"Would You Mind If I Took Your Picture?"

Zattere, Venezia, November 2011.

It takes a moment to muster up the courage to ask strangers on the street if they would mind having their picture taken, but people were for the most part very receptive. I would tell them (in Italian, or in English when they came from other countries) that I am a photographer doing spontaneous portraits in this area, and in some cases we struck up a conversation, but usually they just gave me 5 seconds of their time to do the shot, so if the exposure wasn't right, too bad. Thank you, digital raw photography, many many years ago I briefly did event photography in Munich, take the shot on negative print film, rush back to the lab, process and print, and drive back to sell the prints before the event was over! Now, things are so much easier. I love the intimacy of these photographic portraits (despite the fact that there is never a relationship established between photographer and subject -which keeps things objective and detached in an interesting way), and I will continue this series in different countries, and see how people react.