Life’s not that simple, if only it was. Below are a handful of folks whose stories I tried to capture in black and white, simple as that! I hope you enjoy learning about them as much as I did when I photographed them.
This is Lizzie
She works for Lyall Farms at our neighborhood farmers’ market. I met her for the first time when we bought sweet potatoes from her for our Thanksgiving dinner. They were the best! I now keep going back for more from her stand because those are some of the best sweet potatoes we find in town.
This is Travis
He is the friendliest bartender and you’ll find him happy to pour you a beer at The Leary Traveler in Ballard. I caught him on a weeknight with an easy going crowd. He was updating specials on the chalkboard. How many times do you catch the person who wrote on the chalkboard at your favorite cafe or pub?
This is Ian
He is a woodworker. He makes garden chairs, stools, tables, and any special order folding furniture upon request. His flyer says “the only limits are your imagination and the laws of physics.”
Ian used to be a teacher, and taught himself woodworking by studying books from the library after moving to Seattle. Yay! to public libraries 🙂 we bought some sheep’s wool for my mom-in-law from him. He also sells unfiltered honey, beeswax, and wooden items at the Ballard and Fremont farmers’ markets.
He and his wife, Karen own Brookfield Farm. Some day I’d love to meet Karen, who is an award winning DP.
This is David
I was in Pioneer Square shooting and this guy came running after me saying “take a photo, take a photo..” I said, “For real?” and he started posing, almost too fast for me to change my camera settings and shoot. I missed a few poses and ended up with this. He was making the shots with his ear muffs & a grin big enough to span between.
He had lined up for free food in Pioneer Square, so I asked him if he was a local and what was up with the ear muffs. He said he was from the east coast, New Jersey to be specific and he was headed to Alaska for fishing, hence the muffs. There’s a slice of the pioneer-frontier story for you. What a cool dude, as a photographer you can only hope to find more subjects like David.
It wasn’t as simple as Black & White but it never is. Now that you’ve seen above, the whole story is that I gave myself some rules to shoot with in 2010. I was supposed to photograph 52 people in B&W, just anyone I enjoyed talking to and who would be willing to be photographed. I was to shoot one up close & personal and another in the context of what they do, or where they are.
I ended up breaking all my rules. I never really got THE 52 people, but probably a lot more than that. I’ve shot more people in the last year than any before and really enjoyed doing it. I’ve learnt that it’s good to break rules when you learn something from it. This was just a start of realizing that I want to photograph more people and that I really enjoy shooting in black and white.
To many more little lessons and wonderful portraits!
i love your camera skills and people finding skills 🙂 I guess there are all kinds of interesting people out there if you were to spend a minute or two to get to know them.
I loved this post. have to say this is my most fav one so far. It gave so many 'common' but 'not so common' man an opportunity to be popular and recognised. I love your spirit and I am sure we will connect in that sphere.
This is beautiful, in so many ways – what a great way to start my day. Thank you!
Great concept, writing and shots! Really enjoyed seeing this.
pink dogwood – thanks for your kind words and i'm glad you got something out of this post.corners and moments – thanks! that's a good way to look at it. i find it very satisfying to find beauty in the ordinary & the most commonly overlooked.maria – so glad you enjoyed it.dad glanz – thanks for stopping by 🙂