginning ;)