flesh gordon
This was taken at the CHIN Picnic at the beginning of this month. If you’ve been to my site with even minor regularity, you’ll know that I rarely take photos of people and even more rarely post them when I do.
The guy on the left here was one of the ride operators — carnies — working for Conklin at the CHIN picnic and I asked him if I could take his photo. But the process and, I’d say, the result here underline some of my problems with taking photos of people.
First off, I find it a very awkward interaction. It’s extremely rare that I would have the modest courage to go up and ask to take someone’s picture and so even after he said he was okay with it I was too quick to take the photo and I think it shows. I also had a hard time articulating to him why I wanted to take his picture and that brings me to a further discomfort.
In taking this guy’s photo what was I saying about him? And about myself? In rationalizing why I had chosen him as a subject I realized that it was mostly a surface-level choice. I was drawn to him because he’s an interesting character. And the character I saw him playing was a classic “carny.” I feel like I presented him as a caricature and not a person with depth. It also makes me feel like I was making a somewhat classist distinction between him and myself.
I’m having a rather slow time in general as far as photography is concerned lately. I haven’t been taking too many photos and those I have had processed have left me fairly cold. But I do hope that once I get back in the swing again I can continue to think about how to present people properly. I don’t know if it’s really something I want to do regularly but I want to know why I’m doing it when I do and I think that will help me feel more comfortable with the process.
