Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone

Many photography sites talk about finding your style. Readers of this blog will probably deduce that my style is cityscapes/landscapes. I do live in the greatest city in the world, the City of New York! So naturally, I capture what is around me. I prefer capturing the architecture, the vistas of this fine metropolis. Others that live here prefer capturing the people, the every day life, the human factor, in other words, street photography.

Street photography is fine, but not something I am that interested in pursuing. I follow a few great street photographers on Instagram, as I feel it is always good to take in as much creative influence as one can.

When photographing for our work portfolio, I am also focusing on the room, the environment, not the people or attendees. Some have told me I should pursue event photography, but to be honest, I don't really enjoy shooting people, with a small exception, my daughter. Even when out with friends, I find that I end up not capturing the group if I bring my camera. 

Photographing people makes me feel a bit awkward. Give me a stunning vista, animals in a zoo, a cool car, I am happy, but when the subject turns into people, I just don't feel I can do them justice. I feel like I am never able to get those candid shots, and the ones I try I capture people with their mouths half open, making a weird face. My wife is very loving, as she has not killed me for some of the unflattering pictures of her that I've taken in the past, though she may make me delete them.

So when I was perusing the Bayside Historical Society's website, I came across a call for photographers. They are having a 100th Anniversary of Bayside Day exhibition. I contacted them, hoping I could share some of my scenic shots of Bayside. Turns out that they were looking for photos of Bayside business owners.

This was something I almost decided not to do. But recently, I have been trying to push myself outside my comfort zone, such as leaving a job where I wasn't happy to a job where I didn't know what would happen. So I decided to suck it up, get over my fear, and reach out to a local business to try to get a photograph of the owner doing his trade. 

Pesso's Open All Year
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/7.1, 1/80s, 1600ISO, 40mm

This required me to go into one of my favorite local businesses, Pesso's Italian Ices, try to get a moment of the owner's time, and pitch the idea of a portrait shot of him at work. I went there with my toddler in tow, as a cute little toddler always helps get people to say yes to you. After I ordered and paid for our delicious ices, I asked to speak with the owner.

Gidon Pesso came from the back and allowed me to make my pitch. He hadn't heard of the upcoming exhibition, but was gracious enough to agree to allow me to come back the next day with my camera gear to get a photo of him at work. The only issue was he would be leaving at the time I usually get home from the train.

The next day, I had prepped my camera gear before leaving for work. I headed in a little early so I could leave a little early to catch Mr. Pesso at the tail end of his day. Grabbed my camera gear and headed over to the shop. The gear I chose was my dSLR, the Canon 60D, the kit lens, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, and a flash, the Yongnuo YN 560 III (a manual flash head). The shop is very small, as many are in New York City, and I didn't know where I was going to shoot in the space, so that is why I choose the flexibility of the kit lens. I stopped it down to f/8 to get a good depth of field in addition to knowing that that lens seems sharper there than wide open.

I also had prepped myself with a model release form. Found a couple good resources through a few of the photography websites I follow, and modified a form to my use. Mr Pesso had no problem signing it, as I also was giving him usage rights to the photograph as long as I was given credit, and I was given rights to display the photograph however I wanted to; this form protected both of us.

So many delicious options!
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, f/8, 1/125s, 200ISO, 50mm

As I arrived, I was nervous. I didn't want to waste the man's time, so I had to make sure I had my settings dialed in correctly. I asked for him when I arrived, and was told it would be a short wait as he was finishing up making some of the ice in the back. When he came out to greet me, he asked me what I needed. I told him I just wanted to capture him at work, plying his trade. I suggested that perhaps I could get a shot of him making the ice, but was greeted with a smirk and told that no one could see the magic, which is understandable. So I asked if I could get some shots of him scooping some ice as if serving a customer. Asked which type of ice, I immediately answered with Rainbow, good old Red White and Blue!

I took a shot of him to check my settings, the flash was too powerful. Dialed that down, captured a couple of other shots. In total, I took five shots. All I needed was one great image to submit. I emailed it the next day after a little post processing in Adobe Lightroom. Imagine my surprise when I see that it was the featured photograph on the Bayside Historical Society's Events page! Pesso's even posted it on their Facebook page (though they spelled my name wrong).

The opening reception for the exhibition is Friday, July 11th at 7:30pm at the Castle in Fort Totten, the home of the Bayside Historical Society. I was bummed at the choice of date, as it also happens to be one of the last two nights of Manhattanhenge this year. But I will be there as a proud photographer. This is the first time my work has been displayed to the public in a non-digital format. 

And all because I pushed myself outside my comfort zone.

Gidon Pesso of Pesso's Italian Ices
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, f/8, 1/125s, 200ISO, 18mm