I was reminded of something important during my latest photography workshop on Thursday. When I tell you what it is, I’m sure you’ll think, “Well, duh, Krista.” Still, knowing doesn’t DO anything. Doing, with knowing (or not), DOES. You may be ready to write off of my ridiculousness, but please wait. It’s important.

First, let’s recap Thursday evening: For the first time I attended Mark Maya’s free Photo Field Trip at the Durham Farmers’ Market. I was a bit nervous because, well, large group gatherings can be somewhat intimidating. Fortunately, everyone was nice, and I felt comfortable conversing and getting to know the many local photographers who attended. I was thrilled to learn we’d be starting the workshop by creating our own backdrop for the shoot. How cool is that?! I had a wonderful time making a mess, and somehow I ended up with absolutely no paint on me. I got mad painting skills, y’all (okay, not really, but let’s pretend I do because it doesn’t harm my story). After the splatter, blotching, and smearing paint party, we hung our backdrop and dove right into photographing our model. Here’s the thing: I was distracted by some nearby clatter. Actually, let’s use the phrase “drawn to” instead: I was drawn to the clatter and the movement off to my right. “What was to your right?” you may ask. I’m glad you asked. Skateboarders. Here I was, photographing a pre-picked beautiful model in front of our handmade backdrop with many amazing photographers, yet I was completely drawn to the skateboarders to my right. Mind you, I’m not really interested in skateboarding. So, why was I drawn to the skateboarders, then?

And this is where my point picks back up…err…begins. Personally, I am drawn to movement (this is the “duh” part). I mean this in both the literal and figurative senses. People doing active things interest me. People doing active things that they are passionate about and completely engrossed in, things that inspire other souls into “doing”, will draw me in like a kid into a candy store. People DOING things they’d normally do fills me up with joy, e.g., skateboarders working on their moves on a ramp Thursday evening just because. I don’t have to love skateboarding to love the act of skateboarding. My eyes were glued. It was pretty much a done deal. I was going to photograph the skateboarders.

I had mixed feelings about my decision. I wasn’t there to photograph the skateboarders; I was there to attend the workshop and learn from other photographers. Was it wrong of me to peel away? What did the other photographers think of my decision? Would have I learned more if I had focused all of my energy with them instead? All valid questions with answers that won’t be explored because here’s the thing: I’m glad I made the decision I did, and it’s because it reminded me of why I am a photographer, why I’m so drawn to people doing what they do best or want to do best or want to do because it makes them happy.

On top of that, I have found that some of the most interesting people I know are ones I have met spontaneously, and some of the best moments I have had doing photography are ones that I made spontaneously, with people I hadn’t yet met, but did meet because I decided to open myself up to the possibility of photographing a feeling – that full of life and love feeling – that was already out there naturally in the world. It is real. It is love. It is passion. It is grit. It is inspiration. It is peace. It moves. It does. They are. They do. They love. Those are the moments I love capturing. Even if I miss the opportunity to capture a person’s smile or gesture or sick-ass skateboard move, nothing is lost. It’s the feeling behind the moment that counts. I can just stop, ask them if I can take their picture, and that feeling will shine through in plenty more moments that I’ll be ready to catch.

Every person is different. What moves you is unique. No matter what path you take in life, I hope that you are able to reflect upon on your decisions and have that “ah-hah!” moment often enough, thinking “This is why I do what I do, and damn, does it feel good.”

I am incredibly fortunate to have had the experience I did on Thursday. I am thankful for Mark and his workshop, the people in his workshop I got to know (and undoubtedly will be friends with for years to come), and am thrilled to continue to go to more events like this. Thursday night ended at Motorco with these incredible people. Seriously, it couldn’t have been more perfect. Thank you.

So, let’s talk briefly about these pictures I took. I started off just photographing the skateboarders doing their thing, but another photographer from our group seemed just as interested as I was with taking portraits of one of them. So, she asked one of the skateboarders if we could photograph him, and he was kind enough to agree.

This is how the mini-shoot went: GREAT. Our subject was easy to photograph and has a natural smile. If you haven’t been on a photo shoot before, know there are certain tactics to get a subject to feel relaxed and give a natural smile. For this shoot, one tactic we used was to ask him to shake his head and toss his hair. Sounds ridiculous right? Well, umm, it is. The thing is, we aren’t counting on those intentional moments to land us a good image. It’s the shots of laughter and smiles BETWEEN the head shakes that capture something special. Even if you, as a subject, realize what we are doing, you still can’t help but smile. Anyway, Jay (our skateboarder right here below this long-ass story) did wonderfully. What I found to be bizarre, but neat, is the fact that the hair-tossing images were soothing to go through. You just wait. Look at them and then ask yourself how you feel. I suspect you will find yourself calm and at peace. Why? I think Jay himself is a calm soul and while doing such a simple and ridiculous thing, he seeped out calmness. The series of images are beautiful and so I decided to keep a good deal of those photos in the blog post.

Lastly, I want to put this out into the world. This experience has quite clearly moved me and from here on out, I will challenge myself to spontaneously and randomly meet and photograph a person or a couple I don’t know once a month. I’m going to call it the “Easy Peasy Stranger Meetsy” photo series. ;-P