It was my happy privilege Thursday might to do a photography workshop for a local girl scout troop. The girls were alert, eager, fun, bright, and very attentive.
What surprised me was their boundless curiosity. During the portrait session (one of six topics for the evening) almost every time a new face popped up on the screen someone said “Who is that?” And they wanted more than just names. They wanted to know where they were from and how I knew them.
With adults, in my first portrait segment I say “One of the best ways to learn to photograph people is to take pictures of them doing what they love, either at work or at play.” Then I show 5 pictures. The whole segment takes me less than 20-30 seconds. Not last night. When the first photo of a person showed up on the screen, things went like this. (GS stands for whichever girl scout happened to ask the question.)
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Jan, an organist, a friend of mine.
GS: Where is that?
J: Independence Missouri. It was at a big church conference.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Mareva. She is a friend of mine from French Polynesia.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Matt. He is my mechanic in Ohio.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Warren. He is a DJ. He is “live on the radio†while I take pictures of him.
GS: Who is that?
J: I don’t know her name. She is dancing at a Hindu celebration.
It went on like that the whole evening. Here is a smaple of various moments during the evening.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Sarah.
GS: How do you know her?
J: She is a professional model in Ohio.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is my grandson Andrew.
GS: Where is he?
J: In New York.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Stef.
GS: How do you know her?
J: She is a professional model in Ohio.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Ava.
GS How do you know her?
J: She is a friend of mine from church in Ohio.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Ava again.
GS: She looks older.
J: That’s because this photo was taken several years after the other photo.
GS: How long have you been taking pictures of her?
J: Since she was about two.
GS: How old is she now?
J: About 16 or 17.
GS: She is very pretty!
GS: Is that Ava again?
J: No, that is her younger sister Erin.
GS: They look a lot alike.
GS: Is that Catharine and Finn?
J: That is Catharine and Terran.
GS: But he looks so little.
J: That’s because I took this photo in 2012.
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Nathan.
GS: How do you know him?
J: We were doing senior pictures.
(After a while I decided to save a lot of questions by giving the whole run down after the first question)
GS: Who is that?
J: That is Daiqing Tana. She is a professional singer and dancer from Mongolia. That is west of China. We were doing portraits backstage.
GS: Did you take all of these pictures?
J: Yes, every single one.
With over 60 portraits, answering all of their questions added a lot of time to the session. But it was fun! The scout leader was also surprised they asked so many questions about the people in the photos. She thought it has humorous. So did I.