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Week 49: ME in Public / ME with a Stranger/Strangers

Jenny Parker - It's Friday, and I finally had an idea in mind. Our little town has an adorable downtown, and when Everett and I drove by, we saw they had put up an enormous christmas tree on the roundabout. I instantly knew that I wanted to photograph myself standing still with the cars as streaks driving past. I was so pumped...until I drove down and realized they had blocked off the street and roundabout for the Christmas festival that starts tomorrow! So, change of plans. I found a cute little setup at one of my favorite little breakfast joints instead. I tried to get people to walk in front of my camera so I could also have some strangers, but no one would do it! I did get interest from one lady who wanted to know what I was doing. She loved the idea.

Briar Marie - I was super nervous about this theme. Remember the week about the elements and I picked wind to illustrate how I walk against the wind in life as a general rule. This was like that. I'm nervous, so I'm going to double down. I'm not just going to be in public, I'm definitely going to get some strangers in the shot. And I'm not just going to get some random people unknowingly passing by, I'm going to talk to them. And then as soon as I had that thought, I realized that this was a really special theme. It made me think of another theme... "In My Shoes" where I reflected about taking the time to get to know each other's stories or at least a small part of them. It's how we connect with our humanity. It makes giving grace natural. It really makes the world a better place. And it's really hard.

On Tuesday mornings at our grocery store, there is a table off to the side full of donuts and coffee. There used to be a sign that said Senior Tuesday next to them so I never went over because I'm not a senior and I'm not a cheater. One day there was a sign that said Customer Appreciation and I was like HEY! I'm a customer!! And every week after that there was no sign at all. So I started to think that maybe it was always customer appreciation? Or maybe it was for the seniors, but okay for anyone? I started using it as a way to give my kids a treat when they were good at the grocery store. Actually we would all share one because I didn't want to abuse the kindness and I really wasn't sure if it was for just anyone or not, but no one ever said anything anyway. And I definitely never said anything to anyone else either.

So this morning I thought, I am going to go talk to the seniors having their coffee by the donuts!! I'm going to see if I can get a picture with them. I'm going to feel like an idiot, but they'll probably love it. I went over there feeling like a complete goofball, but determined to walk into that wind with strong confident steps and I asked the lady with the walker who the donuts were for. She told me that they are for the seniors but anyone could have one and she encouraged me to get one for Clay. (I was excited because I wanted a photo of us eating one. But then we kept on talking and she told me that every Tuesday, the grocery store actually buses seniors to the store so they could do their grocery shopping and then they set up the coffee and donuts for them to enjoy while they wait for the bus ride home. She said it's really nice because they see each other every week and get to relax and chat after they do the shopping that they would have done anyway. While we talked, the other seniors kept right on talking and laughing so I went and set my camera right on the donut table (feeling terrified!!!) and sat down with my baby at an open table to sneak a bite of his donut.

I wish the donuts were visible on the table and I really wish that the lady I was talking to was in the photo, but she's blocked by the man there on the end. I was freaking out about how far away my camera was and sitting on a food and coffee table so I only took two shots. I do think the images captured the feeling of the moment though. A Mom stealing a donut with her baby from the seniors just having a social get together after their weekly grocery shopping.

Jen Ostler - Me and strangers : lots of them. Ok I know some of them from my past career, but mostly I'm just the girl in the corner, taking free portraits for a bunch of my favorite people; the folks in blue. The thin blue line. Police officers and troopers and the people supporting them. They've always intimidated me, even though I used to be their 911 dispatcher, and my husband wore the badge for awhile also. Originally I thought I'd ask some of them to jump in a real portrait with me for this assignment. But because of my overflowing respect for them (like trying to take a photo with your favorite rock star), I chickened out. This is the best I decided to do.

MacKenzie Gilliam - We got to all take a trip to the mall the other day. I walked by a store and the kids noticed we could see our reflection. They totally loved it, so we got a picture!

Elena Pendell - It's funny how the things you look forward to change as you do. The grocery store with no kids and a cup of coffee? My idea of a good time.

Jennifer L. Bruce - We spent out afternoon in the company of others. Many, many others. It turns out we live next door to North Pole, Alaska. And as you can imagine, it's a VERY popular place to be in December. We waited for an hour to spend a few precious moments with Santa. I found a bit of counter space by a closed register to set my camera. There are a million bits of ephemera at Santa Claus House, and it's near impossible for the eye to rest. It was only natural that after all the hustle and bustle we would need a bit to eat. We went to the sleek, ultra-modern new McDonald's and enjoyed a bit of time to ourselves. The contrast was refreshing!

Kianna Reed - I went outside today to the local park to do some self portraits. I had ideas of wearing just bra and shorts. Or summer dress running in the snow..... Not so practical at all. I didn't think it was that cold with my winter jacket on. But as soon as I started to fiddle with my tripod and my camera, I knew, man, was I wrong. I only came home with a few, but a few that I will cherish.

Trish Reschly - So this was a wonderful stretching experience...but not for me.

You see, I am not very good with a tripod. It takes me awhile to get it all set up and positioned just right and I fumble around a lot! So I asked my daughter if she would just push the shutter for me. She is very shy. It took all she had in her to do that in public for me!

"It's the two things I don't like to do with a camera, Mommy...take pictures of people and do it in public."

I was so very proud of her. It's not too nerve-racking for me to talk to strangers or even ask to get my picture with someone I don't know, but for her, she really conquered a fear.

So now I see this project touching another generation. Another generation overcoming fears and self through the use of the camera.

Adriana Meixner - I took the day off work today (sort of a last minute decision) and ended up spending the day with the hubs sans kids - this was so spontaneous and much needed time together so we could hang out like we used to do before the kids arrived and all the responsibilities that come with that.Here we are at a Starbucks grabbing our morning coffee after having dropped the kids off at school. The rest of the day included running some errands, grabbing lunch at a new hip restaurant we've been wanting to try, and walking around the city. It was so fun!

Vivien Stembridge - I wish I could have waited until tomorrow for this week's photo- I'll be going to Boston to explore the city and take some street photos. Instead, we went to our local art museum today. I had this great idea of a super low shutter speed, with people passing by looking all streaky, but it didn't come to fruition because I couldn't set up my tripod. So, this is me, at the museum, with people passing by in a non-streaky way.

Kortney Fox - I was thinking about this theme a lot this week. I am super uncomfortable in public with my camera, but why? I feel like if my kids are with then it's acceptable, if my husband is (trying really hard) to take a photo of me then it's acceptable, but when you have a camera and your by yourself (running back and forth to see if you captured what you we trying to capture) then you just look like a crazy person. I've gotten over the stress of cars drivingby while I'm in my front yard, but now it's time to overcome this on a greater scale.

That being said, I wanted to try to get over my complete fear of public photography and take a picture in front of our town's beautiful courthouse. Sadly, my schedule didn't allow it, but I am determined to get it done one day in the near future while the snow is falling. Instead, I decided to capture a few of my favorite things while we were out shopping yesterday, spray paint and crafting! So I brought my camera out down the spray paint aisle and again at the craft store while my daughter was overwhelmed with excitement staring at the crafts she wanted to take home. The stores were quiet and not a single person walked down the aisle while I was capturing these images, which for me was good for my first attempt at this. Baby steps right?

Loren Haar - Well, I had a lot of fun today letting my kids take pictures of me in public with what I now affectionately call my "beater camera." I started out on this one (a Canon Rebel XT, if you are wondering -- the first of the Rebels, I believe) and using it now is one of the most frustrating and annoying things I can think of. It just doesn't do what I know my "good" camera can do --- nice to know I did indeed outgrow it. Anyway, I let all three kids take pictures throughout the day. Funny enough, the best shots were taken by my two year old! But my favorite of the day is actually a selfie, taken in that most public of places, the restroom at the theater where we saw The Nutcracker!

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