Craig is not shy about asking if he can photograph people in public with his Nikon D60Craig and I met at the same downtown St. Petersburg location as our first lesson just a little over two week ago, only this time to my surprise a large event (SPCA 3km pet walk) was going on. This was a bonus as Craig really likes to photograph people and is not afraid at all to ask someone if he can take their photo. I would say he photographed at least 6 different people up close!
Me of course, I'm shy and my street photography is done with a 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. However, what I do not need to teach Craig in boldness, I still was able to offer him some new tips and techniques for shooting in such unpredictable event lighting without a flash. I was able to convince him that using manual exposure mode would in fact be easier, not harder, than using aperture priority mode. That's what I especially like to do during lessons, eliminate fear and show that DSLR photography is not super mysterious. Well, it's a little mysterious of course, but there are answers to all questions, so no need to hold onto photographer fears (for example not shooting in RAW mode -- just get Aperture 3, import the RAWs and it processing them all automatically, you will never even know you are not working with JPGs anymore).
Actually, at the end of the lesson we did talk about some quick editing tips as Craig brought his laptop with him and showed me some family portraits I took. I immediately gave him the sound advice someone once gave me, "I see no portrait orientation shots. Take portrait orientation shots."
The whole 2-hour lesson time passed by fast again. Maybe next time I might meet Craig more toward his neck of the woods, Lutz!