sophie

"sophie and her smoking accordion" as indicated on her sign, played her accordion in front of the ferry building to "pay back student loans". i loved her carefree nature and her group of friends dancing and how she couldn't stop smiling. i had my camera and was in the mood to take photos but this is one of my biggest dilemmas. do you ask first? should i just be sneaky and fire one off from my waist, or maybe pretend i'm taking one of the clock tower? the last ones are unethical but the first potentially makes her uncomfortable, self conscious, where before she was all dancing and enjoying the music. or she could say no and i'd have to honor that and only have the memory in my head. these questions always bother me when i'm taking portraits of people and when i admire others photos. in this instance she agreed, and seemed to not mind too much, but it was obvious she knew i was taking it and her smile wasn't as wide. not to mention that i have a lot of work to do on my camera skills so as to actually get a moving person in focus. as well as the fact that i can't seem to grasp depth of field focus. the focus does not center on a point but on different planes of field. as you can see i focused on the field behind her, aka the crosswalk sign and road, instead of her, i'd like to think she moved. despite these issues, the blues and reds really strike me and there's potential here, i just have to keep doing it.