One of 45 people picking apples
One of the things i struggled with the most during my time here in the orchards was asking for a portrait. I never planned on doing any real portraits or asking for photos. I envisioned a completely photojournalistic feel to the work i created, but because I'm me and i love pushing myself i made it happen as best as i could.
I started off making a lot of excuses for myself. It's not the right time, The lighting condition isn't ideal, The location isn't very interesting or even told myself that they were too busy and i didn't want to bother them. You know what they say about excuses right? They're like assholes, everyones got one. WELLLLL, I had more than one apparently.
One of the head foremen in the bus that transports all the employees
I eventually forced myself into asking for portraits. I'm remembered that i hated being stagnant and comfortable with mediocre work. I gave myself no options and walked out with my hasselblad 501c and and a few rolls of 120mm film. Anyone that doesn't know about this camera, It's not exactly ideal for any type of fast moving subjects. It is however perfect for portrait and still life work.
I did however attempt a few shots of people working and moving around. It was extremely difficult to focus off the cuff. I tried to walk around and manually focus as people were moving around but it never worked. I did however figure out where and how people were moving. I noticed repetitive patterns and eventually figured out that waiting was the game. Set up shop in a spot i liked, pre focus and wait.
Workers staking down young apply trees.
The fear that had about asking for portraits or taking could portraits were gone after the first person i asked. It's funny how big of a deal you can make out of such a simple thing. All that fear that you built up is just in your head, but it's so destructive if you don't deal with it head on.
It makes me enjoy these portraits so much more knowing that i fought myself for them. I know its a small personal victory but its still a victory. So for now enjoy the portraits. I have quite a bit of traveling to do in the next month, but i will do my best to get blogs up even while traveling.
One of our forklift operators.