Jimmy Sastra

One part I love about photography is that it gives you license to meet some very interesting people you would otherwise not approach. This weekend the Penn Alumni Club spent a morning with the elderly at Casa Farnese, a home for assisted living, by bringing spring cheer with gifts and conversation. I helped out with some photography.

What’s great about taking someone’s portrait is that it lets you get to know someone in a different way. It changes the way you look at them and it also changes the way you interact with them. It’s hard to describe. I guess it slows things down and forces you to really look at someone’s face and in their eyes. I think JJ Tiziou said it best: “Every person I take a picture of, for a split second, I fall in love.”

However, multi-tasking to maintain a conversation with someone and manning your camera at the same time can be harder than you think, especially if you don’t have a lot of time. Taking a good picture is difficult enough. I have yet to find a good solution on how to split my brain in two. I guess you just gotta get to know your chops inside out so you can spend less time thinking about lighting and more time talking and listening to the person in front of you.

I wasted the first 15 minutes not getting anywhere with my flash when I realized the natural light was actually really good. Silly me always making things more complicated than they really are. Light came from left through a window. It was cloudy that day so light was diffused and not casting any harsh shadows. Perfect.

This is Helen Shmidt. It was a pleasure taking her picture.

Filed under: Photography by admin |